Hoppers
JKS Restaurants’ latest venture, Hoppers, manages to stand out as unique in London. “There’s nothing with a menu like this,” says Karam of the concept that he first dreamt up a couple of years ago. It was inspired in part by growing up with and eating in the homes of his Sri Lankan friends. While former Duck Soup chef Emily Dobbs runs a street food pop-up called Weligama, serving hoppers on Druid Street Market, and some other Sri Lankan restaurants in Harrow and Tooting offer hoppers, none put the spin on the style of Sri Lankan and Tamil Nadu food that JKS has come up with for Hoppers, Karam asserts. It is Bao that Hoppers is probably most similar to, despite the fact that this will be the third Indian restaurant directly operated by the Sethi siblings, whereas Bao is rooted in Taiwanese food and is run by Erchen Chang, Shing Tat and Wai Ting Chung. Both, however, take a more casual approach. Bao, on Lexington Street, started off as a six-seat street-food stall and bar on Netil Market. Hoppers, meanwhile, costs diners about £20-£25 per head, including alcohol – not bad considering the food is supplied by restaurateurs with Michelin pedigree. Set in what is a relatively small site
on Frith Street in Soho, in what used to be Koya, the 36-cover venue serves around 150 people a day over lunch and dinner. While those who visited Koya would
recognise the layout of the site, a new bar has been added and the design is considerably different, thanks to the efforts of designer Katy Manolescue of Article Design Studio. Exotic touches abound, from the bar and windows festooned with pineapple plants, money plants and ferns, to the rattan ceiling and the ornate and heavily detailed tiling on the floor. There’s also a collection of vintage Sri Lankan posters adorning the walls, and then, of course, there are those masks. Group executive chef Rohit Ghai leads the
12 | Best of Chef | March 2016
“There’s nothing
with a menu
like this” Karam Sethi
omelette, and ash plantain fry; plus a selection of ‘rice and roast’ dishes, such as the buffalo biryani with bone marrow and buffalo yogurt; the Tamil spit chicken, with gotu kola sambol (a condiment with shallots, chilli and coconut, dried fish, tamarind, and lime juice); and the hogget kothu (minced) roti. Each hopper is cooked in a wok-type
‘appachatti’ pan to form a spongy pancake with crispy edges, served with a choice of meat, seafood or vegetable kari (curry) accompanied by three sambols (condiments): pol with coconut; seeni with a caramelised onion base; and katta, made with red chilli, onion and Maldive fish. Dosas are cooked on an Indian-made dosa
tawa (flat griddle), and again served with a meat, seafood or a vegetable kari option, plus a tomato and coconut chutney, a curry leaf chutney and a fresh coconut chutney. Both hoppers and dosas are available with
kitchen operations, but Karam was on hand to ensure the launch went smoothly. When it comes to the food itself, the hopper (made with ground white rice and coconut milk) and dosa (made with rice, black lentils and fenugreek seeds) takes a central role. The menu also features smaller snack dishes such as a pig shank roti (flat bread), rasa crab
or without a black pepper podi, which is a powder made from red chilli, urad dal, chana (split baby chickpeas), dal, sesame seeds, asafoetida and curry leaf sprinkled on the inside of the dosa as it cooks. Desserts include watalappam (steamed
custard with coconut milk and spices); and a falooda (cold dessert drink) of buffalo curd, salted cashew and candied ginger kulfi (frozen yogurt), rambutan fruit, coconut water and pandan plant jelly.
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