The hopper, a traditional Sri Lankan street food, is a serious contender for being considered a national treasure in its home country.
Predominately served as a breakfast food, this gluten-free, ‘almost-paleo’ snack has largely evaded the Western palate, until now.
Ruvanie, who runs Hopper Kadé, is so passionate about hoppers, you’ll start to feel excited before you’ve even seen one.
Growing up in New Zealand with Sri Lankan parents, Ruvaniehad hoppers on the daily, and when she met her partner, they discovered a shared love for this Sri Lankan snack that far surpassed a casual enjoyment. The Sri Lankan community in Sydney is strong, a real family that shares food and history. For Ruvanie and her partner, well, they were so obsessed they decided to build a business around this delicious carb.
In Sri Lanka you’ll find locals eating hoppers every morning. These gluten-free creations are made from rice flour, coconut milk and water, with a bit of yeast to help them ferment. They’re then made into a batter and shaped into a pancake.
Hopper Kadé (pronounced kah-day) saw Ruvanie and her partner team up with Kumar Pereira from the third season of MasterChef. The trio wanted to bring hoppers into the mainstream and steer Sri Lankan cuisine away from just curries and thick, spicy foods.
“There’s so many ingredients [we use] now; we are living in Western culture and not in a secluded island paradise,” says Ruvanie. “We all love ingredients like Nutella. We want people to swap out their normal carbs for hoppers. The fact that they are gluten-free opens up a whole new world of carbs to coeliacs.”
12 Hour Beef Hopper
The hard work has paid off for Hopper Kadé, and word is starting to spread. Its owners are bringing to Sydney some of the traditions of Ayurvedic practice; essentially a whole foods mantra that Sri Lankans try to live and prepare their food by. Many of the ingredients used in Hopper Kadé’s hoppers are whole foods, like tuna, coconut sambol and fresh coriander. Pereira contributed to the menu by creating a fantastically crispy chicken hopper, which is worth trying just for the sweet and tangy tamarind sauce.
The menu at Hopper Kadé features three different types of hoppers: a white hopper made with white rice and coconut milk, a red hopper made with fermented red rice and coconut milk, and a string hopper made with steamed white rice noodles.
The Ozzie Hopper
For savoury options to eat with your hoppers, you can choose from the crispy chicken, the Unawa-Tuna (spiced tuna with coconut sambol), or 12-hour marinated beef with Ceylonese curry sauce. For dessert you’ve got a clear winner in the Naana-tella (Nutella and banana), but the fruit and yoghurt dish is also fresh and inviting.
It seems like there’s nothing a hopper can’t do. Keep an eye out for a special new range of bespoke dessert hoppers created in collaboration withMasterChef‘s Neha Sen, which should be debuting later this year.
If you’ve never had a hopper, now is the time to try one, as they might soon be taking off into franchises like banh mi have done before them. These protein-filled delights may well be Sydney’s next big thing in food.
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Hopper Kadé at is located at the Tramsheds, Harold Park (1 Dalgal Way, Forest Lodge).For more head tohopperkade.com.au
