East London Food & Culture

Kamu London

Kamu: Leyton’s Sri Lankan foodie secret

In which we enjoy elevated Sri Lankan streetfood at The Coach & Horses on Leyton High Road

There are certain places you know about, and yet don’t quite get round to visiting: somewhere else opens, another place draws you in. Sri Lankan kitchen residency Kamu, at classic Leyton High Road boozer The Coach is one such example.

It’s actually been operating here since 2022, said genial founder Deshan, whose chef father moved from Sri Lanka thirty years ago to Watford, as we finally sat down in the dining room the other evening. “I studied engineering, and then in Covid pivoted to make lamprais. When I started selling them on Instagram, it went from a couple to 200 a day which eventually led to this residency here in Leyton.”

Coach Leyton
The dining room at The Coach Leyton. Photos: SE

Eschewing tempting small plates like lankan-spiced cauliflower wings and mackerel patis (next time), my partner and I started with peppery calamari with an aioli dip, and a superior chicken thigh satay accompanied by an unctous home-made peanut sauce. Another must-try is Kamu’s signature tangy Chicken 65: it’s marinated for 24 hours with devil sauce and dried chillies, “then tossed on the wok,” Deshan said, “creating a unique flavour profile.”

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Lamprais Kamu Leyton
Lamprais Kamu Leyton. Photo: SE
On Sundays the team offer lamprais, pictured above, a dish typically served at weekends in Sri Lanka and originating from the 17th century.

Meaning – loosely – a “packet of lumped rice,” it comprises curry with an assortment of vegetable dishes around a mound of rice on a banana leaf, crowned with a “double-fried egg, boiled, dipped in turmeric and fried,” Deshan said. We chose juicy tiger prawns in a mild coconut milk curry, with seeni sambal (moreish spiced onions caramelised with a note of cinnamon), spicy “potato devil”, and an outstanding aubergine moji.

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A sweet and sour pickle cooked in a clay pot, it “takes four days to prepare,” said Deshan. “The dish involves marinating aubergine in turmeric and salt, deep-frying it, and then slow-cooking a coconut-based vinegar sauce with onions, garlic, and curry leaves. The aubergine and sauce are combined on the last day.”

Lamb kottu Kamu Leyton
Lamb kottu, Kamu Leyton. Photo: SE
Another standout was the kottu, a Sri Lankan streetfood staple that’s apparently fiddly to make, composed of thinly sliced and chopped paratha with vegetables – and, in our case – tossed with tender slow-cooked lamb. It’s huge and filling (and just £13).

If anything, the menu – which ranges from pub classics like burgers to Sri Lankan feasting dishes – undersells its offer. Perhaps it’d be worth copying the Singburi model of listing classics on the main laminated menu, with a curated shorter list of must-order specials handwritten on a chalkboard? That aside, flavour-wise, everything we ate was sensational – and prices are low (for 2024), from £6 for starters up to around £12-14 for mains, with lamprais £16-18.

So successful is Kamu now that Deshan runs a handful of other pub residencies across London. And on the basis of our meal, it’s totally justified: we’ve already planned at least two return visits.

Follow @kamu.ldn for more. Find them at The Coach Leyton, 391 High Rd. Leyton, London E10 5NA

Leytonstoner ate as guests of Kamu.

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