Sri Lankan food is not Indian food with a different name. It is coconut-heavy, sourer, hotter, and built around a completely different set of staples. Here is what to look for.
Kottu roti
Chopped godamba roti stir-fried on a griddle with egg, vegetables and your choice of meat, to a rhythm of two metal blades you can hear from the end of the street. Order it with a side of curry gravy poured over.
Hoppers
Bowl-shaped fermented rice-flour pancakes, crisp at the edge and soft in the middle. Egg hoppers with an egg cracked into the centre are breakfast; string hoppers with dhal and pol sambol are dinner.
Short eats
The bakery counter tray: fish cutlets, mutton rolls, vegetable patties, ulundu wade. Point at three, pay very little, eat standing up.
Isso wade
Lentil fritters topped with whole prawns, sold along Galle Face Green at sunset. Get them from the stall with the longest queue and the fastest turnover.
On chilli
"Not spicy" is a relative term. Ask for it mild and expect medium. Curd and treacle at the end genuinely helps.