I am originally from the area some of the recipes are bang on and others have regional/cultural differences that was I not aware of. Stunning location photography, glorious food, warmth, personality and generosity suffuse the pages of this cookbook – join the Hoppers family in a personal and vivid journey exploring and celebrating the food from this extraordinary island.

Karan is a supremely talented chef – his beautifully curated selection of recipes will enliven your senses and transport you on a journey to Sri Lanka. It will want to make you cook, it will want to make you eat, it will fill your heart with warmth and it will want to make you get on the next flight to Sri Lanka.This dish of aromatic rice steamed over a rich curry is hugely popular in South Asia, with each region doing it slightly differently – be it the addition of potatoes, the variety of rice used, the spices that go into it or even the vessel it’s cooked in.

The book is a freewheeling foray into the island nation’s food culture, with beautiful photographs shot on location in Sri Lanka, as well as favourite dishes from the restaurants themselves. There's a bit of a task making the spice powders but once they're made you can jar them up and get quite a few meals out of them. Wrapping food in banana leaves before steaming or baking is a very common trick and is very popular across India. Maybe more pictures of the food would be beneficial for the end products but there were a lot of pictures of the locals which was great and meaningful.Co-founder and Creative Director of Hoppers, Karan Gokani grew up in Mumbai and came to England in 2005 to study law at Cambridge. Welcome to Hoppers, where the flavours, colours, aromas and sights transport you to the tropical warmth of Sri Lanka.