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Hopper Hut
Category: Restaurants Indian Indian [Edit]
880 Ellesmere RdScarborough, ON M1P 2W6
Neighbourhood: Scarborough
(416) 299-4311
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 11 am - 10 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
27 reviews for Hopper Hut
Review Highlights
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"sri lankan is my newest crush." In 16 reviews -
"It was the Mutton Lampries that stole my heart though." In 10 reviews -
"...the 6 vegetarian curries steamed together in a banana leaf." In 6 reviews
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27 reviews in English
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Review from Olivia M.
2/20/2012
My brother-inlaw introduced me to this Sri-Lankan place. Located not far from where they live in Scarborough called Ellesmere Village, where you'll find West-indian groceries, and a huge Supermarket.
First we had the Lamprey...It's your choice of meat, Goat, Lamb, chicken or Fish Curry wrapped in Banana leaves with rice, boiled egg & salted fried anchovy . DELICIOUS!!! can't get enough of it...I tasted it all and I must confess, I like all of it...
Ehen I came back to New York I found one in the Village...and what did I order? Their Lamprey of course..An excellent choice...Listed in: Canadian Escapades
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Review from Vikas I.
Pickering, ON
For those of you who have never had Sri Lankan food before - They love to have their food spicy.
Food:
We ordered Plain Hopper, Veggie Rolls, Masala Dosai and Vegetarian Plate.
Plain Hopper: The plain hopper was almost exactly like a Dosa (Rice Crepe) but it was in a shape of a bowl. I am not a 100% certain but it had a hint of sweetness to it, so I'm assuming they add a little sugar to their Dosa batter for these hoppers, this hopper was useful to reduce the fire caused in my mouth from the vegetarian plate.
Veggie Rolls: Veggie rolls were mashed potatoes with various spices, turmeric that was deep fried in a bread batter, the inside tasted almost exactly like Masala Dosai filling. These rolls were fairly spicy, they served it with a hot ketchup!! I wouldn't order this one again until I build up some more steel plates on my tongue to handle the heat, but my partner who can handle much hotter foods enjoyed it.
Masala Dosai: I love south indian food and I have had masala dosa at many restaurants in the past. The one from here was excellent, it was more oily than what I am used to but it was still yummy. The chutneys that this was served with was just awesome, there was this red coconut chutney that was very flavourful. The filling was a potato filing and the Sambar served with it had actual whole cooked lentils in it which was an interesting texture, usually Sambar is served with lentils completely mashed up. I enjoyed this one very much and I would order it again. This was a main course that I ordered that wasn't spicy compared to everything else that we ate.
Vegetarian Plate: Serving size of this plate was massive, it could easily feed two people. It came on a stainless steel plate all wrapped up in a wax brown paper in the shape of a square. The brown paper is the same one used by butchers! When we unwrapped the brown paper there was a banana leaf with all the food wrapped inside it. Once we unwrapped the banana leaf, all the different dishes were mixed in served on a bed of rice. There was a potato dish, a veggie dish that appeared to be made of flat green beans, a dish with some coconut powder in it and a lentil dish. It was very spicy but there was rice that I was using to mix in to reduce the heat. The experience of eating on a banana leaf made ordering this worth while, I would order this again but I would share this with another person.
Drinks:
Chai: I wanted a chai, I have ordered a chai at a Sri Lankan restaurant before and it was nice and spicy, but the one here was just a tea bag served with hot water, milk and sugar. I was a little disappointed that it was not authentic where it is steeped with a mix of ginger and spices.
Ambiance:
For the price that you pay the ambiance was alright. The place is bright, so not good for a romantic dinner, plus the spicy food might have you breathing fire at your date, depending on what you order. The chairs could've been more comfy, but I'm not fussy about that stuff I was here for the food. When you enter this place it almost looks like a bakery with this huge display case in front, only in behind the display case is all the awesome Sri Lankan food that they offer, if you would like to be seated there is a walkway to the left that leads you into their dining area. Table was set when we arrived and we did not have to wait for a table, the dinner napkins are paper but were nice and thick.
