Hoppers' Karan Gokani On Courting Sri Lankan Cuisine

WHEN Mumbai-born Karan Gokani moved to England to study law, little did he know that he would give up his legal career — after practicing at a law firm for four years — and pursue a career in hospitality instead. He now lives in London, and is the co-founder and creative director of Hoppers Restaurants. Located in central London, all three restaurants specialise in Sri Lankan cuisine and draw inspiration from home cooking as well as the roadside stalls and shacks that Gokani personally swears by. They opened in 2015 (Soho), 2017 (Marylebone) and 2020 (Kings Cross) respectively. 

Gokani made his writing debut with Hoppers: The Cookbook, published by Hardie Grant Quadrille. It is for the connoisseur and the novice. There are chapters dedicated to curry powders, rice and breads, kothus, sambols, lamprais, grills, roasts, desserts, drinks, herbs and spices, even utensils and storage. Apart from recipes, there are tips and techniques to pick up. Ryan Wijayaratne’s photographs skilfully capture the variety of colours and textures that the cuisine has to offer. The book is nothing short of a love letter to Sri Lanka. Excerpts from an interview:

Growing up in India, I only knew of Sri Lanka as a cricketing nation that sported the Dilmah branded jerseys. Later, I studied law at Cambridge, and then did a professional course in legal practice in London where I met my Lankan friends. I made my first Lankan friends at University in the UK. I visited them over summer back in 2008 and ever since have found every excuse to go back to the island. In fact, I even proposed to my wife Sunaina on a trip round the island, well before Hoppers was conceived!

What according to you are some of the ingredients and ways of cooking that give Sri Lankan cuisine a distinctive character?

Sri Lankan food has many facets and sub-categories just like Indian food. It’s hard to define it with a broad-brush approach. North and North East Lankan food have distinct similarities to the food of Tamil Nadu — think fenugreek, spices, less coconut milk than in the south, and lots of curry leaves. However, there are differences to India here too; for instance their thosai is a lot softer and thicker (more like a kal dosa) than the Indian dosa. 

Moving down south, Sinhalese food is more akin to Keralan food but with influences from the East, with the incorporation of pandan leaves and lemongrass. Then you have the Dutch Burgher cuisine including my favourite lamprais which is like nothing I’ve tasted in India! The Malay Muslim community has their own cuisine. 

Their hoppers are different from our appams and they actually use spice blends referred to as ‘curry powders’ — something I have never seen in India. 

What gave you the courage to leave your career as a solicitor and switch to cooking and feeding?

I grew up in Mumbai in a Gujarati family. I think I always loved cooking and feeding, possibly since the age of four when I would jump onto our kitchen counter and roll chapatis with our cook, Baba. My Tamilian grand uncle, whom we lovingly called Tatun, was another huge influence. He would often come home unannounced with a shopping bag filled with vegetables and spices and cook up some of the best meals I remember — avials, thorans, rasams, rice, and more. I think this is where my connection to the food of the south first began. In later years, my family and I travelled extensively across the south on holidays. 

Does your clientele mainly comprise the South Asian diaspora in England, or do you also see a lot of white folks excited to explore Sri Lankan cuisine?

Each restaurant has a slightly different demographic, but on the whole, we have many more British and European guests than South Asian (which I feel is representative of the population/demographic makeup of central London). We never focused on a certain demographic, and instead looked to create an authentic, fun experience with food, drink, hospitality and décor we are excited about ourselves. Basically, restaurants where we want to keep eating and entertaining friends, ourselves — which we do all the time, incidentally! We have been very fortunate that our guests — from all walks of life and corners of the world — have loved Hoppers as much as we do, resulting in its global success. 

How was the experience of working on Hoppers: The Cookbook? What kind of target audience did you have in mind while putting it together?

I treated the cookbook with the same attention to detail as I would a new restaurant opening, except that this was on an international scale! I didn’t want to cater to our regulars and fans alone, instead, for me the success of the book was getting someone who had never heard of us excited about Sri Lanka, its food and Hoppers when they first read the book. I was very fortunate to have a great team on the book and my publisher was very cooperative with all my requests – whether it was having a bookmark ribbon that matched our floor tiles in Soho, or flying my Sri Lankan photographer Ryan Wijayaratne to shoot in London! 

The book goes well beyond our Hoppers menu and its four walls, celebrating the people we love and who influenced us along the way in Lanka. You get to visit and discover Lanka with us and see it through the Hoppers lens. The book has something for everyone and we spent a lot of time and effort revisiting and developing our restaurant classics for the home kitchen. 

What dishes would you recommend to someone who has never eaten a Sri Lankan meal?

From the book — make yourself big batches of the curry powders and then start with the red chicken curry or the chicken curry traybake. Once you’ve sunk your teeth in, spend a weekend making a lamprais! You won’t regret it. At the restaurants — mutton rolls, kothus, black pork curry and devilled dishes. And our egg hoppers or chilli cheese dosas, of course!

Where in Sri Lanka have you had your most memorable meal? 

I love wandering around Pettah Market in Colombo and following the sounds and queues. I’ve had some incredible banana leaf feasts and piles of crab curry at the many Tamil restaurants; burianis quail and all the currys at the Muslim joints around the Red Mosque; hoppers from street vendors; or late night kothus. As a word of warning, as with a lot of street food in that region of the world, you have to venture with some caution and eat at the busier spots to make sure you are eating the freshest food. All this said, my favourite meals have often been in people’s homes. 

Chintan Girish Modi can be reached @chintanwriting on Twitter and Instagram