String Hoppers
Photo is from the restaurant as I forgot my Camera, also I did not eat crab, I had them with chicken.
Actually Kadupul is in the east bay in Dublin. I found it by an accident while looking for a Sri Lankan friend on facebook. She had this restaurant listed and the first thought was “Oh something in Los Angeles” as all the Sri Lankan restaurants I know are there. Further examination showed that it is was in driving distance, through the Caldecott tunnel 24 East to 680 South or 13 South on to 580 East and in about 30 minutes you could be there.
So I called my Mom and offered to let her by me dinner last weekend. She asked me to come over and that she would cook me a good meal. I told her this is GrandMa (paternal) style food I want eat! After much haggling she agreed and we went over there. My Dad was out of town and my sis has gone back to Boston for school. So it was only us two.
We were greeted very friendly and in an instant we knew it is a Sri Lankan restaurant. But I asked my mom not to reveal who we are, just to checkout the reactions etc of the owners and the waiter /waitress. So we decided to be what we look like, (I am a half an half but sadly the Sri Lankan part is in the heart and blood, I sometimes wish I was a bronze prince like my Dad.) and we were treated very well. The menu was explained to us and I could see my Mom suppressing her laughs or giggles as she knows the stuff too well and even could carry a conversation in Sinhalese pretty well.
I almost gave away when I saw Hoppers and String Hoppers, two of my favorites from Sri Lanka. But we ordered too much as my / our hearts were bigger than our stomachs. There were all sort of only in Sri Lanka type of food and how could you ignore. I of course ordered hoppers, string hoppers and lamprais with lamb. Mom wanted to eat eggplant curry and chicken with rice but stole some of my string hoppers. We also has stuffed peppers, pretty large and spicy ones. I was after a good work out that day and was hungry. I ate to my hears content yet we had a bunch of food left over. Watalappam was on the menu and I love those sweet stuff, it is like creme de brule but with special flavor to it.
We finished our meal without giving away who we were and we will return with my Dad soon. If you are going there, remember to visit ATM beforehand as they only accept cash also you need to have a lot of patience. We did not have much problem with wait ‘cos my Mom and I always have stuff to talk about, from my studies, sports and girl friends. So it took about two hours for our dinner. May be they should hurry up a bit, if they want customers to return, specially the non-Sri Lankans.
Positives are they are the usual friendly Sri Lanakan people, the owner, chef, owners wife and the others. They explained everything about dishes and I think it is wonderful for people who does not know about Sri Lankan cuisine. They also had wild boar and rare Sri Lankan stuff but I could not try all in one go. Next time I will try different stuff for sure. Yes my Mom agrees that they are Grandma food! only spicier.
Guess what, They have kottu!
Magerata 