Bathrooms:
The washroom was clean, which is what I like to see because if a washroom is dirty I think the kitchen would be in the same condition. They have a hand wash station next to the washrooms because a lot of people eat with their hands, so if you enjoy that it is recommended that you wash your hands before and after your meal.
Service:
Service was fast and they offered suggestions when we asked. Our server kept our glasses of water filled as required which was important for me as I'm not used to the spice level in the stuff that I ordered.
Parking:
There is plenty free parking available in the parking lot right at the front of this restaurant. -
Review from Joey J.
1/10/2012 1 Check-in Here
What is the power of a good Yelp review? Write one well enough and you'll go to the ends of the Earth to try their restaurant of choice. Or in this case, to the ends of the Toronto subway system. My lady has a Yelp crush on a Detroit reviewer. It's been a rewarding crush, as it has led us to an introduction to El Salvadorian and now Sri Lankan Cuisine. More to the point, it's changed our definition of lampries from fish that clings onto sharks to kick-ass curry stew dish.
So what is a lamprey you ask? It's a package of meat, curry, yellow rice and an egg, wrapped to cook in a banana leaf. When you open it up, it's like opening the best present under the Christmas tree. And this is coming from someone who had a Weber grill under the Christmas tree this year. Inside, you find perfectly stewed meat (chicken just waiting to fall off the bone in this case). The curry adds just enough spice to make your mouth burn without the painful need to guzzle the nearest liquid, be it soda, water, milk or lighter fluid.
The lady, however, would argue that the chicken kottu rotti was the winning dish. It was probably the least spicy thing we ate, but it had a good flavor to it especially when it was doused with lime juice. We also tried the #1 Hopper combo (1 Egg Hopper, 3 Plain Hoppers) with sambol, which was more for those of a spicy inclination. The hopper was almost as if an Indian restaurant hired a French chef to cook naan, and ended up with something more akin to a crepe. It was light, airy and the perfect sidekick to the spicy sambol.
For about $15, we got enough food to feed an army. We can't wait to come back and take a another trek to Sri Lanka on our next Toronto trip. -
Review from Yvonne T.
I grew up in Scarborough and have always had a lot of Sri Lankan friends. I would say 95% of my friends are. The weird thing is that I have never experienced Sri Lankan cuisine.
At around 9:30PM, my hungry boyfriend calls and tells me he hasn't had dinner and tasks me with finding a place to satisfy his growling belly. I think SO's with Yelp SO's are lucky! Seeing as by the time he wrapped up with his buddies it was 10:30PM, I had to get creative as not many places stay open that late. I gave him 3 choices, and he picked Hopper Hut.
Although most people have written about the lampries, we opted for the Kottu Chicken. I am such an amateur when it comes to West Indian/Indian cuisine and felt intimidated as I stepped into the restaurant. Its like when a foreigner goes to dim sum and the menu is all in Chinese, and all they can do is lift the steamers and point... That would've been me at Hopper Hut.
Fortunately, the SO is a pro when it comes to West Indian/Indian cuisine and knew exactly what he wanted. I had already had dinner, so I was really just there for company.
I did however snag a few bites, and it was absolute delicious! We had ordered the mild, but it was still pretty spicy. The portion sizes are extremely generous... It would probably count as 2 portions for me, but the SO is a big boy, so he gobble it all up.
There is a seating area behind the food counter, though I'm not sure if the menu is different as we didn't explore.
I will definitely come back and try some of their other offerings! -
Review from William T.
Scarborough, ON
6/29/2011
9:30PM I am peckish & not about to eat some McFastfood.
I am pretty familiar with Indian & Sri Lankan foods & I usually judge places on how tasty & copious in amount their Kothu Rottis are.
I got some chicken kothu & not only was it delicious, but copious in amount as well. I ordered the mild, but it was still pretty spicy. Again the portions could be shared between two people but I am glutton & one box does me in real good.
There is seating in the store. Overall I was very impressed with the Kothu Rotti & I will definitely come back to try other menu items!Listed in: Takeout on the cheap
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Review from Giuliana B.
SCARBOROUGH, ON
Updated - 12/10/2010
On my return visit I opted for take out. The place was busy on a Tuesday evening, a sign of just how good this little gem is. We got the chicken Lamprie and a few bite size samosas, and it all came to $10.00.
