HOPPERS TAKES FLIGHT: KARAN GOKANI ON BRINGING SRI LANKAN FLAVOURS TO THE SKIES.

By: Rishini Weeraratne

Every time I board a flight from London back home to Sri Lanka, one of the first things I do is check the menu to see if there are any Sri Lankan dishes on offer. There’s something about that first taste of home at 35,000 feet that makes the journey all the more special. A piece of kiribath (Sri Lankan milk rice), enjoyed just before descending towards our palm-fringed island, is enough to stir up that familiar excitement of knowing I’ll soon be home. So, imagine my delight when I heard that British Airways was collaborating with Hoppers, my favourite Sri Lankan restaurant in London, to curate its Business Class menu for the London–Colombo route, set to relaunch at the end of October.

For anyone familiar with Hoppers, the prospect of its bold, comforting Sri Lankan and South Indian flavours taking to the skies is exciting enough. But for me, this collaboration feels particularly special. Having followed the restaurant’s journey since its inception and having been friends with Karan Gokani since our carefree university days in London almost two decades ago, I've had a front-row seat to his culinary journey. From experimenting with recipes in the communal kitchen of our university halls to building Hoppers into an internationally celebrated restaurant brand, I've watched his passion for cooking, and his love for Sri Lanka and her people, grow into something quite extraordinary.  Naturally, I wasted no time in calling Karan and pinning him down at Hoppers Marylebone for a quick conversation about how the partnership came about, the dishes passengers can look forward to, and what it means to bring a taste of Sri Lanka to the skies before travellers have even set foot on the island.

How did this partnership with British Airways first come about, and what excited you most about the opportunity to bring Hoppers’ food to the skies?

The partnership started with a simple conversation about the new route and the possibility of creating some content around it. That’s when I shared my dream of taking what we do at Hoppers on the ground and bringing it to life at 35,000 feet. As someone in the food industry and a creative at heart, I’m constantly looking for ways to evolve experiences and bring our own flavours and personal touch to them. Working with the British Airways team presented an exciting challenge; developing a menu that would work within the unique constraints of dining in the air, combining their expertise with our knowledge of the region, our flavours and that distinctive Hoppers touch. When we pitched the idea, their executive chef was immediately enthusiastic, and we moved into tastings remarkably quickly. I believe it may be one of the fastest menus they’ve ever developed. It was a real team effort, with everyone equally excited to make it happen, and we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve created together.

Hoppers has played a significant role in introducing London diners to Sri Lankan and South Indian flavours. What does it mean to you to now be showcasing Sri Lankan cuisine to an international audience travelling directly to Colombo?

As someone who’s Indian and has loved Sri Lanka for a very long time, I’ve visited the country more than anywhere else in the world, and I probably have more friends in Colombo than in any other city. It’s always been a huge honour, responsibility and joy to represent Sri Lanka on an international platform. We do our best to research and understand its cuisine and culture, while also bringing in elements of our own South Indian heritage. In a way, that’s exactly what we wanted to achieve with this partnership. It’s an incredible full-circle moment. We took everything we loved about Sri Lanka, brought it to London and celebrated it there. Now, we’re taking it back to Sri Lanka, at 35,000 feet, on the British flag carrier.

Can you talk us through the menu you’ve created for British Airways? Which dishes are you particularly excited for passengers to try, and what inspired your choices?

We wanted to showcase some Hoppers classics while creating dishes that would travel well and deliver a memorable experience at 35,000 feet. Working closely with British Airways, we developed a menu that balances the practicalities of inflight dining with our distinctive flavours and culinary influences. Our kalupol roast chicken, once served as a whole rotisserie chicken at Hoppers, has been reimagined using marinated chicken thighs, served with our much-loved lemon rice. We’ve also included a traditional Sri Lankan beetroot curry and a pineapple curry I learned to make from friends, both featured in my cookbook. Another highlight is our banana leaf-wrapped fish, a South Indian favourite that our chefs grew up eating, with variations found in Sri Lanka. It’s paired with our take on Sri Lankan coconut rice. For starters, we’ve created a refreshing yoghurt dish inspired by our travels and culinary discoveries in the region, alongside a kadala-style salad with added vegetables. Rather than simply recreating restaurant dishes onboard, we’ve worked with BA to thoughtfully adapt each one. The result is a menu that celebrates the ingredients, spices and cooking traditions of Sri Lanka and South India while retaining the unmistakable character of Hoppers.

Cooking at 35,000 feet is very different from cooking in a restaurant. How have you adapted Hoppers’ signature flavours, spices and textures to ensure the food tastes just as delicious in the air?

