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I have many fond memories eating appam (also known as hoppers) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

My mother and grandmother would regularly make the delicately thin pancakes that I’d typically have for breakfast with a dollop of coconut cream in the base and a spoonful of jaggery.

The batter was made using ground rice and coconut, which was left to ferment overnight. Then they would expertly twirl the batter in an appachatti (miniature wok) to create the bowl-shaped pancakes, which had a crispy ring at the top, and a thicker base.

But when we arrived in Canada in the early ’90s, our appam meals were few and far between.

While the Greater Toronto Area has one of the largest diasporas of Tamil Sri Lankans, a good hopper with a crispy top and a comforting centre was hard to find.

“Hoppers need to be eaten quickly, they don’t keep,” said Kumar Karapillai of New Kalyani Restaurant in Scarborough. “That’s why for many years all you were able to see are the flat deflated pancakes.”

Nowadays it seems that many Tamil-owned Sri Lankan restaurants are featuring à la minute hoppers on their menus.

Walk into your favourite Tamil takeout spot in the early morning and the chances are good that you’ll see a procession of freshly made hoppers sitting on the counter.

Here are three of the best places to try one of my favourite dishes.

Kumar Karapillai and his wife opened New Kalyani seven years ago in a lonely plaza in Scarborough.

Karapillai makes his hopper batter from his grandmother’s recipe.

“I only use rice, but I can’t tell you what kind it is,” said Karapillai of the secret family recipe.

It’s a small amount of batter, which he leaves in an open container to ferment overnight, before cooking the hoppers to order.

If it’s your first time trying a hopper, I would recommend a plain version to truly appreciate the range of textures from the crispy paper thin edges to the pancake centre.

The most popular appam on the menu here is one that gets a heaping spoonful of coconut milk at the centre, which adds a luxurious creaminess to the pancake.

“The egg hoppers are also popular,” said Karapillai.

There are two versions, one with the yolk intact, and the whites are swirled around with the batter in the wok.

The second where the yolk is broken and coated over the entire pancake, like having a hopper omelette.

This is one of the oldest Tamil takeout spots in Scarborough, nestled in an iconic plaza that is home to one of the most popular Tamil supermarkets in the GTA, SP Importers.

There is no menu inside, but loyal customers come here for a variety of Sri Lankan dishes like rice and curry, short eats, and of course, hoppers.

The family recipe of “rice and flour” batter is made every other day by owner Kasiny Rasalingam.

Kasiny’s husband, Vamadevan, makes the hoppers to order, expertly crafting the crisp tops with each pancake.

A sheet taped to one of the display cases offers options of plain hoppers or ones with coconut milk, but I think the best version here is off menu.

“Those that love hoppers always ask to have with (coconut sambol),” said Priashanna, the couple’s daughter who has recently started helping out at the store.

Hoppers are served with a generous amount of the sambol, made from mashing shaved coconut with red chiles and red onions.

Think of it as dry salsa — fiery, tempered by the coconut with punchy accents of the onion. Tear off a piece of the hopper and scoop the salsa to enjoy.

When Johnne and Priya Phinehas opened their takeout counter on Queen West eight years ago, hoppers were not on the menu.

“They’re too hard to make and keep. If we can’t have them fresh, there’s no point,” said Johnne.

Last fall, the pair opened a second location in Kee Square in the Heritage Hills Park neighbourhood of Mississauga. It is also a takeout counter, but with a bigger kitchen. As a result Priya and Johnne have started offering hoppers from Wednesday to Sunday.

“We make the batter a few times a week, and it is fermented at least for a day,” said Johnne. The batter here is all rice, and there are a number of options on the menu.

On the savoury side, I highly recommend a hopper paired with the house mutton curry. Johnne’s mutton curry is highly praised by his customers. The curry is cooked low and slow to the point where it has a thicker body, which complements the pancake very well.

Another stellar option is with the eggplant moju — cooked down eggplant that is silky smooth and slightly sweet.

“We also recommend the combination of potato masala, eggplant moju and (coconut sambol) all in one hopper,” said Priya. It’s a loaded hopper with an array of heat and sweetness in each bite.

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