Jaffna House Restaurant

The 7 Best Sri Lankan Restaurants In London

"One of London’s most reliable Sri Lankan spots, Jaffna has been around since 1991. And after taking a seat in the homely dining room, you’ll pick up on the fact that this is a place people return to. Takeaway orders fly out the door and Tooting locals drop by to pick up a cardamom-heavy kothu here and a bag of mutton rolls there. The curries are great, in particular the Jaffna special chicken curry—a rich and spicy tomato-based sauce with tender pieces of boneless chicken. Paired with the egg hopper, it’s a winning combination. The spot is perfect for a cosy catch-up with a few friends over mutton biriyani and fried string hoppers." - rianne shlebak, jake missing, heidi lauth beasley

The 19 Best Restaurants In Tooting

"One of London’s most reliable Sri Lankan spots, Jaffna House has been around since 1991. The curries are great, in particular the Jaffna special chicken curry—a rich and spicy tomato-based sauce with pieces of boneless chicken. Paired with the egg hopper, it’s a winning combination. This comfortable spot is perfect for a cosy catch-up with a few friends over mutton biriyani and fried string hoppers." - rianne shlebak, heidi lauth beasley, daisy meager, sinead cranna

15 Brilliant Tooting Restaurants

"The front section of this Sri Lankan pitstop is a café; the restaurant is in the back. It's an ace idea to pop into the café for a feast of Sri Lankan snacks: mutton rolls, mutton rotis, vadas, bondas, fish cutlets, etc. You can easily do so for a fiver." - Russell Burke, Sophie Dening

Jaffna House - Review - Tooting - London - The Infatuation

"One of London’s most reliable Sri Lankan spots, Jaffna has been around since 1991. And after taking a seat in the homely dining room, and watching as takeaway orders fly out the door and Tooting locals drop by to pick up a cardamom-heavy kothu here and a bag of mutton rolls there, you’ll pick up on the fact that this is a place people return to. The curries are great, in particular the Jaffna special chicken curry—a rich and spicy tomato-based sauce with pieces of boneless chicken. Paired with the egg hopper, it’s a winning combination. The spot is perfect for a cosy catch-up with a few friends over mutton biriyani and fried string hoppers." - Rianne Shlebak

Eater’s Guide to the Best Sri Lankan Restaurants in London - Eater London

"This amazingly pocket-friendly Tooting stalwart started as a small café and takeaway nearly 30 years ago, but has grown in popularity and stature. Avoid the generic Indian items: there are plenty of south Indian-style Sri Lankan delicacies here. Pithu, here made from wheat and brown rice flours and steamed in the cavity of a bamboo, as is traditional, is fried in butter with seafood. Banana fritters can be found alongside prawn and lentil fritters, and sweet ones made from moong beans and fresh coconut. Devilled dishes include devilled beef and liver; there’s also assertively spiced fried potato pirattal. Sri Lankan omelettes with onions and green chillies lurk in the menu’s depths, as do beef, squid and crab curries accompanied by wonderfully spiky carrot sambal." - Sejal Sukhadwala

Carolina & Flavia Day & Ro

SerpAPI

Such a lovely, delicious finding. The young lady taking my order was so nice , with such a welcoming smile and the young gentleman. The decor was beautiful and simple. The devilled squid perfect spice level and the fried string hoppers with egg, delicious and filling. Masala tea, needed a bit more intensity in flavouring, hence the 4 stars. Price excellent. Definitely would recommend.

Sohini Banerjee

SerpAPI

Loved the food so much, so satisfying! The devilled mutton was delightful and the nethhali fish puttu was the fave. Would also recommend the aubergine curry, very tasty and complex!

Travelling Doc

SerpAPI

Quiet Monday- had the mutton thali. 5 condiments with rice and mutton which is good value for lunch. The potato, cabbage, spinhas, chick peas was all fine as the rice. Mutton curry was ok. The popodun was soggy. Egg hoppers was average- could be crisper with a more Flavoursome egg. it took sometime For the hopers to turn up so if ordering expect a slightly longer dining time. The accompaniment of Sambal was also dry so had to ask for a curry to accompany. The rasam was good.

