Ceylon Roti Hut

Ceylon Roti Hut (https://www.facebook.com/ceylonrotihutt/) is one of Orlando’s newest food trailers, located at A La Cart, a food truck gathering place that’s ten minutes from my job, but somehow I had never been there before.  I had never even turned down the street it’s on, but I sought it out just to try Sri Lankan food for my first time.  Sri Lanka is a diverse and multicultural island country in the Indian Ocean, southeast of the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent.  Due to geography and demographics, I expected the food might be similar to Indian food I’ve had before.  It shared some surface-level similarities that would certainly appeal to fans of Indian cuisine, but was still very much its own thing.

This is the lovely Ceylon Roti Hut food trailer, owned by husband and wife team Gavin and Shehara Parys.  They own another food truck, Ceylon Hut, which I’ve never had the pleasure of finding, so this is actually their second mobile kitchen.  Chef Gavin was on duty when I went there, and he was very friendly and welcoming, quick to answer my questions and make recommendations, and he had fresh, flavorful food in front of me in about five minutes. 

Here is the menu.  There are only five dishes, all featuring chicken or pork, and all priced very reasonably, between $12 and $14.

I ordered chicken kottu ($13) to eat there, inside the covered portion of A La Cart.  I sat on a stool at a long, otherwise-empty table, cooled by fans on a hot Friday afternoon in July, and enjoyed this delicious, spicy dish of stir-fried chicken curry, eggs, vegetables, and shredded parata roti, a tortilla-like flatbread that would be familiar to anyone who has tried Indian, Trinidadian, or Guyanese food.  Chef Gavin made it seem like he could easily adjust the spice level for anyone who prefers turning down the heat to mild levels. 

It was so good, I had to try something else, so I asked for the roti with pork stir-fry ($12), packed up to go.  It was still hot by the time I got home, so even though I intended to save it for dinner, I ate it almost immediately.  As great as the chicken kottu was, I think this was even better.  The pork was spicy, but so flavorful, and the roti was a perfect neutral flavor to scoop it up and contrast against it.  It was soft and flaky and very lightly crispy from being fried. 

I’m sure most of my regular Orlando readers are already familiar with A La Cart, but if you haven’t been in a while, get there ASAP to enjoy spicy Sri Lankan street food, courtesy of Gavin and Shehara Parys and their newest business venture, Ceylon Roti Hut.

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