Kothu Rotti

The few Sri Lankan establishments in the heart of Ottawa offering a choice of ethnic foods. The chicken kothu rotti is highly recommended although I would stay away from the butter chicken kothu rotti as it does not taste anything like butter chicken and is in fact sweet and creamy with chicken sausages used to make it. The restaurant owners are very courteous and represents a mom and pop style of an establishment. Lassi was a bit watered down. Given a options in Ottawa, I would still recommend the establishment if trying a cultural food is on your bucket list, although better options of other cultural foods maybe just around the corner.

My first time here and ordered "Mutton Kothu". The quality of the kothu was very bad. I tasted it as if some meat pieces in a vegetable gravy. Curry lacked the spices and aroma. Kothu was not cooked long enough. The guy just mix it all not letting it cook enough time on the griddle. I had few spoons and rest was put in the garbage.

I was so happy to find this place years ago. One of the only Sri Lankan food places in Ottawa, the other one being Ceylonta on Bank and from what I understand the present owner of Kothu was a cook there?? The first year I was a frequent regular, indulging in their vegetable Kut Rotti. The owner/cook made it to perfection, to my liking. He was always generous with his portions and gave me a complimentary coconut chutney on the side which was a small gesture that kept me coming back! He was always happy and smiling! Now, years later I can see how tired and worn out he is. He has no more smile on his face, the portions are still bigger than standard but less than his usual, the complimentary chutney is gone ( his wife made sure he charges me) and the perfect kut rotti is now imperfect. My last few trips there were disappointing, rotti was cold . He re cooked it in front of me but rushed through it. The time prior to that, something in the dish ( rotti or some of the pre made curried vegetable he added in) was tasting moldy and sour! Clearly I can see that this poor man is working himself to death and although I love his food I'm actually at the point that I feel so uncomfortable making him cook my order since he looks so tired and burned out. There is no doubt about it that the food is delicious but the owner/cook looks like he can use a holiday. There are only a few chairs to sit down and the place is always hot like an oven but somehow that never seems to bother me. I only hope the quality of his food doesn't go down.