Chandni Banduge

SerpAPI

Amazing food and atmosphere. Authentic Sri Lankan food in a cosy, adorable setting. The Masala tea is delicious as for the bonda, vegetable rolls, Kutthu and Masala Dosa. Very veggie friendly with great gluten free and vegan options too. Can’t wait to return :)

Jake Tuckey

SerpAPI

Got the mutton lunch set menu. Great selection of dishes for £8.50. Everything done well and full of flavour. The beer was also nice.

Mathan Prasath Krishnasamy

SerpAPI

We had our lunch this afternoon and food was very authentic Tamil food - Srilankan and South Indian. Our orders took bit of time but that's how our authentic fresh foods are. Their Fish curry (மீன் குழம்பு) was so authentic and delicious and it's a must try I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone wanting to try authentic Srilankan and South Indian food.

Alessandro Poletto

SerpAPI

We had a wonderful dinner party with our friends at Jaffna House! The quality of their ingredient is excellent and flavours were just incredible. Highly recommend their mutton rolls and the aubergine curry. One of our friend is vegetarian and she was really pleased to have such a variety of dishes to choose from! The waiter was also really kind and always ensured we had everything we needed. Will definitely go back!

Andrew Worthington

SerpAPI

Popped in here for lunch. Had the Thali Friday special with the mutton curry. Food was well spiced and good service was quick and efficient. Recommended.

Ranjana P.

Yelp

Cheap, lots of variety. Well worth it! I cycled 13 miles from North London based on a recommendation.. to be honest I was bored and had nothing else to do. I was amazed by the variety of food that is on the menu and very pleased. The first thing I asked for for an egg roti and they had no more :-(, then I asked for a plain roti and they had no more :-(. My disappointment abated once I decided to order the mutton roll, Chicken kotthu roti, an aubergine curry and a faluda to drink. The mutton roll was slightly different to the ones I was used to. Normally the roll has a thicker crust but this was thinner. However it did have lots of spicy mutton and potato filling. It did fall apart as I ate but tasted great. I wish I had ordered some to take away for breakfast. Kotthu rotti is made from old hardened roti. Instead of throwing away the dried rotti they mix it with egg and spices and a meat or vegetables and put some curry to really spice it up. It is a must try and I would also order a portion of curry sauce to go with it. This is in case the roti is still dry. I loved the Chicken Kotthu and there was so much of it. The rotti was a bit dry so it was good to have the extra portion of curry to soak into it. I personally believe that there is better kotthu but this came very close. The aubergine curry was a bit too salty for my taste. It was also a bit too mashed up to even recognize it was a aubergine. I am used to actually seeing some aubergine rather than it being in a paste form. I loved the faluda which is made from milk and rosewater topped with ice cream, jelly and some other tasty bits at the bottom. I was relieved to have this as the spicy food started to burn me up. The place is not a palace and the price fits the environment. The staff are friendly but a bit stand offish. I think being polite and friendly always brings the best in most people and so it did here. All this cost about £12! A ride well worth it. However it was a difficult ride back with the spices burning my stomach.

Stephanie O.

Yelp

My oh my. We would have usually gone a few doors down to Dosa n Chutny but since Time Out released their list of "100 cheap eats in London" this week, with Dosa n Chutny as number 2 it was ridiculously busy so we went to Jaffna House instead. And it was AMAZING. On a weekend they do specials, and we were lucky it was a Friday because the Sat and Sun specials didn't seem that authentic. Friday's special was a vegetarian 12 item meal called Thali, which included 6 types of curry, rice, a vadai (Sri Lanken small doughnut shaped fried bread), a poppadom, and a rice based dessert like kheer (not sure what the Sri Lanken name is). We also ordered a portion of dosai (dosa), which comes as two pancakes, and the woman looked at us like we were crazy because the 12-item-dinner should have been enough. But screw it, it was payday today and I was going all out! It was such good food; deliciously homemade, varying levels of spice but nothing too hot and enjoyed with a mango lassi. And the price? Two Thalis, one dosai portion, one mango lassi and one mango juice for £15. FIFTEEN POUNDS for two people. Today I thought "I love living in Tooting!" They also do a lot of stuff to takeaway, including special takeaway meal deals for dirt cheap. Many families came in to pick up different rolls and fresh breads like chapatis and pooris. So, now Dosa n Chunty has been endorsed by Time Out and will receive more than enough custom from those willing to travel South of the river, we should support the other local restaurants. Go to Jaffna House!