The Lampries are massive and good to feed 2 people. The chicken was tender and juicy, and everything inside (rice,curry sauce,potatoes,sardines,egg and pickled veggies) were all spicy and delicious. I love this thing! The samosas were a bit too greasy, but tasty nonetheless.
I am so glad that this place is whiting easy reach for me because this place offers really good food, friendly service and amazing value.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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9/23/2010
I was excited about trying out Sri Lankan cuisine, and since everyone seems to absolutely love this… Read more »
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Review from Jennifer K.
Markham, ON
9/23/2010 8 photos
After eating at Hopper Hut, I now daydream about eating Sri Lankan food.
I just love Hopper Hut!
Lampries! I love the Lampries! Not only that it is sizable, cheap can feed 4 of me, the spicy in there are so complex... with all those different spicies in it and serving steaming hot.. oh what I treat! Even I am not into Mutton (I don't eat lamb, goat!!) but the Mutton Lampries is A+ OK for me!
All the items are delicious. And it is a good restaurant for sharing with your friends or fellow yelpers
The owner of the restaurant that served us are really nice and friendly and with a nice smile!
I definitely will be back! LAMPRIES!! -
Review from Linda K.
East York, ON
3/29/2011 1 Check-in Here
Went last night based on the write up in the Weekly Yelp and I am definitely a fan! For $35, including a big tip, the two of us ate like royalty. We had: Hopper Combo #2, plain rotis (2), pitthu combo with the mutton curry (soooo good), and a vegetarian lampries.
Sure it's not a fancy location or atmosphere, but the food is so good and so inexpensive that absolutely outweighs the lack of ambiance. It's not an "impress the boss/in-laws" kind of place. It's a "i love tasty food" place.
For cheap and cheerful and amazingly tasty, you can't beat the Hopper Hut. -
Review from Nish N.
8/7/2008
My parents have been known to drive from Rochester to Toronto for a fix of the Hopper Hut. This joint does Sri Lankan food justice: vadais, seeni sambal, curries, of course hoppers, it's all here.
Warning: when they say spicy, they mean it. Fiery times for your mouth and belly will ensue. -
Review from Janelle W.
7/11/2009 6 photos
Cruel and unusual punishment is an 8:00 a.m. physics lecture three days a week your freshman year of college. To make matters worse, our lecturer sounded like Ben Stein calling out, "Bueller? ... Bueller? ... Bueller?" The only thing that kept me awake during those lectures was chatting with my Sri Lankan lab partner about her homeland.
She talked about beaches and ancient ruins. Of low prices and $100 American jeans she bought for only 100 rupees (the equivalent of less than one U.S. dollar). And she spoke of fresh hoppers and sizzling kottu roti.
That was seven years ago. Ever since, I've longed for a taste of Sri Lankan cuisine. You can count all of the Sri Lankan restaurants in the U.S. on one hand--none of which are very accessible to me. But finally, the stars aligned when I found the Hopper Hut in Toronto.
This is a dive at the end of a suburban Toronto strip mall that hadn't seen a non-Sri Lankan through its doors since the health inspector three months ago. Many would cringe at the hole in the drywall, the shaky tables, the scratched plates, and the dim lighting. But the minute we walked in, my husband and I knew this would be one of the greatest meals of our lives.
Our foresight was dead on--Hopper Hut is now the proud owner of T.J.'s best meal of his life award.
The menu doesn't describe anything--an indication of authenticity and a clientele who knows Sri Lankan food. If you're a Sri Lankan cuisine novice like me, ordering is like decoding a treasure map--you're not sure you're on the right track, but when your treasure arrives, it's fantastic.
== Hoppers with Sambol ==
These dainty, bowl-shaped rice flour crepes are light and airy. They're a little bit Indian naan, a little bit Ethiopian injera bread, a little bit French crepes. Egg hoppers have an over-easy egg nested in the bottom. Pull off a piece of egg hopper, and use it as a utensil to pick up coconut onion sambol... the most phenomenal thing I've ever eaten.
