House of Curry, located in Rosemount, is, as you know, the Twin Cities Metro’s premier Sri Lankan restaurant. Okay, so it’s also the Twin Cities Metro’s only Sri Lankan restaurant. But as it happens they serve very good food. We’ve always enjoyed our meals there, usually eaten in combination with an outing to the nearby movie theater. They were in our pandemic takeout rotation in 2020 (here and here) but we lost sight of them after that. I ate their food at a couple of catered events at the college over the last couple of years and kept making a note to get back there in person soon. I’m happy to say I finally managed to do so twice in the last three months. The first occasion was lunch with a friend in August, after, yes, a movie outing (Deadpool and Wolverine, if you must know). The second was dinner this past weekend with an old friend in from out of town. Here’s a quick look at both meals.

The restaurant is essentially unchanged. Prices have risen a little since our last meal—as they have everywhere else—but the menu is also exactly as it was the last time we got takeout from them. I don’t say this to note disappointment: we enjoy their food. And I continue to appreciate the fact that they doggedly put out only Sri Lankan food. There’s no Indian food of any kind on the menu, not even a few dishes as a sop to people who see “curry” on the sign and come in expecting to eat chicken tikka masala or something like that. There are curries on the menu but they’re not the type you get in North Indian restaurants, being closer to the coconut milk-infused curries of the South Indian coast (not too far from Sri Lanka). If you have not eaten this food before these curries may not be very familiar but odds are very good that you will enjoy them very much, just as they’re good that you’ll enjoy the many non-curry items on the menu. Both my meals featured dishes from different parts of the menu.

At lunch in August my friend and I split an order of their chicken rolls to start. Served with mint chutney, these are in fact cylindrical croquettes and they were just as good as they’ve always been. We then each got an order of their rice meals. These are their versions of thalis. You choose a curry and it comes with rice and two veg dishes of your choice and some papads/pappadums. My friend got the chicken curry with dal and beans as his veg sides. I got the lamb curry with ratu ala (sauteed beets) and a dry potato dish as my sides. We pretty much split all of this as well and both enjoyed our meals very much. Oh yes, we closed with an order of their watalappan, which remains one of my favourite desserts in Minnesota (think a cross between flan and bread pudding with a strong cardamom flavour).

At dinner this past weekend my other friend and I also split croquettes to start but this time we got the fish cutlets. These are served with an excellent chilli paste and were also as good as they’ve always been. What else did we get? Rather a lot, I’m afraid. An order of their string hoppers entree, which comes with a choice of curry (we got fish), spiced coconut milk and a mildly spicy coconut sambol. String hoppers are basically what are called iddyappams in most parts of South India: rice noodles that are shaped into a disk and steamed. You dip them into the curry or wrap them around sambol. Also on the table was an order of their lamb kottu roti. Kottu roti is another dish common to Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu and Kerala in South India (where it is called kothu porotta): it features a flour roti/porotta that’s chopped into tiny pieces and sauted with meat and veg. It’s always very good here and this was no exception (especially with the accompanying meat gravy poured over). Two veg sides rounded out the main meal: more of the ratu ala/sauteed beets and the batu moju or tangy sauteed eggplant. The menu actually lists eggplant curry cooked with coconut milk but that’s not what they actually send out (it’s been this way for a while). Once again, watalappan to end. I believe I may have said that it’s one of my favourite desserts in Minnesota.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu and what I ate at both meals, please launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much these meals cost and to see what’s coming next.

Meals at House of Curry have in the past often been more leisurely affairs than we’d counted on. I’m saying they were often quite slow. Indeed, the reason we stopped hitting them up for takeout during the pandemic was that on the last occasion we had to sit in the car for more than an hour past the stated pickup time. And even before the pandemic the wise move always was to plan on eating at House of Curry after, not before a movie. I bring all of this up to note that at both these meals the food actually came out at a normal clip.

Price? Lunch was about $60 all-in and dinner was about $107 with a beer, a glass of wine, tax and tip. Not cheap but where else are you going to find good Sri Lankan food around here. I should also note that at dinner the two of us ordered enough food for four. We over-ate like crazy and I brought a lot of leftovers home (as my friend had a flight to catch the next morning). All things considered, the price is worth it. If you haven’t been, or like me, haven’t been in a while: go. If you’re intrigued by any of the descriptions above, the buffet they put out on Sundays during the day is probably the right move. I’m told it’s quite extensive and very reasonably priced at about $20/head. It would be a good way to try a lot of their food.

Alright, unless I lose my appetite in a big way tonight, I should have one of those two outstanding California reports from June up on Thursday and the other over the weekend. Once again, I’m not sure what my next Twin Cities report will cover. Let’s see where the weekend takes us.