Why isn’t Sri Lankan food better represented in Brisbane? Or Australia for that matter?

The Sir Lankan diaspora in Australia now numbers more than 160,000 people. By some estimates, that’s the fifth-largest in the world. Yet, notable Sri Lankan restaurants around the country are few and bar between: Lankan Filling Station, Kurumba and Colombo Social in Sydney, and maybe Okra and Citrus in Melbourne, among a few others.

In Brisbane, there’s Ceylon Inn in Graceville, but it mixes Sri Lankan cuisine with dishes from other parts of the Indian subcontinent.

Husband-and-wife team Sam Weerappuli and Nirosha Jayasekara spotted this gap in the market so back in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, they launched a Sri Lankan food truck called Cafe 299.

“We’d thought of opening a premises,” Jayasekara says. “But it was the Council that encouraged us to start with a food truck, to test the concept and to see how we manage it.”

“We were popping up outside of friends’ places,” Weerappuli adds. “After that, we thought, ‘Time to expand and maybe take it to markets.’”

The couple’s first experience was at Redcliffe Market, where they sold out of food in 45 minutes, Weerappuli says. More market gigs and catering jobs followed – along with a regular spot outside Red Bowler in West End – prompting Jayasekara and Weerappuli to open a production kitchen in Coorparoo. They added a handful of tables out front, which would often fill up with diners who had heard of Cafe 299 either through word of mouth or social media.

Now, they’ve opened their first proper bricks-and-mortar restaurant, Walkway to Ceylon, in the premises previously occupied by Yum Yum Duck in Stones Corner. Jayasekara and Weerappuli have given it a simple but smart fit-out, with concrete floors, yellow and black furniture, and an eye-catching timber bar that was designed by Jayasekara.

“Stones Corner felt like a good fit,” Weerappuli says, “and it had a good sized kitchen.”

What is Sri Lankan food? If your first thought is to wonder if it’s like Indian food, the answer is ‘kind of’. There are plenty of curries but there’s also a ready inclusiveness of non-native ingredients, given the island nation’s geographical position on traditional trade routes, and a greater focus on seafood – tuna in the south and shellfish in the west and north.

“I [describe] Sri Lankan food as a bit lighter and having multiple spices in its bases,” Jayasekara says. “There’s a lot of coriander, fennel, fenugreek. There’s cumin and cardamom, which is the same as [Indian food], but they make their garam masala completely differently, for example, and Sri Lankan five spice has a completely different taste.”

Weerappuli has expressed that in an efficient menu that covers starters, street food, and mains and stir fries.

You might begin with Sri Lankan-style fish cutlets (similar to croquettes) served with dipping sauce and salad, chicken crispy rolls (crumbed and deep-fried crepes stuffed with tempered potato, onion and Sri Lankan spice pancake), or potato onion and Sri Lankan-spiced vegetarian patties.

The street food mostly revolves around variations on roti. There’s kottu, where shredded roti is tossed with egg and vegetables, and served with a choice of protein, and a tomato and onion sambal, and curry sauce; egg roti, with paper-thin godamba-style roti folded over with eggs, cooked on the hot plate and served with curry and a traditional Sri Lankan chilli sambal; and coconut roti served with dhal, Sri Lankan chilli sambal and either a meat or vegetable curry.

For mains there’s a banana leaf feast that’s served with three curries and accompanied by a fish cutlet, rice, a pappadum and condiments; a Sri Lankan-style nasi goreng served with fried egg, a pappadum, chilli paste and an onion sambal; and vegetable or mixed fried rice.

Then there are the Sri Lankan stir fries, or devilled dishes, that are tossed in the wok with sauces, onion, capsicum with or without chilli – you can order these with either chicken, pork or tofu – and hot butter calamari and hot butter prawns.

There’s also a short menu of signature dishes that mostly focuses on seafood and requires pre-booking. It includes a Sri Lankan-style crab curry for two served with string hoppers (rice noodles), rice and a coconut sambal.

Drinks are anchored by a signature cocktail list. There’s also a compact selection of wines and a clutch of beers on tap and by the bottle, including Lion Lager from Sri Lanka.

“It’s been going well,” Jayasekara says. “We’ve had five events so far [since opening on December 10] … locals want us to start lunch, but we’re just making sure we sort our staff first. Then we’ll start lunch.”

Open Tue-Thu 5.30pm-9pm, Fri-Sat 5.30pm-10pm, Sun 5.30pm-9pm

1/417 Logan Road, Stones Corner, 0412 008 107

instagram.com/walkwaytoceylon