== Kottu Roti ==
Uniquely Sri Lankan, roti--rice flour bread--is chopped bluntly, then grilled with meat and vegetables. Spiced with chilies and curry, kottu roti is a textural and taste sensation. Chewy, starchy, spicy, and filling. It's street food, comfort food, late-night food, breakfast food... It's everything... It's perfect.
== Biryani ==
Sure, you can get biryani at most any South Indian restaurant. But I'll bet a load of toonies you can't get biryani this good! The rice was fluffy and flavorful, filled with spicy chunks of tender chicken, and served with a hard boiled egg, a chicken leg, and a crisp vadai.
== Lampries ==
The gift that keeps on giving. Six curries over rice, with a hard boiled egg, are wrapped in a banana leaf, steamed, then wrapped in butcher paper for serving. Opening up this package, I felt like a little girl on Christmas morning, with eyes wide as saucers when I uncovered a new curry, each one even tastier than the last. Cooked long and slow, the chicken couldn't have been more eager to fall off the bones.
One thing I remember from that physics class seven years ago is Newton's First Law: "Every body persists in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed."
That's me. I'm the body, who will every few weeks, be moving from Detroit to Toronto until I run into the Hopper Hut, and it will change my state from hungry to happy. -
Review from Kat F.
Third time's a charm - after two failed attempts at gracing this Sri Lankan mecca with our presence (they were undergoing renovations earlier this year), I finally made it here!
It's closer than you think: only a 20 minute** ride by subway and LRT from the Danforth stretch of the Bloor/Danforth line at Ellesmere station. Seriously, it's right at the TTC's doorstep and no reason for you not to come here, unless you hate guzzling cheap and satisfying food.
I ordered an Egg Hopper ($5), which is a sort of crepe made from fermented rice flour and fashioned into a 'bowl shape', with a fried egg dropped inside. I highly recommend it with the egg, but you can get plain ones too.
Next was the Vegetarian Lamprai ($7), which was an incredible value considering the sheer volume of food. Basmati rice circled by six types of vegetarian curry (pending availability), wrapped in a banana leaf and then baked and served in butcher paper (see photo). There was beet curry, green beans, lentils as well as okra and tomatoes. All nicely spiced and full of different flavours, but not too hot. I sampled some of Danielle's fish lamprai as well and when I come back, this is what I'll order. It had many types of fish (some deboned, some not) that were infused with curry flavour and extremely tender. Were it not considered rude I would have continued eating from her plate till everything was gone.
I feasted like a beast for just $12.
My only regret is that I didn't take a closer look at all the prepped snacks and appetizers in the takeout area out front. There were dozens upon dozens of fried crepes, mutton roti, samosas, rice balls and other bite-sized things that all needed explanation. I wanted to eat everything in sight.
**TTC permitting, of course. -
Review from Shari M.
Toronto, ON
3/7/2010 1 photo
As a first timer to Hopper Hut I was really pleased. Also as pleased were my fellow Yelpers. All new to Hopper Hut as well. As proud Yelpers, and purveyors of cuisine around the world, we informed our very helpful waiter that this was our first time having Sri Lanken food. The service we were greeted with throughout our entire meal was great.
The menu has some poor English translation, but absolutely can be overlooked as the pictures of the food on said menu will make your mouth water.
The take out area, sit down restaurant and bathrooms are all very clean. If you are going for the eat in option, be sure to check out the display of food in the take out area on your way in. You will want one of everything!
Go with a group. Everyone get something different and share. Portions are huge! I got the beef roti (see attached). I think I have found my new favourite roti casing. The texture of the roti is thicker and fluffier than Mother India, nothing like Caribbean roti. This roti is far from dry. It is in a word, heavenly. The flavour of the beef was so robust. Fennel is a dominant spice, but marries well with the rest of the seasonings. The beef, although a bit dryer than I like, was very tasty and was accompanied very well by tons of onions and the curried sauce.
The hopper is so good. It really is a crowd pleaser. The crepe-ish bowl is crispy at the top, and more doughy in the centre - something for everyone's preference.
As Chris P mentioned, not all of the items on the menu were available when we went. Maybe because we were there for lunch? Not sure.
