One of the biggest openings last year was almost impossible to get a reservation.

Coming from the same chef as Ettan, an Indian restaurant that Tommaso and I went to a few years ago, Copra is his newest project that opened last February. Reservations were almost always booked for the weekends and when I saw an opening for bar seating, I took it. The restaurant took over the old Dosa spot which is quite large with high vaulted ceilings.

Chef Srijith Gopinathan describes the food as modern South Indian cuisine with some Sri Lankan influences. While we didn’t know what a lot of the items on the menu were, Tommaso’s friend does some of the professional photography for the restaurant and has eaten there numerous times and gave us some recommendations.

These juicy shrimp were coated in a brown butter chili chutney served with refreshing julienned cucumbers. Personally it was slightly too spicy for my liking as I had to take breaks in between bites.

The charred yet tender octopus had a jaffna curry leaf rub served with a yogurt sauce and fresh citrus segments.

This was a nice vegetarian dish of fried peppers stuffed with a mixture of pumpkin seeds and coconut on top of a green sambal sauce with cilantro. Lots of fun textures.

This street food classic had small pieces of fried chicken flavored with fennel seeds, chili, black pepper, and a plethora of masala crumbs.

Dosa is a thin savory crepe in South Indian cuisine and this had a potato filling. The crepe was super crispy and was served with various dips that included coconut chutney, tomato chutney, podi (lentils with spices), and onion sambar (lentil based stew with tamarind).

If there was one dish that multiple people said we had to try, it was the black cod and it was the best dish of the night. The fish was wrapped in banana leaves and had a sweet shallot crust. It might sound unassuming but it was so rich and delicious. It came with ghee rice with crispy toppings and a moilee (seafood) broth.

This is actually Ski Lankan’s most popular dessert and I can see why. It’s similar to a flan with its texture where the custard has warm spices like cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg. Under the custard there was a thinly sliced piece of pineapple and it was served with a butterscotch cream with cashews on the side.

This was an unexpected dessert as it had very thinly sliced fuyu persimmons buried underneath the caramelized milk foam. The quinoa brittle added nice texture and nuttiness.

Overall Copra was an enjoyable meal with its focus on South Indian and Sri Lankan flavors but in a contemporary fashion so my rating is an 8/10.