Papaya Restaurant

Great little restaurant, really nice people, good service and a great curry! You have to try the Chicken Kothu, absolutely delicious!!!

This is one of the tastiest, spiciest restaurants I’ve tried in a long while.
We wandered in Friday evening early doors and were seated quickly without a booking. The place filled up fast as this is obviously a popular place and I can see why.
Nice atmosphere, unrushed yet extremely efficient staff
The Meat Samosas for starters were absolutely delicious.
Main course of Chicken Lumprais was just as much a treat.
The biggest taste sensation of this place is the fact that all the ingredients taste fresh!
A big fan of this place, will be back for sure!

If you’re looking for something that’s a bit different to your usual Indian, then Papaya’s Sri Lankan and South Indian food is for you. With its warm atmosphere and helpful staff, Papaya also has a quick and reliable takeaway service, which although is never 100% as good as the restaurant (what takeaway is?), it is still one of the best takeaways in Ealing.
The food is authentic and always delicious– the biryani is one of the best I’ve ever eaten in London– and is relatively good value as well. The only thing I would say that lets this restaurant down is the desserts– while the mains and starters are fresh and authentic, the desserts are pre-​made and nothing special, which is fine if you fancy something sweet at the end of a meal, but not if you’re looking for amazing food.
However, I think the great food and atmosphere are worth skipping dessert for, making Papaya one of my favourite Indian restaurants.

A smart restaurant with a good value menu. The food was absolutely delicious, the best indian style food I have had for a very long time.
We particularly enjoyed the starter of Mini Masala Dosai which was light and tasty, like a pancake with lightly spiced potato filling. We had the Beef Kothu Rotti main which was one of the tastiest things I think I have ever had.
The accompanying dips and breads were really good.
Service was prompt and unobtrusive, although we dined early on a weekday evening and there weren’t many other diners.
I can’t wait to return.

Papaya is a Srilankan (Ceylonese) restaurant that serves food not unlike South Indian food.
That said, most of the entrees were alien to me. We had the Mutton Kottu (string hoppers with mutton, leek & spices), a mango/​raw banana curry (loved it!), lemon rice & deviled chicken. Of the lot, the first two seemed the most authentic. I plan to go back there & try more items from their menu.
The ambiance here is a little upscale but cozy. The staff is polite, helpful & chatty. I can see myself going back here at least once a month.
The kitchen isn’t visible & the bathroom was very clean.

We went to this place for a business dinner — absolutely magnificent! Both service and food were excellent. You may want to order things «mild» if you, like me, aren’t used to spicy food.

I recently moved away from Ealing and the thing I miss the most is Papaya. Just exceptional food. The menu could deceive you into thinking there is a limited choice but once you start trying combinations you realise there is a large and innovative selection. Seems to taste pretty healthy too. The highest praise I can pay is that I’m due to be in Ealing in a couple of weeks and my wife has requested I bring takeaway from Papaya back — on my two-​and-​a-​half hour journey.