This place can be hard to find. It is in the back of a plaza that sits on the north west corner of Ellesmere and Kennedy. If you are driving along Ellesmere and go past the Highland Farms grocery store, you have gone too far.
I will absolutely be going back. Oh - did I mention it is uber cheap?! My huge roti, a can of pop and a hopper, came to a whopping total (including tax) of $7!! There was enough roti, after sharing, for me to have leftunders the next day. -
Review from WaYnE c.
Maple, ON
9/21/2010
Hopper Hut is way back in the corner of this plaza and if you're not a local resident that walks the area, it is definitely an unknown until great Yelpers put this place on the map. As this place has been reviewed a few times already, I'll keep it short and sweet(SPICY in this case).
There is the traditional path of parking in front of the restaurant/take-out shop or the more local/sketchy narrow ghetto pathway from the back where you can get across to the Baskin Robbins on Kennedy road. There's only enough space for one person at one time and you'll even notice a Hopper Hut take-out plastic bag on the ground letting you know you're on the right path.
Hopper Combo(#2) is a great option as an introduction to Hoppers. Egg, Milk, Plain were all tasty. The Sambol didn't really get my attention but it's served separately which means totally optional, therefore I enjoyed the Hoppers as is. Fyi, Sambol did wake me up a bit with the spiciness.
Chicken Roti($6+) came unconstructed which seemed to be a popular culinary gimmick at some time prior. The bowl of Chicken along with sauce was delicious and the Roti Wrap made for an excellent source to soak up the sauce. Maybe a bit on the small portion size, so order 2 next time.
Mutton Lampries($8.00) was a Banana Leaf bundle of Mutton, Rice, Veges, Beans, Curries and more that melted the flavours nicely together. It gave me an initial head sweat but as it calmed down I was able to finish most of it, maybe even a bit more.
The friendly Host(Man) really did a great job for us, but it's unfortunate that he was on his own out in the front which meant he had to man the front Take-Out counter most of the time and wasn't able to have proper vision to the dining area when we needed some additional service(Water). Yes Yes, the Water was for me. Thanks for the person going out to get more Water for me.Listed in: 4+ ****Stars****, This is why I'm Hot!
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Review from Original E.
Toronto, ON
3/1/2010
A few years ago my Sri Lankan buddy introduced me to his national cuisine, and I'm happy to say that the Hopper Hut broke my cherry.
If ever you want to learn more about Sri Lankan food google Anthony Bordain when he show cased this exotic original cuisine, along with the help from a famous Sri Lankan food author.
The hopper itself is a thin crepe made with coconut milk and flour in the shape of a small basket, they use a tiny wok to make it. It's crispy on the edges and moist on the bottom, you can also have an egg hopper with a lovely runny yolk smiling up at you.
Curries can be very spicy, but the owners are cool and they usually ask if you want it mild. I go for the red eye burn, for me it's how to really experience this exquisite food.
I had deep fried king fish with chopped chilies and red onions, oh so crispy and when you chomp into those chiles it's just so nice, squeeze some ripe limes right over the whole thing. There's also a few chutneys that come with the dish; coconut, onion, fruit, super!
I also had mutton curry, and chicken biryani, what can I say, not too oily, rich in spices, wash that down with a ginger beer.
Price is cheap, I think you're getting a real deal considering the food is done with TLC. Can't forget to mention this lttle dumpling they make. Don't remember the name but it's a type of samosa, but not fried.
It's a square pastry stuffed with veggies and curry then griddled crispy, I can eat a dozen of these four bite wonders.
And fyi, next door there's a Sri Lankan bakery, you can get interesting stuff there, for me it's the kind of snacks that I'd pack down with a hot tea.
Hope you give it a try, for me worth the drive into Scarborough. -
Review from Jon O.
11/15/2009
First venture into Sri Lankan food and I must say Hopper Hut definitely passed the test!!
Loved everything we ordered however the spicy coconut sambal and the 6 vegetarian curries steamed together in a banana leaf? was truly amazing and that dish alone would garner 5 stars!!! Deeeelicious!!