We've tried to keep the spices bold but make the food flight friendly. For instance, instead of serving chicken on the bone, we've done it off the bone. Rice always travels well, and we've given it a punch with our flavours of lemon and coconut. Banana leaf fish is an incredible way of cooking fish. It keeps it super moist, gives it great flavour, and I think it travels really well. We've also got a watalappam bread pudding, which I think is a lovely take on the British classic bread pudding, along with traditional watalappam in terms of the process and spices. It’s a dish we’ve been serving at Hoppers for a long time, and we felt it would be a perfect addition to the menu, especially at this time of year. It’s served with a lovely Milo cream, which the British Airways pastry chefs have developed specifically for this route, making it a true collaboration. Similarly, the roast chicken is our take on a traditional British roast but infused with kalupol.

The idea was to bring together British culinary heritage and British Airways’ expertise with our own flavour profiles and inspiration from the region. It’s another dish that really captures the spirit of this partnership.

Sri Lankan food is incredibly diverse, with influences from different communities, regions and culinary traditions. How did you approach capturing that diversity within the constraints of an airline menu?

I think you have limitations as to what you can represent. We wanted to give a taste of some of the unique spices and ingredients. Curry leaves, mustard seeds, fenugreek and, obviously, coconut are all captured really well. But at the same time, it's about balancing things that people have eaten more generally with something a little unique. So, it's more about the spices and general flavours rather than going regional at this stage. But we'd love to do more regional menus in the future.

For many passengers, this meal might be their first introduction to Sri Lankan cuisine, while for others it could evoke memories of home. How did you balance authenticity with making the dishes accessible to a broad range of travellers?

I don’t think we’re trying to compete with the food people enjoy in Sri Lanka, or with anyone’s home cooking, especially their grandmother’s! We’re simply bringing our own Hoppers interpretation of these flavours to the skies, doing the best we can within the unique constraints of inflight dining. For someone familiar with Sri Lankan food, I hope there’s a little taste of home. For someone discovering it for the first time, perhaps it’s a unique introduction to the wonderful flavours and spices they can look forward to exploring once they land. We’re not trying to recreate the entire Sri Lankan culinary experience on a plane, just offer a little glimpse of it through our lens.

With British Airways launching this new direct route from Gatwick to Colombo, how do you see food playing a role in building excitement around Sri Lanka as a travel destination? Can a meal on board become the beginning of someone’s journey of discovery?

Absolutely. I think of the number of people I've met who say the first thing they loved about Sri Lanka was the variety of the food, much like me. Although I do say it's the people who have always been number one on my list. I love the people of Sri Lanka. Everything else comes second. Obviously, the food is phenomenal, otherwise, we wouldn't be doing what we do and representing it the way we do. I think this will definitely be something to tickle people's taste buds. Often, people have a rather generic perception of South Asian cuisine, associating it primarily with North Indian dishes or rich, creamy, heavily spiced food. But the sheer variety of dishes, wealth of ingredients, cooking techniques and unique flavours found across South India and Sri Lanka remain unfamiliar to many who haven’t experienced the region’s cuisine. Hopefully, this menu will offer passengers a first taste of that diversity and a glimpse of what’s to come.

Hoppers has played an important role in bringing Sri Lankan and South Indian flavours to a wider audience in London. How would you describe Hoppers’ culinary identity, and what makes this British Airways partnership particularly meaningful?

I think it’s important to remember that Hoppers has always been inspired by both Sri Lanka and South India. I’m Indian myself, and our food reflects my heritage, our travels, the people we’ve met and the wonderful dishes we’ve discovered along the way. We’ve never claimed to be a traditional Sri Lankan restaurant. We have our own style and interpretation of the cuisines we love. We’ve been very fortunate that Hoppers has resonated with so many people in London over the years. If we’ve played even a small part in getting more people interested in Sri Lankan food, or encouraged others to explore these flavours, that’s something we’re incredibly proud of. As a London-born restaurant, we’ve also had the opportunity to cook for people from all over the world and understand different tastes and expectations. I think that experience, combined with our love for Sri Lanka and South India, makes this collaboration a lovely fit. Ultimately, we’re not trying to represent an entire cuisine or claim to do it better than anyone else. We’re simply bringing a little bit of Hoppers to the skies, and with it that Sri Lankan magic that I fell in love with years ago and forms the core of what we do at the restaurants.

Looking at the bigger picture, what do you hope this partnership will do for the profile of Sri Lankan cuisine internationally? And what would you love passengers to take away from their first taste of Hoppers before they even land in Colombo?

For us, it’s about sparking curiosity and getting people excited about Sri Lankan cuisine. Food is a universal language that connects people, fosters understanding and opens doors to new cultures. I’ve always travelled led by my palate, and I believe food can be the beginning of discovering somewhere extraordinary. Our hope has always been that someone dining at Hoppers might be inspired to book their first trip to Sri Lanka. We’re proud ambassadors for the region, and if this collaboration encourages passengers to embrace new flavours and explore the cuisine further when they land, then we’ve achieved something special.