Where to Eat in Southern Sri Lanka: 16 Places We Actually Ate
Our food bill in Sri Lanka came to more than our accommodation. I have made peace with it.
We were there 28 nights, working out of beach cafes most days, and we ate out almost every single meal. Fifty four food and drink transactions in a month. So this is not a roundup of places with good reviews, it is a list of every spot we genuinely sat down at and would go back to.
The Best Places to Eat in Southern Sri Lanka
If you only get to three: Amaroo in Hikkaduwa, Nomad Cafe in Weligama and Bacuzzi in Hiriketiya.
One honest note before the list. Almost everything here is a Western-leaning beach cafe, because that is how we travelled. Eat where local families eat and you will spend a fraction of what we did. Our full cost breakdown has the numbers.
Hikkaduwa
Amaroo
Our favourite in the whole country, and we came six separate times over two weeks.
It sits directly on the sand, it is set up for working with space and power points, and the staff got to know us so well that when it was Daniel's birthday they brought out a cake we had never mentioned!
What to get: the avo toast, which is genuinely the best I have had anywhere. The Maui tuna bowl. The Nim bowl with chicken added. Corn spaghetti. Loaded baby potatoes. The immune booster juice. And if you drink, the pine and coconut margarita or the green apple ginger sour.
You can also sleep here, which I did not realise until later.
Salty Swamis
The other one we came back to repeatedly. The breakfast burrito is very good and the rainbow lunch bowl was a favourite.
Surf Control
Where to go when you want actual Sri Lankan food rather than another poke bowl. Get one of the curries. It is cash only, which given how the ATMs behave here is worth knowing before you sit down.
Tiki Burger
The best burger we had in Asia, and the location does a lot of the work. Right on the beach at dusk.
Natura Italian
For when you have had enough curry, which happens to everyone eventually.
Roy's Cafe, Dalawella
Two minutes past Turtle Beach on the scooter, right on the sand. Big burgers, and a cafe dog called Roy who put his head on my hip and stayed there for my entire lunch.
Weligama and Ahangama
Nomad Cafe
My favourite cafe in Weligama, and we went three times in five days, which tells you everything.
What to get: the pumpkin toast, which had a chokehold on me. The eggs benny potato rosti. The fish tacos off the lunch menu. There is a bakery section too, so get an almond croissant on the way out.
Chef Akila Kitchen
The one with a story. Their original restaurant was destroyed in a gas explosion, and Chef Akila has been cooking out of the family home while rebuilding.
We shared a massaman curry cooked in an open kitchen in front of us and it was one of the best things we ate in Sri Lanka. It is tucked away from the main drag.
Check they are still operating before you go, because we were there in April 2025 and the arrangement may have changed.
Moochies
Smoothie bowls. If you are a smoothie bowl person, this is the one. The matcha with a dash of honey is also very good, there is a resident dog, and the shop is open 8am to 9pm.
Picnic
Amazing curry and other local food, super affordable, and right on the beach. There is also a food truck out the front doing incredible smoothies and nice cream bowls.
Plan B
I know the caesar salad is a basic thing to recommend and I am recommending it anyway. The burgers and curry are good too.
Pablo Restaurant
Really good local food. Get the kottu.
MARU
We went twice, which on a coast with this much choice is a recommendation in itself.
Kai, Ahangama
A rooftop, and we only found it because we walked out of somewhere else that had almost nothing left on the menu. Stunning location, and the pasta was very good.
Isle of Gelato
The best gelato I have had anywhere, and I am not being casual about that. Get the Nutty Professor or the High Protein PB Choc. When we went, the boys immediately went back up for a second scoop.
Hiriketiya
Duni's Hoppers
If you eat one traditional breakfast on this coast, make it hoppers here. A hopper is a bowl-shaped pancake of fermented rice flour and coconut milk, crisp at the edge, soft in the middle. The best in the bay.
Salt House
Breakfast, and you have to get the tropical smoothie. You can also stay here.
Bacuzzi
Proper Italian, 10 out of 10. Expensive by Sri Lankan standards, which I will say plainly, and worth it anyway.
Malu Poke
Poke, and very good poke. We were only in Hiriketiya two nights and still went twice.
The Ruin
Our biggest single bill of the whole trip at A$81.87 for two, and we did not mind at all.
What It Cost Us
Scroll to see the full table →
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Food and drink, per person per day | A$58.23 |
| Average transaction | A$30.19 |
| Median transaction | A$25.22 |
| Cheapest thing we bought | A$5.35, a coconut coffee |
| Most expensive meal | A$81.87, The Ruin |
| Transactions under A$15 | 13 of 54 |
Our food genuinely cost more than our beds. Not by much, but consistently, for a month. That is a choice about where we ate rather than a Sri Lankan price level, and Surf Control and Picnic are proof of how far the other direction goes.
Where to Stay Near the Best Food
Three bases put you walking distance from most of this list.
Amaroo Hikkaduwa
The place we ate at six times is also somewhere you can stay. On the sand, set up for working, and the avo toast is downstairs.
Komorebi Weligama
Weligama has the best spread of food on the coast and this is the quieter end of town, which matters here more than it does elsewhere.
Salt House
One of the best meals we had in Sri Lanka, and you can stay above it. Everything else in the bay, Bacuzzi and Malu Poke included, is a short walk.
Still planning? Here is what all that food actually cost and where to stay near the best of it.
FAQs About Eating in Southern Sri Lanka
What is the best restaurant in southern Sri Lanka?
Amaroo in Hikkaduwa for us, on the basis that we went six times in two weeks and never got bored.
How much does a meal cost in Sri Lanka?
Our median transaction was A$25.22 per person, but that is beach cafe pricing. Thirteen of our fifty four food purchases were under A$15, and local curry places are cheaper again.
What is a hopper?
A bowl-shaped pancake made from fermented rice flour and coconut milk, crisp at the edges and soft in the middle. The traditional Sri Lankan breakfast, and worth having at least once. Duni's in Hiriketiya is the best we found.
Where can you get authentic Sri Lankan food on the south coast?
Surf Control in Hikkaduwa for curries, cash only. Picnic in Weligama, on the beach and very affordable. Chef Akila Kitchen in Weligama, if they are open.
Do restaurants in Sri Lanka take card?
Most of the cafes did. Some of the best local places, Surf Control included, are cash only, and the ATMs are unreliable, so carry more cash than you think you need.
Is the food in Sri Lanka spicy?
The local food can be. Every place we ate was happy to adjust it.
Did you get sick eating in Sri Lanka?
No, neither of us, across 28 nights of eating out almost every meal.
Final Thoughts
The range is the thing nobody warned me about. You can have a curry cooked in front of you in someone's family home, then the best gelato of your life, then a proper Italian, inside about a kilometre.
That is also why our food bill outran our accommodation. Worth it, and if you want to spend less, the cost breakdown shows exactly which choices move the number.
Want your Sri Lanka itinerary planned in a couple of clicks?
Pick your towns, and it lays the days out from everywhere we actually went.
- Two lengths, five to seven days or the full fortnight
- Only places we actually went, never a generic list
- Every drive between the towns worked out for you
- Share it to your notes or send it to whoever you are travelling with
