The Coconut Tree

About

Opening from 24th July, after investing in a raft of new procedures to ensure safety and social distancing measures amongst customers and staff, the street-food pioneers will throw open the doors to their coastal restaurant, just in time for the start of the school summer holidays.

In recent years, Sri Lankan food has been having a moment, with The Times identifying it as a key food trend, and BBC Food attributing its popularity to “most of the food world looking towards exciting new cuisines.” 

The Coconut Tree’s take on the cuisine is made up of smaller tapas-style dishes embracing plants, fish and meat - it’s a menu that naturally offers something for everyone.

Whilst curry dishes are featured, The Coconut Tree’s curries never use masala, typical lemongrass or other more common Asian flavours, instead promising plates of flavourful food infused with authentic Sri Lankan spices. 

Popular dishes include ‘Hot Battered Spicy Cuttlefish’; green peas and ‘Cashew Nuts’ soaked and cooked in coconut cream; and ‘Cheesy Colombo’ – cheese cubes fried and mixed Colombo style. ‘Jaffna Goat Curry with potato’ is also a firm favourite, as is the ‘Black Pork’ which consists of diced pork belly cooked in 30 roasted spices. Finally, ‘Kotthu’ is a fine example of a street food served all over the country - made with finely chopped roti and cooked with egg, vegetables and / or meat. 

Two new ‘hybrid’ dishes have also been added to The Coconut Tree menu since their reopening after lockdown:

Devilled Pork & Pineapple: Mixing two famous Sri Lankan dishes, this spicy, sweet, tangy and sour dish is a vibrant mix of juicy belly pork, red chilli, onion and banana peppers with garlic, spring onion and seasoning. The pork is cooked in the spices, before the veg is finished on a hot plate with the pineapple ‘Achcharu Style’. 

Chicken Curried Kotthu: Two of The Coconut Tree’s best-loved and best-selling dishes come together for the first time; Vegetable Kotthu (finely chopped roti cooked with egg and vegetables, cooked on a searing hot plate), topped with juicy chicken off-the-bone in a rich curry sauce made with fennel, cardamom, cloves, cumin, house curry powder, onion and cinnamon. 

In 2019, eminent food critic Jay Rayner visited the Cheltenham restaurant, citing a “raucous, rough-edged enthusiasm to the food” which manages “that rare trick of being totally laid-back and completely on point at the same time.”

To view the up-to-date opening dates, times and to book a table at each location, please visit our website!