Hiriketiya is small. One road down to a horseshoe bay, a handful of places along it, and a rhythm to the day that most people fall into within about forty eight hours of arriving.
Eating here follows that rhythm rather than a clock. Here is roughly how it goes, and what we do about it upstairs at Maha Mezze.
Early, after the first surf
The bay breaks all day but the water is best early, which means a lot of people eat their first meal at nine in the morning having already been out for two hours. That meal needs to be substantial in a way a croissant is not.
We open at 8:00 am for this exact reason. The Hangover Hero is the honest answer when you have overdone it: Cumberland sausage, chicken, garlic and chili, bacon, fried egg and Maha chutney. The avocado sourdough with beetroot purée, feta and a poached egg is the same idea with more restraint.
If you want something lighter, the smoothie bowls do the job, and the chicken bone broth is quietly the best thing on the breakfast menu if you are feeling rough.
Mid morning, coffee that is actually coffee
Coffee in a beach town is a lottery. Ours runs from a proper machine: flat whites, cortados, cold brew spiced in house. The wellness lattes are there if you want turmeric or matcha instead, and the homemade ginger beer is brewed on site and worth ordering even at eleven in the morning.
The long afternoon
This is what the terrace is built for. The mezze platter is six plates of your choosing from falafel, dhal curry, nomad beans, honey feta, grilled paneer, hummus, guacamole, tzatziki, coconut sambol, gotu kola and more, with warm pitta. Three thousand five hundred and fifty rupees between two people, longer than an hour, no hurry.
If you would rather one thing than many, the Georgian pizza is the outlier on the menu and the thing people come back for. It is built on khachapuri, so the crust is stuffed edge to edge with buffalo mozzarella made here, and it comes with a side of cheesy sauce because the point is excess.
After a sauna
Worth knowing if you are doing the circuit downstairs: you will be hungry afterwards in a way you did not expect, and you will not want alcohol.
That is why there is a sober bar. Australian wine with the alcohol removed, German pilsner at 0.0%, non alcoholic gin and rum, and a sober espresso martini. Ninety minutes of heat and cold then a drink that undoes it never made sense to us.
Sunset and after
Sunset is the busy hour on the terrace and it is worth booking for. The skewers platter is the evening order: any three from chicken, mutton, prawns, paneer, falafel, mushroom and tofu, served with pickled onion, bread, hummus, tzatziki and chutney.
Friday and Saturday there is live music upstairs from seven until eleven, free, no ticket. Sunday is the roast with a DJ from noon. Monday is a film downstairs on silent headphones. Those three nights change the room completely, so check what is on before you pick a day.
Practical
Maha Mezze is open 8:00 am to 10:00 pm, all year, on Hiriketiya Beach Road in Dikwella, one floor above the sauna. All prices are in rupees plus ten percent service.
Walk in during the day. Book for sunset, weekends and Sunday brunch.