Woodman Point Beach Kiosk

It’s fair to say that chef Nisantha Columba Perera – aka “Colombo” – has built a cult following among Perth’s curry fanatics. For years, Colombo has been cooking up some of the most sublime curries we’ve ever eaten, and quietly selling them in an unlikely spot: a humble beach kiosk that also hawks chips, Golden Gaytimes and sausage rolls.

The only clue that something special is going on is a little chalkboard – nestled among bigger signs displaying ice-creams and hot drinks – that lists the day’s curry offerings. Using fresh herbs and home-ground spices, Colombo makes his curries from scratch in the back of the kiosk and serves them frozen in vacuum-sealed packs, to be warmed and eaten at home. There are typically half a dozen available each day, ranging from a soulful Sri Lankan chicken to a barnstormer of a palak paneer. These dishes are so good that one customer would drive from Mount Lawley every week just to buy the dal. (That’s roughly a 70-kilometre round trip.) But if we had to recommend just one, it’d be the magical goat curry.

Colombo started working as a cook in Sri Lanka when he was 16; he emigrated to Perth in 2006 after marrying his Australian wife, Laurel, who runs the kiosk with him. Laurel deserves credit for the utterly joyful giant samosas. While Colombo conjures up the filling, packing it with fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves and coriander seeds, it’s Laurel who wraps it with a quintessentially Aussie crust – something you’d normally find on a meat pie. The delicious coming together of South Asian spice and homely Australian pastry is entirely unexpected – just like discovering excellent Sri Lankan curry at a West Australian beachside kiosk.