THE mention of appam with a huge moist, creamy centre and crispy edges had me visiting Lankan Cafe in Petaling Jaya a few days later. I love appam of any kind, and those at this cafe serving Sri Lankan food satisfied a craving.

I liked that it had a large soft centre that was sticky, lightly sweet with a little saltiness, with the lovely coconut aroma. I thought it had a whiff of toddy about it and that delighted me (but it’s merely due to the fermentation of the rice batter used to make it).  So there the three of us shared two appam – one with egg and one without.  I would have enjoyed it more if the egg had been perfectly turned out, without the yolk breaking.

Lankan Cafe in the old neighbourhood of Petaling Gardens is not just about appam. Last Saturday when we were there, a buffet had been laid out with vegetarian, fish, mutton, chicken and prawn bryani, accompanied by different kinds of sambol such as seeni sambol (onions), curry leaf sambol, pol sambol of grated coconut, katta sambol (spicy chilli) and mint sambol. 

The mutton bone curry on the buffet was particularly tempting, but who could eat so much bryani in one sitting? It was not cheap either at RM48, though the price includes dessert. 

Instead we ordered from the menu, selecting the vegetarian bryani,  the Negombo rice packet of mutton-baked rice, fish puttu and of course, appam. 

The vegetarian bryani was perfectly cooked, with each basmati grain separate and tinged with colour. It was lightly spiced, and so good eaten with the seeni sambol of sweet, spicy onions, curry leaf sambol and raita. We asked for the mint sambol too and I like how each sambol gave a different taste to the lovely rice. 

Puttu is rice flour steamed with coconut usually in a bamboo. The fish kottu puttu we had here was so delicious. The curried fish had been mashed up and blended with the puttu. I enjoyed the texture of the puttu embedded with the mildly spicy and very tasty fish.

It was a bit of an anti-climax with the Negombo rice packet, or koliyal (red) rice cooked with chilli, onions, leeks and venthiya kolumbu, a fenugreek curry. We chose mutton, and there were knobs of meat in the rice that was not as packed with flavour as we had expected.

Still all was forgiven when we had our heavenly appam. Our bill, with coffee, came to RM74.70 for the three of us.

It’s worth coming back on a Sunday for the rice and curry buffet which offers six vegetables, Jaffna crab curry and three desserts for RM38. But it’s so popular you need to make a booking for this.

I would also visit again for a la carte items like the mutton bone curry (RM35.90), Jaffna/Colombo/ Matra crab curry (RM45.90) and devilled fish (RM22.90). Lunch sets are RM13.90 (vegetarian curry) to RM25.90 (crab curry).

Lankan Cafe is at 388, 1st floor, Jalan 5/59, Petaling Gardens, Petaling Jaya, or call 03-7772 2575. – October 27, 2018.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.