Come Dine With Me: The Professionals’ winners bring top-scoring menu to Birmingham

Channel 4’s Come Dine with Me: The Professionals winners Rodrigo and Shamil of The Coconut Tree hosted a special dining event in Birmingham
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Channel 4’s Come Dine with Me: The Professionals winners Rodrigo and Shamil of The Coconut Tree hosted a special dining event in Birmingham.

The duo offered their winning menu, which included their bowl-shaped coconut milk pancakes called Hopper, at The Coconut Tree on Gas Street.

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The Hopper - as they have named it - is based on appam , which is believed to have originated in Southern India. The Coconut Tree is a Sri Lankan restaurant and as history goes there are links between the island nation and Southern India. From food to culture to language, there has been intermingling in all these arenas. There is also a bloody past between the two nations.

Regardless, my experience with appams always included a curry to go with it because it was always an accompaniment with a coconut-based gravy. However, at The Coconut Tree - the appam or the Hopper is the star.

Made with rice powder, yeast, and coconut milk - the pancake can be made easily in anyone’s kitchen as long as it has the right utensil for it. Adding an egg in the centre is optional.

The winning menu at the Coconut TreeThe winning menu at the Coconut Tree
The winning menu at the Coconut Tree

A small wok, preferably of cast iron, with two handles to spread the batter by rotating the dish is the key to a well made Hopper. And, if you are not interested in making it yourself, you can head to the restaurant - which has it on their menu all year round.

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The pancake is topped with an egg and three kinds of side dishes, coconut sambol, seeni sambol and lunu miris, that add flavour.

Apart from their pancake, there is a massive list of vegan options that the restaurant offers.

It is also not to-be-missed if you are a meat eater. The Black Pork, chicken curry and the lamb cutlet mixed with beautiful flavours South Asian flavours can be eaten by themselves or with rice or an appam.

This quiet and unassuming restaurant offers good food and good times with great drinks. Even the non-alcoholic Fallen Pornstar mocktail took my breath away.

Shamil and Rodrigo on Birmingham

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The winning duo, Shamil and Rodrigo, who own The Coconut Tree, said: “Coming to Birmingham is not like any other place we have been. It’s so multi-cultural.”

The restaurant was started by them and their three friends who pooled in their money to open a pub first. They offered Sri Lankan food there and it was a hit.

Shamil and RodrigoShamil and Rodrigo
Shamil and Rodrigo

“At the time there was no Sri Lankan restaurants. It was either Indian, South Indian, and Sri Lankan together or Indian restaurants offering a bit of Sri Lankan food. Everyone always asked what is the difference. Until you try it you don’t really feel the difference much and I think we stand out because of the cooking oil, coconut milk. We don’t really use butter or ghee in our cooking so it makes it more vegan and plant-based,” said Rod

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