First shop · Shoreditch
Four stools, one griddle, Sujatha's recipe book. The queue starts on day one and doesn't stop.
◂ OUR STORY ▸
MADE BY HAND.
MADE BY HAND.
TASTES LIKE HOME.
Lanka Heat started as one kitchen in Shoreditch, four stools at the counter, and a family recipe book that goes back three generations. Ten years later, we're still cooking the same way.
◂ HOW WE START ▸
Nimal Perera opened the first Lanka Heat in 2014 with his mother Sujatha's recipe book, a single griddle, and a belief that British takeaway had room for proper Sri Lankan flavour. He'd grown up watching her cook in their kitchen in Wellawatte, Colombo — coconut sambol made fresh every hour, curry powders roasted on the stove, hoppers poured ten minutes before they hit the plate.
The first Shoreditch shop had four stools, no chairs, and a queue out the door from week one. Word spread. Customers came back the next day, and the day after. We opened Brixton in 2017, Tooting in 2019, and Wembley in 2022.
None of that works without the food being right. Every curry base is roasted and ground fresh in the morning. Every hopper batter is rested overnight. Every plate is cooked to order — which is why it takes fifteen minutes, and why it doesn't taste like any other takeaway you've had.
◂ THE KITCHEN ▸
NO SHORTCUTS.
NO SHORTCUTS.
EVER.
We grind our own curry powders. We roast our own dhal. We temper our own sambol. We don't use pre-made sauces — not because it's a marketing line, but because the difference shows up in the first bite.
2014
First shop opened in Shoreditch
4
Branches across London
1M+
Meals served
◂ THE STORY SO FAR ▸
TEN YEARS.
TEN YEARS.
ONE RECIPE BOOK.
Brixton opens
Demand in south London pulls us across the river. We hire our first kitchen team beyond family.
Tooting joins
The Sri Lankan community in south-west London finally gets a proper kottu shop. We add delivery to keep up.
Wembley opens
Our biggest kitchen yet — same standards, more capacity. The recipe book is still Sujatha's.
Today
Four shops, one app, fifteen-minute average collection time. Still roasting curry powder every morning.
◂ WHAT WE BELIEVE ▸
FOUR THINGS.
FOUR THINGS.
NOT NEGOTIABLE.
01
Fresh every morning — curry bases, sambols, hoppers. Nothing pre-made.
02
Pay the kitchen properly — living wages, no zero-hours, full training.
03
Real spice — Sri Lankan chillies, Ceylon cinnamon, Malabar pepper. No shortcuts.