Wined, dined and rested.

Isn’t it odd how you get so much pleasure out of an unexpected discovery? We’d been having a mini-break in Bath, Somerset and were marching out on our first day, loving the Bath stone buildings, admiring the serenity of the extraordinarily well thought-out urban planning of the Georgians. We were also looking out for a restaurant we had read about and had got as far as Broad Street when this little place caught our attention.

Julia knows Sri Lanka well, and the detail about the “cocotails” made us smile so we went in. Well, wasn’t THAT a good decision!

The place itself is fun and quirkily decorated, with Banksy-inspired murals and a terrific collection of masks and lampshades….

When there is just one person in charge of front of house that means you have to hope that they are willing to engage with you or your whole experience goes sour. Well, the Coconut Tree has certainly struck gold with the delightful, smiling, helpful gentleman here. He offered to guide us through the menu, then when he realised he was talking to someone who knew about Sri Lankan food his smile which was already ear to ear became even broader and they had a conversation about things like Elephant Brand ginger beer and different kinds of hopper.

I didn’t like to break up this enthusiastic conversation but the mention of hoppers had me a little concerned – I knew that street food was meant to be informal, but would they really put it into a kind of funnel and pour it straight into my throat? Or had the French exerted more influence in Sri Lanka than I had realised and were frogs on the menu? Or – after all, I do know that there are jungles in Sri Lanka and I’ve watched enough “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here” programmes to know what kind of things are eaten there – was this going to be a bushtucker challenge and we were going to be put in a giant tank of crickets and told to eat as many as possible in 3 minutes?

Fortunately it then occurred to me to read the menu where the “hopper” was explained; it’s a coconut milk pancake, a little squidgy in the middle and crispy-lacey round the outside, served with three different relishes and a fried egg.

What a fabulous way to start this small voyage of culinary exploration!

We then ordered the wonderfully-named “Fat Sister”, which is butternut squash cooked in a completely gorgeous coconut curry sauce, some devilled chicken wings because Julia said that she remembered everything being “devilled” in Sri Lanka, some hot battered spicy cuttlefish and some truly aromatic pineapple curry. Oh, and of COURSE we had to order some parotta roti to go with everything.

I absolutely loved everything we were served – the flavours zinged around my mouth even without very much chilli, the textures were varied and complementary and I was completed won over by the coconut sambol, which I had never had before and is apparently the national dish of Sri Lanka. It is made of shredded coconut, finely diced shallots, chilli flakes and lime juice all crushed together in a pestle and mortar.

Wow – that’s definitely one I’m going to try at home. On the Coconut Tree menu it’s described as a “relish” but it’s so far from what I think of as a relish that it’s almost a sin. Does anyone else remember those sloppy “relishes”, often coloured in rather alarming, almost fluorescent reds and greens, that started to appear when hamburger restaurants decided to go upmarket about 30 or 40 years ago?

So the bottom line, as they say, is – you really should make a visit here. Sri Lankan street food executed beautifully plus the loveliness that is Bath. Oh yes.