100 Favorite Dishes, No. 70: Mutton Kottu at SpicyZest

Leading up to September's Best of Dallas® 2017 issue, we're sharing (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes, the Dallas entrées, appetizers and desserts that really stuck with us this year. SpicyZest might be the most interesting restaurant in metro Dallas right now. It’s our only Sri Lankan restaurant,...

By Brian Reinhart

June 21, 2017

SpicyZest's mutton kottu is a mixture of curried meat, vegetables and strips of flatbread. Kathy Tran

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Leading up to September's Best of Dallas® 2017 issue, we're sharing (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes, the Dallas entrées, appetizers and desserts that really stuck with us this year.

SpicyZest might be the most interesting restaurant in metro Dallas right now. It’s our only Sri Lankan restaurant, and it's one of just two places in Texas to offer any Sri Lankan food at all, along with a southern Indian restaurant in Houston.

This cuisine isn’t quite as spicy as southern Indian food, though; the spice blends are subtly different. That’s why SpicyZest chef-owner Nimidu Senaratne imports spices himself, rather than relying on finds at Indian groceries. And that’s what makes dishes like mutton kottu so exciting. Kottu — essentially thin strips of a flatbread — gets diced up and stir-fried with cubes of mutton, carrots, onions, greens and spices that turn the whole dish yellow. It’s forcefully but not overwhelmingly spicy, agreeably salty and totally craveable. And it’s a good gateway to one of the most exciting kitchens in the region.

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Brian Reinhart has been the Dallas Observer's food critic since spring 2016. In addition, he writes baseball analysis for the Hardball Times and covers classical music for the Observer and MusicWeb International.

Contact: Brian Reinhart

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Twitter: @bgreinhart