Andy F.

Yelp

My wife and I came here after our favorite, Dosa 'n Chutney a few doors down, was jam-packed with Londoners since it was featured in a TimeOut article about the best cheap eats in this town. I'm remiss to say this here, lest it make next year's TimeOut list, but Jaffna House is BETTER THAN DOSA 'N CHUTNEY! Just as gentle on the wallet but with amazing specials and meal combos. We got the Friday night special meal which came with 12 items for under £5!!! Very tasty, very filling. Also tried their dosa (to compare to their neighbor) and it was splendid! Just to top it all off, the mango lassi here was rich, creamy, and fruity. Can't wait to go back to this (still) hidden gem in Tooting Broadway.

Dodo A.

Yelp

Very much authentic coastal tamil fare Kids tried crab curry and we had vegetarian options which was tasty and good

Ally C.

Yelp

Service is a little cold. They aren't rude, and they'll give you things if you ask, but don't expect them to take initiative refilling your water when you're eating something spicy. If you don't want to flag them down for every little glass, just ask if they can give you a water pitcher. Ordered a chili that was available only on weekends, it was like a chili relleno filled with potato. It came with a spicy coconut chutney that would have been good if it wasn't over-salted. We also ordered the fried mutton under the "Jaffra Special Curry" menu, because I was intrigued by the idea of a fried mutton curry. It came as a dry dish -- no idea why they labeled it "curry". Also ordered the deviled beef. It looked nearly identical to the fried mutton, but was less tender and somewhat dry. Both dishes were extremely salty. We ordered a lamb vindaloo because we didn't realize the entrees we got would be so dry. The lamb was cooked nicely, it was spicy like I asked for, but it was just way too salty. Honestly, I can't give this place more than three stars. I appreciate the cheap prices, but the food was just way too salty to be enjoyable. It's really a shame -- they probably had the underlying spices right, but being heavy handed with the salt really ruined the dishes. There's an adjacent version of this restaurant around the corner that is "fully licensed." I'm not sure if this means that they serve alcohol or it's BYOB -- either way, expect to pay a bit more for the food, because I'm told it's more expensive.

XR M.

Yelp

I really love this place! This is the one you can enjoy pure Sri Lankan and Tamil food. Fish cutlat and chicken rolls are just perfect! Niyamai!

Carmela S.

Yelp

As good as it gets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't emphasise this enough!!! Amazing food, so so so so cheap and lovely service.

Linda S.

Yelp

little non assuming hole in the wall. Not bad! Do not go out of your way to get to this place but if you are in the neighborhood and want some thali give this place a whirl! cheap, basic and cheerful. Nice Sri Lanken owners and staff :)

Jo K.

Yelp

I love this place. Even when I was living North of the river, I would travel here specially so I can get my hands on my favourite mutton rolls and egg roti. Delicious and super cheap! Their sweet dumplings are also awesome! If you like fish, you should try a fish ball. Takeaways are so quick and be reassured that your food will be piping hot! The curries also won't disappoint.

Alfred S.

Yelp

Excellent restaurant. It's a bit out of the way in Tooting Broadway and the decor isn't flash, but the food is authentic. Definitely worth having the kottu rotti and the devilled dishes, while the jaffna house curries are also excellent. You need to book ahead on a Saturday night (when we went) and need to order 24 hours in advance if you want hoppers.

Bruce F.

Yelp

Jaffna House is on my must do list whenever I get to be in London. Totally out of my way, but worth the long tube ride. The deviled dishes are fantastic. Good COLD beers as well. Not much on atmosphere, but in a way that is part of the charm.

Qype User (asimm…)

Yelp

Delicious authentic Indian and Sri Lankan food for super cheap prices, I can't recommend it enough!

The 7 Best Sri Lankan Restaurants In London

The 19 Best Restaurants In Tooting

15 Brilliant Tooting Restaurants

Jaffna House - Review - Tooting - London - The Infatuation

Eater’s Guide to the Best Sri Lankan Restaurants in London - Eater London