CHEF NIZA HASHIM and her husband, Lalith Rodrigo, are natives of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s portcity capital. The name of their Tarzana restaurant translates from the Sinhalese language as “our store.” Among several restaurants in the San Fernando Valley that serve Sri Lankan food — on the whole a remarkable and complex cuisine that’s under-represented in Los Angeles — their menu is the most comprehensive and the most consistently delicious. For dine-in or takeout, call ahead an hour or two to request lamprais, pronounced lump-rice, a feast of chicken or beef curry with vegetables (or ask for it entirely vegetarian) and other sides warmed in a banana leaf. The steam when you unwrap this parcel carries the scents of sweet spice, coconut palms and floral rice. Idiyappam, or string hoppers, are made of thin rice-flour noodles steamed into pearly nests and served with kiri hodi, a golden spiced coconutmilk gravy; a salad of finely chopped greens; sambol; and chutney. You have a choice of curry: I suggest the fish. Its secret ingredient is a dried fruit that goes by many names: goraka, kudampuli, Malabar tamarind. It imparts a sour, smoky tanginess to seafood for which the palate has no other reference.

• 19662 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, (818) 609-7683, instagram.com/apeykade/