Hoppers are great in lieu of utensils-haha (they do give you utensils, btw, but the hoppers were more fun)...All in all, it was a fun messy food fest, perfect balance of herbs n spices....what more could one ask for???? -
Review from Wendy C.
8/18/2010
I haven't been here for a while, and almost forgot that the place is not visible from the street, and can be easily missed.
There were a lot of media activities going on inside and in front of the restaurant when we were there because it was the day that Canada decided to allow the asylum seeker ship from Sri Lanka to dock in B.C. We watched our waiter tactically avoided camera man, dangling cords, and interview-seeking reporters while providing pretty good service to customers. Brilliant!
Since Janelle W has provided excellent description of Hoppers, Lampries, etc., I will just pile on her comments:
-- Milk hopper is great with gooey sweet coconut milk at the bottom/centre; the surface is firm enough to form a thin crust but the inside remains soft. Some people eat it as a dessert, but I have it with my meal, rip a piece off and use it to scoop up Kuttu Roti or whatever (amazing sweet and savoury combination).
-- String Hoppers are rice noodles. It has a nice and unique texture compared to other versions of rice noodles from Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai/Singaporean cusines, soft and slightly springy but not chewy, probably because it's made by forming the rice flour dough first and then forced through a sieve-like equipment to make the noodle strings. Give it a try.
-- Lots of great snack items to be picked up from the take-out counter for people on-the-go. I am partial to the stuffed Roti rolls (chicken or mutton, with potatoes, seasoned nicely and add half of a perfectly boiled egg) -
Review from Bahi K.
Scarborough, ON
Updated - 7/19/2011
Had a couple of friends visiting from out of town, and we dropped by mid-afternoon to grab some food. We sampled a little bit of everything, eating like kings to our hearts content and our total bill came to something like $12/person. Amazingly cheap for food this good. If you're in Scarborough, do yourself a favour and stop by.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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6/11/2011
My relatives dropped by today with some mutton rolls and veggie patties ordered at Hopper Hut. Boy,… Read more »
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Review from Chris P.
In a word, delicious. That sums up Hopper Hut. The food is fully authentic and the portions are massive. None of the five of us Yelpers that went for lunch could finish what they had ordered. The waiter was extremely helpful with navigating us through the menu as none of us had eaten Sri Lankan before. Also, he spoke perfect English, bonus!
Make sure you try a hopper. It's similar to a pancake or crepe but in a bowl shape. I had the Chicken Kuffti Roti which is like a normal roti except they chop up the bread into the dish. My suggestion is that you order what you want, but the whole table shares what they ordered because any way to look at it you'll be taking home a doggie bag.
My only hit on this place was that they were out of a few things and the waiter had to go to the kitchen a couple of times while we were ordering to see if they had what we wanted. The once dessert we all wanted to try, the pineapple pluff, was not available that day. -
Review from Matthew S.
Toronto, ON
3/10/2010
Hopper Hut was my first experience with Sri Lankan food and, while my experience was mixed, it was certainly worth the trip out to Scarborough to try this unique cuisine. Portions were large, prices low, and the food was interesting and mostly good. The restaurant has a takeout counter up front and a sit down restaurant, which was totally empty on a Tuesday evening, in back.
Our server was very friendly and helped explain the menu to us; most items were unfamiliar to us. We were eating vegetarian and there were plenty of meat-free options on the menu. Refer to janelle w's excellent review for an explanation of the main dishes on the menu. We had:
Hopper Combo #3 ($5.25): One egg hopper, one milk hopper, and two plain hoppers with coconut onion sambol. We really enjoyed all three types of hoppers. The milk hopper (coconut milk not cows milk) is sweet and meat to be eaten with white sugar. The other two hoppers are savoury and meant to be eaten with the sambol. I've never had sambol before but I found it a little dry for me, otherwise it's tasty.
Kottu Roti ($5): This was our favourite dish. It had great flavour and the lime wedge it was served with really added to it. This was the spiciest dish we had but I wasn't unbearably spicy.
Vegetable Lampries ($7): Six vegetarian curries and rice wrapped in a banana leaf and baked. This was the dish I was most excited about and it looked amazing when it came out. Unfortunately, while good, it turned out to be our least favourite of the three dishes we ordered. I really disliked a couple of the curries in the dish and, while the others were tasty, since they were all combined together I had to pick around the bad ones.
