Glasgow’s new Sri Lankan dining destination, Kochchi, has opened for business in the city’s West End.
The brand first captured attention via its stand within the Bonnie & Wild Scottish food marketplace in Edinburgh’s St James Quarter – but following a half a million-pound investment in the former site of the Hanoi Bike Shop in Ruthven Lane, just off Glasgow’s Byres Road, it now has a substantial permanent home.
With a dining capacity of 80 covers spanning over two floors plus an external heated balcony area, Kochchi also features a dedicated bar area featuring Sri Lankan-inspired cocktails, craft beers, and tropical softs.
Founded by friends Shehan Fernando and Suki Jayaratne, Kochchi is based upon their shared love of the street food culture in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.
Jayaratne said: “Shehan’s childhood was spent among his family’s hotels in Nuwara Eliya before discovering Colombo’s kitchens and streets, where food was rhythm and theatre.
“I grew up in Kandy’s gardens and coastal markets but found in Colombo the energy of a city where every influence collided — from black pork curry and seafood fried rice to lunch boxes filled with dosas, sambols, and biryani.”
Kochchi is Fernando and Jayaratne’s way of bringing that experience to life in Scotland. The new Glasgow restaurant reflects the Colombo they remember — the wood, cane, and brass of old hotels, the colour and bustle of its markets, and the spirit of food cooked fresh and fast.
The menu showcases a selection of dishes that celebrate fresh ingredients, layered spices and time-honoured cooking techniques, reimagined for the modern diner and designed for sharing, celebrating texture, and nostalgia.
Guests can begin with nibbles such as spiced cashew nuts and cassava chips, before moving onto short eats – a cornerstone of Sri Lankan food culture – including cheese roti melts, hot butter squid and cauliflower, pork belly stack, fish cutlets, and Sri Lankan mutton rolls.
But at the heart of the menu is iconic street food Koththu – fresh flatbread is hand-chopped and seared on a hot griddle with vegetables and curry, available with roast chicken, black pork, or cauliflower.
Alongside, Sri Lankan curries and devilled dishes highlight depth and heat, featuring options of Colombo chicken curry, black pork curry, monkfish curry, crab curry, devilled chicken, pork, and prawns, plus the comforting classic parippu lentil curry.
For accompaniments, Kochchi offers traditional hoppers, roti, pãan, and rice, including classic and egg hoppers, egg roti, roast pãan, basmati rice, and fried rice, complemented by a selection of house sambols, pickles, and its own signature sauce.
Fernando said: “When you sit at our table, you taste more than Sri Lanka — you taste Colombo, the city where the island comes together.
“At Kochchi Glasgow, we want to share that rhythm and warmth — a place for rich curries, street snacks, and seafood dishes that carry the flavours of home. The space will have the same character and soul that shaped us, brought to life with a Glasgow energy of its own.”
Designed to offer both intimate dining and lively group experiences, Kochchi aims for an atmosphere that is warm and energetic – and accommodating to different dietary needs, with vegetarian and seafood variations on the signature dishes, whilst still providing both authenticity and innovation.
