The 11 Best Places to Eat and Drink in Sri Lanka
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The best places to eat and drink in Sri Lanka, according to the experts: The 50 has weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Smoke & Bitters comes out on top, and the good stuff runs deepest in Colombo and Galle.
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Ministry of Crab and Aqua Forte hold the next two places.
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Rank 1. Smoke & Bitters
Tiki Bar
The awards
- The 50 The 50: #67 · The World's 50 Best Bars
- The 50 The 50: #14 · Asia’s 50 Best Bars
- The 50 The 50: Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award 2026 · Asia’s 50 Best Bars
- The 50 #67 · The World's 50 Best Bars
- The 50 #14 · Asia’s 50 Best Bars
- The 50 Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award 2026 · Asia’s 50 Best Bars
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Rank 2. Ministry of Crab
Seafood
The awards
- The 50 #94 · Asia's 50 Best Restaurants
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Rank 3. Aqua Forte
Modern Italian
A neoclassical Dutch mansion inside Galle Fort's old ramparts, hung with Walter Valentini etchings and set with single flowers on white tablecloths. This is a formal Italian fine dining room, the kind where vintage champagne feels appropriate and the menu moves through Italy's regions with quiet ambition. One of very few fine dining options within the fort walls, it draws couples marking occasions, which tells you everything about the room's register.
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
A Tie
Nine places have the exact same Score, so they share #3. We don't pick a winner we can't back up.
- #3 Aqua Forte (this place) 71.400
- #3 Capital Bar & Grill 71.400
- #3 Gini 71.400
- #3 Kaiyō 71.400
- #3 Locale 71.400
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Rank 3. Capital Bar & Grill
Retro Cocktail Bar
The Gentleman's Penicillin arrives smoked inside a carafe, which sets the tone pretty quickly. This cocktail bar inside Shangri-La Colombo leans hard into retro atmosphere, with deep blue seating, green bankers lamps, and a back bar lit by what must be hundreds of vintage filament bulbs. The drinks are riffs on classics, the kind that justify the extra step. A smart place to settle in when Colombo has worn you down.
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
A Tie
Nine places have the exact same Score, so they share #3. We don't pick a winner we can't back up.
- #3 Aqua Forte 71.400
- #3 Capital Bar & Grill (this place) 71.400
- #3 Gini 71.400
- #3 Kaiyō 71.400
- #3 Locale 71.400
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Rank 3. Gini
Sri Lankan
A cocktail bar that happens to share space with a wood-fired kitchen, Gini keeps its drinks menu deliberately nameless, listing each cocktail as a short stack of ingredients: arrack, kithul palm, lime. Rum, passion fruit, vanilla. The indoor-outdoor room draws a crowd that comes for Sri Lankan small plates too, but the spare, confident drinks programme is its own argument. Named a 50 Discovery by The 50.
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
A Tie
Nine places have the exact same Score, so they share #3. We don't pick a winner we can't back up.
- #3 Aqua Forte 71.400
- #3 Capital Bar & Grill 71.400
- #3 Gini (this place) 71.400
- #3 Kaiyō 71.400
- #3 Locale 71.400
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The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
A Tie
Nine places have the exact same Score, so they share #3. We don't pick a winner we can't back up.
- #3 Capital Bar & Grill 71.400
- #3 Gini 71.400
- #3 Kaiyō (this place) 71.400
- #3 Locale 71.400
- #3 Nihonbashi 71.400
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Rank 3. Locale
Creative Pan-Asian Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
A Tie
Nine places have the exact same Score, so they share #3. We don't pick a winner we can't back up.
- #3 Gini 71.400
- #3 Kaiyō 71.400
- #3 Locale (this place) 71.400
- #3 Nihonbashi 71.400
- #3 Paradise Road The Gallery Cafe 71.400
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Rank 3. Nihonbashi
Japanese
Dharshan Munidasa, the chef behind Ministry of Crab, has been running this Japanese restaurant in Colombo since long before that fame arrived. The menu covers sushi, nabe hot pot, and a few showstopper preparations that earn their place on the table. Port City is a trek, but regulars treat it as the serious Japanese address in town, a designation the kitchen has held for decades.
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
A Tie
Nine places have the exact same Score, so they share #3. We don't pick a winner we can't back up.
- #3 Kaiyō 71.400
- #3 Locale 71.400
- #3 Nihonbashi (this place) 71.400
- #3 Paradise Road The Gallery Cafe 71.400
- #3 Ropewalk 71.400
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Rank 3. Paradise Road The Gallery Cafe
Sri Lankan Café
The desserts are displayed on Geoffrey Bawa's old desk, which tells you most of what you need to know about this place. An open-air courtyard café set in the late architect's former office, it has lily-pad ponds, candelabras, and rotating shows by local artists. The menu runs to straightforward Sri Lankan plates and classic cocktails, with a 30-strong dessert list heavy on chocolate and homemade cakes. Erudite without being stiff.
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
A Tie
Nine places have the exact same Score, so they share #3. We don't pick a winner we can't back up.
- #3 Locale 71.400
- #3 Nihonbashi 71.400
- #3 Paradise Road The Gallery Cafe (this place) 71.400
- #3 Ropewalk 71.400
- #3 Uncle's 71.400
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Rank 3. Ropewalk
Cocktail Bar
Tucked inside the old Galle Fort Hotel, Ropewalk is a cocktail bar built around arrack, Sri Lanka's indigenous palm-sap spirit. The menu leans into it hard, pairing arrack with Lion Stout reductions, balsamic shrubs, chilli, lemongrass, the works. Daytime is coffee; evenings tip into something more theatrical, all flapper-era atmosphere in a Unesco-listed fort. A Discovery pick from The 50.
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
A Tie
Nine places have the exact same Score, so they share #3. We don't pick a winner we can't back up.
- #3 Locale 71.400
- #3 Nihonbashi 71.400
- #3 Paradise Road The Gallery Cafe 71.400
- #3 Ropewalk (this place) 71.400
- #3 Uncle's 71.400
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Rank 3. Uncle's
Cocktail Bar
Arrack is the spine of almost every drink at Uncle's, a cocktail bar in Colombo that built its whole identity around Sri Lankan ingredients at a time when imported bottles were hard to come by anyway. The menu splits into Tropical and Boozy Big Boy Drinks, which is a categorization system that removes most of the guesswork. A laid-back, proudly local room that holds a 50 Discovery from The 50.
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
A Tie
Nine places have the exact same Score, so they share #3. We don't pick a winner we can't back up.
- #3 Locale 71.400
- #3 Nihonbashi 71.400
- #3 Paradise Road The Gallery Cafe 71.400
- #3 Ropewalk 71.400
- #3 Uncle's (this place) 71.400