Smoke & Bitters

Dickwella, Sri Lanka

• No.40 Asia's 50 Best Bars 2023
• No. 91 Asia's 50 Best Bars 2021

There are few better places to linger over a sundowner than this open-air bar on Sri Lanka’s southern coast. Tickling the sand, drinks here are part and parcel of the evening ritual in the laid-back surfer town of Hiriketiya. Decked out in local materials and opened in 2020, it’s half tiki lounge, half beach shack, but make no mistake, for all the easy breezy frondescence of the surrounds, this place is serious about what goes in the glass. Fed by the Teardrop Isle’s natural larder, cue jars of hella good homemade bitters – bay leaf and lemongrass, Ceylon, smoke orange et al – ready to add sultry notes to craft concoctions that riff on the classics. Liqueurs, syrups and infusions are similarly curated in house: see the emblematic Mai Chai with chai-infused rum and homemade chai syrup, or Pepper Potts with gin, pineapple, cumin pepper syrup and orange bitters. The kitchen complements proceedings with podi plates and island fare from smoked chicken hoppers and jackfruit biriyani to beer-battered mahi-mahi and a lauded smoked pork shoulder on roti bread.

Key Information

• Average price per cocktail $5
• Evening: Wed - Sun
• +94 77 338 6606
• Visit Smoke & Bitters's Website

Location

Pehebiya, Pehebiya Road, Hiriketiya, Dickwella, Southern Province, 81200