Badam Doodh

• Let’s have some doodh, dude

Street food is all the rage right now, and while some may say that Sri Lanka doesn’t have much to offer in this sense, if you know where to look, you’d stumble across several trucks and carts selling various items at very reasonable prices.

We visited one such food truck down Marine Drive, Bambalapitiya that specialises in Indian street food – Badam Doodh. The bright yellow truck is hard to miss and even has its own space rented out, so whether you’re taking a late night stroll or drive, you’d have space to park, sit, and enjoy a snack.

Badam Doodh, which literally translates to almond milk in English, is what the little truck started off selling, before they expanded to a wider range of warm food and beverages.

Brunch had a chat with Muadh, the owner of the food truck, where he told us more about the inspiration behind this venture.

The truck was born out of Muadh’s love for almond milk and his frequent visits to Aluth Kadé – Colombo’s one-stop place for street food. Despite not having any educational qualifications in the food business, after seeing how much more he could bring to the street food industry in Sri Lanka, he decided to open up his own. Badam Doodh opened on 29 April this year, offering their signature badam doodh, which Muadh proudly declares is the best almond milk in town; badam kheer, which is a hot drink of Indian-style almond milk; badam rose milk, which, as the name suggests, is a cool refreshing cup of rose milk; banoffee pudding; and bread chaat, which is crispy bread stuffed with a savoury filling of your choice.

Muadh told us that he had hoped to open it up much earlier, but with the pandemic, it proved impossible, and despite opening in April, he only recently started back up due to the constant lockdowns and the unpredictability of the situation.

Badam Doodh opens at 4 p.m. and goes on till 11.30 p.m., so we decided to pop over for a quick bite to see what it was all about. The truck, painted in bright yellow, with Indian-themed graffiti and slogans on it, is impossible to miss, especially at that time of night. They even have little cement tables and chairs so one may sit down, enjoy some late night conversation, and relax with a healthy glass of milk and their latest addition – BBQ.

The menu at a glance is relatively cheap, when taking into consideration how expensive almond milk is. We decided to try both the hot and cold options as well as some bread chaat and BBQ. The cold milk was absolutely refreshing and a great way to end the day; nutty and earthy flavours come through with every sip and you’d even find little pieces of vermicelli. We really couldn’t get enough, and it was priced at just Rs. 120. The warm milk tasted a bit healthier; although they both are, in this one, you could taste the almond more strongly and it also had a green flavour for the price of Rs. 100.

The bread chaat came with bite-sized pieces of chicken on some well-toasted bread, all cut into small pieces. A great snack.

Lastly, we tried the BBQ. It was a large chicken thigh coated in a rich, decadent sauce and we must add, it was quite spicy. We were very appreciative of the coleslaw and garlic bread it came with to cut down on the heat. Overall, it was a very filling meal, and you’d be able to have it at under Rs. 500, which in this day and age is quite worthwhile, we would say.