A Moment For: Lankan Filling Station’s Curry Leaf Butter Kade Paan

Last year, O Tama Carey made her hoppers a weekend-only item at Lankan Filling Station. The savoury bowl-shaped pancakes are a staple in Sri Lanka, and they’re that good that some diners left when they realised they weren’t available. But the menu shake-up coincided with a fresh approach from Carey, and gave her more precious kitchen space – and the new star carb that replaces weekday-hoppers is a winner: kade paan.

Translating to “shop bread” in Sinhalese, kade paan is a fluffy white loaf, sliced thick. “It is such a delicious bread and is perfect for mopping up sauces, or eaten simply with dal, much like you would a roti or hopper,” Carey tells Broadsheet. “It’s another of those things so ubiquitous to Sri Lanka that we don’t really get in Sydney, I thought it was time to spread the news.”

At LFS, the bread’s made by AP Bread and arrives hot off the grill, with a generous swipe of Carey’s “special magic flavour”: curry leaf butter. Here are all the details.

What: kade paan with curry leaf butter.
How: A simple white flour dough is made, with butter mixed throughout. It’s proofed, painted with a butter, flour and oil slurry, then baked. It comes out of the oven with a deeply golden, distinct crust. It’s sliced thick, then charred on the grill with several rounds of curry leaf butter painted on top.
Cost: $7
Where: Lankan Filling Station in Darlinghurst.

@lankanfillingstation