Kochchi - the rhythm and theatre of Sri Lankan food come to Glasgow's West End

It took 2500 bookings before it even opened, and as a result the owners felt compelled to close their new restaurant to walk-ins for the first few days. What, you might wonder, was the attraction? An expertly-curated social media campaign? That obviously helped, but the location of Kochchi, Glasgow’s new Sri Lankan restaurant, must surely have played a part.

It’s situated down a very cute mews lane off Byres Road in the city’s bustling West End, is close to the University of Glasgow and its numerous students of various ethnicities, and has taken over the space previously occupied by the popular Hanoi Bike Shop - and Stravaigin before that. (Incidentally, Stravaigin’s strapline, painted onto the red brick exterior, was “Think global, eat local” to chime with the ethos of its original owner, Ronnie Clydesdale, who opened the Ubiquitous Chip here in 1971 before moving it across the road to its current location. Stravaigin was its wee sister, run by Clydesdale’s son Colin. That “global-local” ethos will prove to be continued at Kochchi.)

Suki Jayaratne and Shehan Fernando

I only mention this last comment in my rather convoluted intro because immediately on entering Kochchi and meeting co-owners and best pals Suki Jayaratne and Shehan Fernando, I felt their love and affection for the little building and for what they have to offer. It’s their first stand-alone restaurant, following on from their popular small kitchen at Edinburgh’s Bonnie & Wild food market where they showcase Sri Lanka’s rich culinary heritage through flame-cooked street food. Kochchi adds to that with new dishes including regional curries, grilled seafood, street-style snacks, and flame-fired plates that celebrate the island of Sri Lanka’s coastal and urban flavours.

“As soon as we saw this building, we knew it was for us as it reminded us of home,” Suki told me. A £500,000 investment has transformed its rather tired previous iteration. Whitewashed internal walls, a large wall-to-wall state of the art bar on the ground floor, wooden beams and a swooping wooden ceiling fan on the first floor, and French doors leading out to a small heated balcony with lush greenery, all add to the sense of tropical heat, space and light. The red brick early 20th century exterior exudes a new warmth. 

This warmth is reflected in the menu - whose meat and seafood, I’m happy to report, is supplied by Campbells of Linlithgow. Actually, warmth morphs into heat, sometimes fiery heat, in the likes of a Kochchi starter of Mutton Roll. This South Sri Lankan street food snack is deceptively wrapped in a crisp pastry, deep fried breadcrumbs, and generously filled with minced mutton and potato. I got the full flavour of the meat before my tastebuds got whacked by its spicy hit. I loved it. This was followed by a pungent, smoky Black Pork Kotthu, which Shehan said was a dish he lived on as a teenager. “You hear it before you see it,” he said, referring to its preparation: the pork belly is bashed by metal plates against a hot plate to ease its shredding. I thought that in flavour and texture it was a bit like a cross between Nasi Goreng and Biryani, though with a stronger kick of dark roasted curry powder, tamarind, vinegar, ginger and a range of flavours wok-cooked with chopped vegetables and flatbreads.

A Colombo Chicken Curry was simply magnificent for its depth of new-to-me flavours, and a serving of hot devilled prawns came with the added relief of a topping of cool, fresh sliced veggies.

Overall, the heat felt somehow sharper and fresher than in some more familiar Indian dishes, which intrigued me. The reason perhaps is because all the single-origin tropical spices used here at Kochchi are sourced from artisan growers back home. These flavours can be sourced from all over Sri Lanka, whose climate in the north differs from that in the south. Shehan grew up in the Nuwara Eliva tea country hills, while Suki grew up around Kandy in the central highlands. The friends worked together in Colombo, the island’s capital on the West Coast, where the various influences merged in a culinary culture they describe as “rhythm and theatre”.

With that rhythm and theatre now centred in the sprawling energy of Glasgow’s cosmopolitan West End, the world is surely Sri Lanka’s oyster.

Check out more Glasgow restaurants

* KOCHCHI Glasgow, Ruthven Lane, West End, Glasgow G12 9BG.

Open daily 12noon-10pm. Visit www.kochchi.co.uk to menu and to book.