Overall the food didn't live up to the high expectations I had for Hopper Hut. It was good but I kept feeling like it could probably be done even better. Sri Lankan food has tons of potential and I felt Hopper Hut wasn't fully tapping that. Of course, I've never had Sri Lankan before so I could be totally wrong. I'll certainly try Sri Lankan again but next time I'll probably go to another place for comparison.
For now, I'll give Hopper Hut three stars for the friendly service, low prices, and above average food. I'll adjust the rating accordingly as a try more Sri Lankan places. -
Review from Arun P.
Toronto, ON
10/6/2010 1 Check-in Here
Good tamil/south indian food, spicy too. Value for $
You should try the various Biriyani combos here... definitely stimulating your taste-buds ;-) -
Review from Danielle E.
Toronto, ON
3/8/2010
Sri lankan food is like indian food in high def. Flavors are deliciously overwhelming, portions are shockingly excessive and the price was dirt cheap!
As I've said before I'm having a full on love affair with indian cuisine, be it east west or island, I just can't seem to get enough. Now I'm not sure if it is because they do vegetarian so well, or if it is the intoxicating layers of flavor.
A few true Canadians and Susan ventured to the Hopper Hut. With a gleam in our eyes and an adventurous palate we perused the menu with high expectations. Let's just say for me anyways, thank goodness for the pictures! As a new indian eater some of the commonly known terms were lost on me. So I stuck out my tongue and tasted our waiters' recommendation.
I had the seafood lampries, basically a few curried dishes with fish potatoes and rice. The massive paper pouch held a cacophony of flavours, some I loved to taste, and some I'd love never to taste again. But fantastic overall!
We each nibbled on the others' platters and found that we could barely make a dent in the sheer amount of food. A subtle hint from the waiter would have been helpful, but we each left full and fired up. Literally fired up, the food was HOT!
So if you go to this delightful little place, come with an empty stomach an adventurous palate and make sure you try a hopper. Great company doesn't hurt either.
The only reason dropped a star was because towards the end of our meal the owners lit some sort overpowering incense and I had to literally run from the building due to a powerful allergic reaction. . I'm still sporting the hives to prove it.
Bottom line...sri lankan is my newest crush!Listed in: I've got a crush on you...I've…, UYE Me B*tch
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Review from A.J. S.
4/21/2010
Sri Lanka formerly known as Ceylon lies off the Southern Coast of India. Unsurprisingly it has a number of different influences ranging from Indian to the various traders who have passed through. The food is similar in some ways to Indian food, as it tends to use cardmom, cumin, turmeric. However there are differences in the actual ingredients such as the fishes they use.
The funniest thing about the Country that I have always found, is that the first introduction to Sri Lanka that Indians have is through the story of Ramayan. In which a demon king from the country comes and steals the main protagonists wife, and they go to war. Beyond that the country has a pretty rich history, but I'm not going to go into the politics of it here.
I myself haven't seen a lot of this type of cuisine, usually the food tends to be pervasively South Indian rather than from Sri. Lanka. I like the food here well enough, the hoppers are pretty decent, though we got an odd fish smell from some of the rice. The food is usually spiced pretty well.
The hoppers were the best I have had anywhere though. I don't know if they were cooked right because I don't have a lot of experience with them, but they tasted pretty good.
The service I have found has been generally decent.
The restaurant itself is a kind of smallish place which generally seems to be clean. -
Review from Radford T.
Wow Hopper Hut. Where do I begin? The food here was awesome. My sister and I visited Toronto recently and I had started a thread in the Toronto Talk page asking for suggestions on restaurants to try. Kat F chimed in to say that she has a List Of Things For New Yorkers To Do In Toronto list. Hahhah! It's Yelp sarcasm. Very funny.
But wait. She wasn't kidding. She really does have such a list. And it's got 28 items on it. At the time of this review, Kat F has 101 lists. She is out of control with those lists. If it is possible to have lists of lists, she'd probably have a few of those, too.
