"The Sri Lankan restaurant delivering food from Croydon to Scotland during Lockdown

A Croydon Boxpark based restaurant is not only serving up its popular Sri Lankan street food dishes to South Londoners, it is getting orders from as far away as Scotland.

Restaurateur Vigneswaran 'Vignes' Rajagopal, who runs K+K Street Food, is known by locals for his popular mutton rolls and word is spreading far.

The 36-year-old said: “We did two deliveries in Scotland last week.

""The deliveries are so good, customers order the previous day...and we box everything and it goes straight away.

""One more order this week came from Scotland!""

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Armed with his new take on food delivery, in a nationwide approach, the Londoner delivers chilled dishes packed with flavour that can be warmed up in your oven, by following simple heating instructions provided in the package

""You get a nice aroma”, he added.


The dishes he hopes to deliver across Britain are Lamprais and Ambula.

""The term ‘lamprais’ which loosely translates to a packet of lumped rice is an amalgam of very specific side dishes and a delightfully flavourful rice.” according to their website.


Lamprais is one of the dishes you can order anywhere in the UK (Image: Vigneswaran Rajagopal)
For vegans, Vignes says they are also offering up the tasty Sri Lankan favourite Ambula.

""It means it's a dish for farmers,"" he said. ""It is red raw rice and it's got a lot of vegetables in it...you can get it for nationwide delivery.""


The London native did his homework and found a way to get his idea off the ground,

“We partnered with a few delivery companies who can serve chilled food,"" he said.

""[We cater for] people who want to order locally and we have a separate website where people can order for nationwide delivery which will be the chilled range.""


The interior of Vigneswaran Rajagopal's restaurant in Croydon (Image: Vigneswaran Rajagopal)
Overall, Vignes hopes that the pandemic won’t go on much longer he said: “We are hoping to get this Covid over soon.”

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Till then, if we can’t go to Sri Lanka, the local businessman hopes to bring a taste of Sri Lanka to you, wherever you are during lockdown.

To place an order for nationwide delivery visit - https://kkhome-nationwide.slerp.com/order

For the Croydon based business, the move towards nationwide deliveries came as it had to adapt and become creative in its approach to navigating the pandemic.

They witnessed the tragic impact it has had on the hospitality sector and harbour some concerns for the future.

""We are surviving somehow but I think the ones who can’t afford it close down, that's a bit sad, and it's very, hard"", said Vignes.

""But as a community we are getting support from locals who used to come to our restaurant.

""It's a bit sad to see how Boxpark was and to see it's like an empty place now.

""The whole idea of Boxpark is like regeneration and bringing up the community.""

Vignes remains optimistic though, that a bit of creativity can stir up some interest and help the restaurant get through lockdown 3 by tickling taste buds across the UK.

Chef Suranga serving up some tasty dishes at K+K Street Food
Chef Suranga serving up some tasty dishes at K+K Street Food (Image: Vigneswaran Rajagopal)
He noticed how popular Sri Lankan food is proving to be and is hoping to use the gap in the market to bring some comfort food to those who want to enjoy their street food cuisine during lockdown.

He added: “If you search on Deliveroo or any Just Eat app, you won't even have a specific section for Sri Lankan food.

""It will be Indian food, Thai food but there are a lot of Sri Lankan restaurants in London, it's a shame.

""We are trying to educate people about Sri Lankan food because most of our food which we are trying to sell online [is] very specific or unique to what other Sri Lankan restaurants are doing, we are trying to bring that authentic food that no one has heard of in London or UK.”"
Website: https://www.kkstreetfood.com/