Inspired by the family home cooking and roadside boutiques of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, the hopper and dosa are (unsurprisingly) at the heart of the menu.
Hoppers’ namesake dish will be made in the traditional way with a batter of ground white rice and coconut milk. Cooked in a special wok-type vessel known as an ‘appachatti,’ the batter forms a bowl shape pancake with a spongey centre and crisp edges. It can be filled with a black pepper podi.
Each hopper will be served with choice of meat, seafood or vegetable kari and accompanied by three sambols: Pol – made with freshly scraped coconut flesh; Seeni – with a caramelised onion base; Katta – made with red chilli, onion and Maldive fish.
Dosas will be made from a rice, urad dal (split black lentils) and fenugreek seed batter and cooked on thick dosa tawas (flat griddles), made specially in India. Each dosa will be served with a choice of meat, seafood or vegetable kari, and with a tomato and coconut chutney, a curry leaf chutney and a fresh coconut chutney. Similar to those on the Sethis’ Michelin starred menu at Gymkhana, the dosas will be conical in shape, but at Hoppers they will be twice the size. Sounds like our kinda place!
They will be available in a choice of plain or podi which is a powder made from red chilli, urad dal, chana (split baby chickpeas) dal, sesame seeds, asafoetida and curry leaf and sprinkled on the inside of the dosa as it cooks.
Alongside the hoppers and dosas, there will be a selection of ‘Short Eats,’ the Sri Lankan term for snacks, typically eaten with drinks. We love the sound of Pig Shank Roti; Rasa crab omelette; and Cashew and Ash Plantain Fry, curry leaf podi.
A selection of ‘Rice Roast and Kothu’ dishes will include Buffalo Buriani, bone marrow, duck egg Kari, buffalo yoghurt, brinjal moju; Tamil Spit Chicken, gotu kola sambol, pol roti; and Hoggett Kothu Roti.
Cocktails at Hoppers will focus on Genever and Arrack (fermented coconut sap) which will form a base for drinks such as the Toddy Tapper – Ceylon arrack, toasted coconut, bittered wine. Genever, the malty, botanical forefather of gin will be used in cocktails such as the Serendib Sweetie- Zuidam Jenever, Cashew Orgeat, cumin bitters; and the Citizen Burgher – Genever, papaya, coconut water, white port.
