London Eating: Hoppers, Soho
May 2019
My doubtful voice at this point really began to worry about their portion size: ‘Is it already Hopper time?! I’m not ready!’
I worked with a bunch of people from Sri Lanka when I was in my early 20s. Incredibly warm and kind people; everyone looked after me like I was their own daughter/sister. Many years forward, I still have not been to Sri Lanka, nor have I tried their cuisine. I had to do something about this.
Hoppers in Frith street London serves the food of Sri Lanka. We had heard so many good things about this restaurant and were really excited about finally trying their food.
We visited on Saturday afternoon at around 1PM. It is a really small place, but there were a couple of tables available and we did not have to wait.
We went for their ‘Express Lunch’ menu. You will get a small starter, Kothu Roti, Hopper or Dosa, a choice of Kari (curry) and a couple of Sambols or Chutneys. £19.50 for all these sounded like a really good deal… at least at first. Service was attentive and friendly throughout, however, drops of small doubt crept in one after another as the courses progressed…
Kothu Roti arrived first. It had a texture and the look of flat rice noodles. It was nice, but greasy. I looked at the menu and Kothu Roti were around £11-12. I looked at our bowls, too small to be that price category. This is when my first small doubt popped into my head: ‘Are we going to get a miniature version of everything!?’
Small fried things were very closely followed by Kothu Roti. C had Mutton Rolls and I, Veg Cutlet. C found his Mutton Rolls (why they use plural in the menu when you only offer one piece I do not know…) a little dry. My Veg Cutlet which basically was a spiced potato croquette, was nice, but who wouldn’t like a potato croquette. The spicy sauce was the best thing about our plates.
I cut my Veg Cutlet as small as I can, but one can only do so much. Our first dishes were gone in no time. My doubtful voice at this point really began to worry about their portion size: ‘Is it already Hopper time?! I’m not ready, I need at least another starter!’
But I’m a hopeful person, I had every faith in their Kari dish.
Until this arrived.
I know what you’re thinking. That small bowl, is not a chutney, two tiny bowls beside are, but that small bowl, is my curry. My mind was very confused at this point with the excitement of trying out new dishes and the apprehension of potentially leaving this restaurant feeling hungry. I checked the menu again, my squash and sweet potato kari was £9. Let me show you the photo again.
I was confused.
Hopper is a thin pancake made with fermented rice and coconut milk. I really liked the hopper (we ordered an egg hopper), such delicate texture and sweetness which went really well with the kari and chutneys. Dosa, however, was a different story. We ordered a Podi Dosa which was supposed to be a spicy Dosa, but we could only taste the salt. I really didn’t enjoy it at all. Kari was tasty, but there was nothing special about it. Chutneys were really good.
As I already mentioned, service was great at Hoppers: friendly, polite, kind, never pushy about buying drinks and a bottle of tap (filtered!) water arrives as soon as you even think about asking for it. For service like that, I would’ve happily paid the 12.5% service charge in different circumstance. However, we only left a small tip on this occasion. I really wanted to like Hoppers, but the food overall was just between good and okay and painfully over priced. I do want to point out though, that the waiting staff was very polite, relaxed and completely unoffended when I declined the 12.5% service charge.
Luckily, we didn’t leave the restaurant feeling hungry, but unluckily, it was due to our stomaches being rather heavy with oil possibly from the Kathu Roti.
Now we really need to visit Sri Lanka.
Hoppers, Soho
Food: 2.5/5
Service: 5/5
Value: 2/5
Would I visit again?: 1/5
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