And so it was, from this list I picked out Hopper Hut. I have never had Sri Lankan food before, and neither has my aunt, two cousins, and my sister. Altogether there were five of us ready to try Sri Lankan food for the first time. We had no idea what to expect. A few of us thought it would be like Indian food. But there are different regional varieties of Indian food, I maintained. And I wondered, to what kind of Indian food exactly would it be similar? We arrived at the restaurant on a Tuesday night and it wasn't busy at all. The space inside Hopper Hut is not big and there were two or three other tables of people eating.
We sat down and told the waiter than none of us had ever had Sri Lankan food before. Very friendly, and patient in explaining some of the dishes to us, he was able to immediately give us suggestions on what to try. Egg Hoppers, Mutton Lampries, Kothu Rotti with chicken, and Masala Dosai. Hoppers are a Sri Lankan specialty and they were also the namesake of the restaurant itself. So what is a hopper? It is difficult to describe, but I'll try: a bowl-shaped thin-pancake made with rice flour. I think it's cooked by frying. Confused? Ok go look at a picture. The Egg Hopper is a hopper that is cooked with an egg fried in the middle, and it is quite a tasty delight. The Masala Dosai had what looked like a very long rolled-up crepe along with sauces to dip, and the Kathu Rotti with chicken was a flavourful and spicy dry curry dish. It was the Mutton Lampries that stole my heart though. This lamb and rice dish with a boiled egg wrapped in banana leaves was delicious, meaty, and spicy. My mouth is watering right now thinking about it while writing this review.
I now have a mission - to find good Sri Lankan restaurants in New York City. Unrelated note: it seems from the food we had that Sri Lankans love eggs. I think there was at least one egg in almost every dish we had. I think that's pretty great. I love eggs, too.
Some links:
The Toronto Talk thread I started.
http://www.yelp.ca/top...
Kat F's List Of Things For New Yorkers To Do In Toronto.
http://www.yelp.com/li...Listed in: Toronto Eats
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Review from Rohan d.
11/8/2010
Nish N, your parents come up to Toronto from Rochester to eat at the Hopper Hut? I find any excuse to come to Hopper Hut from Milwaukee! My father is Sri Lankan, I so miss this food, there isn't any Sri Lankan restaurant, authentic or otherwise, anywhere in the American Midwest. Hopper Hut is the best and closest place for real Sri Lankan hoppers. It's tasty, spicy, authentic, delicious, cheap, in the city's ugliest restaurant ever. I'm actually drooling on the keyboard right now so I have to cut this review short. Amma, mata badagini!
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Review from Leeor J.
5/14/2010
This place is ... interesting. I had never tried Sri Lankan food before, but I figured since I like all the surrounding regional foods i couldn't go wrong.
I started with the egg hopper. It was ok. The texture is nice and they give you this strange chunky spicy stuff to eat it with (I would have preferred something spicy with a sauce consistency - but it tasted good). In any case, I wouldn't return just for these.
I forget the name of the main dish I had, but it was this massive rice & meat dish cooked and served in an enormous banana leaf. It was HUGE. Too much food for two people. And it seemed like it had everything but the kitchen sink in it: beef, chicken, rice, tamarind, vegetables, even some little sardine type of fish. Most of the meat was of the end trail variety with lots of bones in it. Didn't make for easy eating. It was mildly spicy. Probably not overwhelming for the average person who likes their food a little spicy. The dish did seem a little overcooked as it was a bit dry. But, a decent dish nonetheless.
I'm definitely glad I checked it out but I can't say I will be going out of my way to go back. Maybe If i'm with a really open-minded friend who wants to try something different. Oh yeah, this place is dirt cheap. that massive banana leaf thing was only $7. -
Review from Pauline G.
Toronto, ON
7/18/2010 2 Check-ins Here
First time trying Sri Lankan cuisine and was really impressed. Tried the hopper combo, chicken buriyani and chicken curry. There is no lack of flavour and you get so much food. I would've ordered less if I knew that hoppers are not good for leftovers - best to eat them fresh. Will definitely visit again
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Review from Vinesha P.
3/6/2010
I like their appetizers. The food is good, but very spicy. The staff is friendly.