First impressions were positive as the warm interior made us feel at home from the off. Although it was quite empty when we rolled up at 7.30, the dining room soon filled with groups of mates, couples, and family outings, which gave it a convivial atmosphere.
Being a group of eight meant we could give the mainly Sri Lankan and South Indian menu a good going over. Although there were a few High Street curry house dishes for the unadventurous, I gently encouraged my fellow diners to go Sri Lankan and with one or two exceptions, they complied.
The starters were good value with none costing more than £3.50 but when the poppadoms were the highlight, you know you’ve got a problem. I can’t be certain but most of the starters had a made somewhere else feel about them with only the uridu vadai (dhal rings) looking anything like own-​made.
Most disappointing were the fish cutlets, beef rolls, and mutton rolls. These radioactive looking deep fried snacks looked like mini-​scotch eggs and potato croquettes. In particular, the mutton rolls were a bit tough and like the beef rolls needed a bit of the chutney from the uridu vadai to perk it up.
I wasn’t a fan of the doughnut-​like uridu vadai, and whilst the accompanying chutney was tasty, they were bland and stodgy not at all dhal-​y. I didn’t try the samosas or the crab claws although the latter looked like the Chinese restaurant two doors down could’ve been served it. Not the most promising of starts.
Onto the mains, which were keenly priced between £6.95 and £9.95. I went for a Sri Lankan king prawn curry which the waiter advised me to have medium. This was a shame as I could’ve done with it being spicier. That said, it was damn tasty and the string hoppers went really well with the curry. Like much of the food here, the curry and noodle combo had a South East Asian feel to it especially with the tamarind and coconut milk.
Others went for the devilled dishes (pictured below), which were stir-​fries with spices, onions, tomatoes, and capsicums. The best of these was the king prawn as it really absorbed the flavour of the spices, I must confess to have experienced a wee bit of main course envy. I didn’t taste the chicken but the lamb chops were past their best by the time I got my grubby mitts on one.
I had full-​on main course envy when I tried the kothu. Just why the hell didn’t I order this? A choice of rotti, string hoppers, or pittu chopped up and mixed on a griddle with egg, onions, chilli, with a choice of seafood, meat or veg.
My favourite was the seafood kothu w/​string hoppers, which my friend sadly couldn’t finish. Despite being ordered mild, I loved the richness of this dish and the string hoppers really soaked up the seafood flavour. I will definitely order this dish if I ever return here with the spice level turned up. I also liked the mutton kothu w/​string hopper as it had a real kick being ordered hot. Less successful was beef kothu w/​pittu as I wasn’t a fan of the couscous-​esque pittu.
One of my mates plumped for chicken masala dosai. I didn’t get to taste it as he soon polished it off which meant that it was either really delicious or he was really nervous having seen me have a crack at everybody else’s main.
We also ordered loads of sides including okra curry, coconut sambol, chapathi, paratha, poori, egg rotti, lemon rice, and string hoppers (I think I may have missed out a few). Amongst these were some shockers. The chaparthi was thick and doughy whilst the texture of the poori was like the outside of a microwaved petrol station pasty. It’s really frustrating when a restaurant can’t get the basics right.
The bill was roughly £250 between eight including service. This was excellent value when you consider 1) we were there for over three hours during which time we were amply topped up with Sri Lankan Lion beer, wine, and lassis and 2) we over ordered on the side dishes, as the masala dosai and kothu were complete meals
Service was good although the waiters did initially try to take the proverbial by getting us to order even more side dishes. Overall, it was a great night out and we all left keen to sample more Sri Lankan food.

Dear sweet momma: why has it taken me so long to find this place? It’s walking distance from my house!
Papaya was brought to my attention when I saw that it was voted the best Sri Lankan restaurant in the UK by British-​Sri Lankan network site
(
). That was a good enough recommendation for me.
It’s got some nice décor: dark, modern, tasteful art, very clean (especially the toilets, impressively sparkling). Not huge, just one room.
The staff were friendly but not overbearing. They gave helpful suggestions when asked, smiled, and were very courteous and efficient.
The food was delicious. I had the uridu vadai to start, my wife had a poori with some coconut sambol that was too spicy for her but freaking delicious for me. I then had devilled mutton (lamb cooked with peppers, onions, and lots of spices) which was tender and tasty, and my wife had the Sri Lankan king prawn curry which was stuffed with 7 huge prawns and had a sauce that was out of this world. In both cases, they asked us whether we wanted the dishes mild, medium, or spicy, and they came medium just as we asked. Even the coconut rice was good, very tasty.
We were stuffed after that, with a couple of beers to wash it down. The wine list looked good, but I still prefer beer with my spicy food. The dessert menu looked even better, but we were too stuffed to try it.
Go. Just go.
They have another branch in Harrow (
) that I have not been to.