Experience authentic Sri Lankan street food in Richmond Hill on Canada Day

Tantalize your tastebuds with specialty dishes such as beef or chicken Kothu Roti

Yorkregion.com
June 30, 2023
Melissa Wallace

If you’re planning to join Richmond Hill’s Canada Day festivities at Richmond Green, 1300 Elgin Mills Rd. E., on July 1, there’s one more feature to look forward to.

A food stall serving traditional Sri Lankan fare will be there to tantalize your tastebuds.

“Picture freshly cut roti, tender meat and aromatic spices dancing together to create a flavour symphony that will transport your tastebuds to the vibrant streets of Sri Lanka,” said Neil Rajadurai, a Richmond Hill resident, who together with his cousin, chef Ramesh Sritheran, from Markham, will serve customers that day. “This is authentic food we make back home, it’s typically hot (spicy), but we’ll be making it mild to make it more palatable.”

The stall, which doesn’t have an official name, will have a sign advertising authentic Sri Lankan street food.

Dishes may range in price from $5-17 and include chicken rolls, meat patties and Kothu Roti, a specialty dish offered in beef or chicken that includes veggies, cabbage, leeks, onions, chilies and eggs, mixed with curry and chopped roti.

The cousins hope their food will expose people to new dishes and be accepted, and that it can perhaps become as popular as shawarmas have been in Ontario.

After Canada Day, they hope to serve multiple venues through a food truck, develop a strong proof of concept and then bring it to scale.

“[Sritheran] currently does private catering for Sri Lankan food for anybody and receives rave reviews,” said Rajadurai. “He took culinary arts at Humber College and can make North American food, but having been born and brought up in Sri Lanka, we wanted to bring the taste and food to the Canadian public, and it’s what we’re trying to do here.”