Driving through Battaramulla I, quite intentionally, came across an interesting little establishment near the Diyawanna Jogging Track. EatRite, a part of Susiko Bakers, is working with the Ministry of Housing in promoting (healthier) rice flour products – which includes local delicacies like milk toffees and kawung.
Eatrite from afar looks like your ordinary short eats shack, but on closer inspection it’s easy to see it’s much more. They specialize in making traditional local sweets like halapa, aasmi, konda kawun, kokis, coconut cakes and pol toffee. They only serve things that are made locally, so don’t expect to find any Coca Cola or even any Milo packets, they don’t have it. Instead, what you’ll find are local brands like Kotmale and Elephant House.
Their sweets are actually really nice. I went over there this morning and bought some milk toffees, Bombay sweets and coconut cake and pani kadju. The Bombay sweets were my favourite – sooo good, even the milk toffees were absolutely delicious. If you ever feel like treating your colleagues at the office, fatten them up with some of these. The coconut cakes are apparently good too, I’m personally not a huge fan but do try them out because – it’s supposedly their best seller.
It’s a pretty neat little shop if you’re ever looking for some traditional treats – keep this place in mind for the next Sinhalese and Tamil New Year. The sweets are honestly better than anything I’ve tasted before and I’m really letting my grandma down by saying that.
Apart from that they do serve short eats and tea, I can see this being quite popular with all the offices around. They also sell ‘kehel kole’ (banana leaf) rice packets – very nice, I like.