Sri Lankan Street Food — Restaurant in Sydney

We were very eager to try this restaurant after seeing great reviews. We have previously traveled to Sri Lanka and so our group thought it would be nice to relive that adventure.

They were fully booked, but offered takeaway. Between us we had dishes such as kottu roti, prawn curry, egg hoppers, string hoppers and lamprais.

When I placed the order, I was not advised of any delays (more on that later). Upon realising I had ordered string hoppers instead of egg hoppers immediately after my order, I asked if I could amend this but was told by the surly hostess that it was already being prepared. Ok great - must mean my food will be coming quickly! My group happily waited outside chatting. Until we noticed the time .. And that everyone who had ordered takeaway after us had gotten their food.

And suddenly it was half an hour after we ordered, and one person had gotten their food. Another 10 mins passed and 2 more of our group got their food. I headed inside at the 30 min and 50 min mark and was told my food was "coming", while there appeared to be a mad dash in the kitchen to locate it (the kitchen is open) - not a good sign.

I politely asked the same hostess how my food - that was supposedly being prepared immediately after my order - was not ready now 50 mins later, she rudely informed me that the string hoppers are put in the microwave and take 20 mins to defrost. 1) If it takes 20 mins to defrost what happened to the 30 mins after? and 2) Don't tell your customer you're defrosting their food in the microwave ..... Hospitality 101. She then told me that she had told me at the time of ordering that the food would take 30 mins due to how busy they were. This she did not do. I noticed that everyone who ordered while I stood there waiting, she mentioned this to. She then proceeded to ignore my existence and offered no apologies .

By the time the bag of food was in my hand (from another girl, who was very apologetic and polite) it had been exactly 60 mins since I placed my order. That sort of wait time is unacceptable - there are clearly some organisational issues that need to be rectified at the Glebe restaurant. I noticed that people who had sat down to dine in shortly after we ordered had finished their bottle of wine and had no food, and the kitchen seemed in constant chaos.

After all that, the egg hoppers and the lamprais were nice - the prawn curry was just ok. My Sri Lankan friend felt they could have been better, and perhaps it would be in the original...

I wanted to visit a Sri Lankan restaurant for sometime now. My friend suggested me Sri Lankan Street food. I reserved the table well in advance as walk-ins can be risky during Friday and weekends.

I liked the vibe here. Inner room where we were made to sit weren’t bright and I didn’t like it. I managed to click some photos and some beautiful artefacts hanging on wall.

We ordered chicken hoppers, veg kottu, chicken roll and paneer chilly.

Amongst all we loved vegetarian Kottu. A nicely presented dish with a generous quantity. Might not be enough for two people.

Chicken Hoppers were good at taste and presented beautifully with chicken curry, and sambol.

Chicken rolls is a best seller as per the staff. And without hesitation we tried it. I didn’t find it special or felt any extraordinary about it. The only good thing about it is that it’s less expensive.

I was surprised to see Paneer chilly dry on the specials and we ordered it. Honestly, this dish should not be a menu for following reasons: expensive less number of paneer pieces more veggies too many sauces makes it taste funny

Overall, I would want to visit it again for hopper and kottu. Service is fast and you won’t be waiting...

Really bad experience here. We ordered 2 dishes. Eggplant curry came to the table lukewarm with very little eggplant and a sauce exactly like chinese sweet and sour from a jar. It was accompanied by a half raw, soggy tortilla. The other item was brought alone on a plate and wrapped in piping hot plastic wrap. Oh, I wish I had taken a photo because the picture on the menu showed a lovely dish displayed on banana leaf! We opened it to find a smelly, yet somehow flavorless, pile of overcooked egg and rice with mysterious meat and other items. We complained but were told we couldn't return it and that the customers loved the presentation, lol! We asked to speak to the manager and were refused. When we said we would absolutely not eat it, the waitress finally agreed to bring us the lamb biryani instead. This dish looked all right and the flavors were ok but the meat was full of bone bits and gristle. There was also grit in the rice which made me wonder if my "street food" had actually spent some time on the sidewalk! So awful all around so I won't go back ever. Sydney is known for good food so I'm surprised this place can get away with serving...