Curry-leaf cocktail? Sri Lanka’s bar scene is on the rise

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

It’s a sultry day in Sri Lanka, and I’m sitting at a waterside table at Raa, a new bar on the beach at Hiriketiya, a beautiful cove on the south coast. In my hand is an iced fuchsia cocktail of pink-skinned dragon fruit and “toddy”, a traditional hooch fermented from coconut flower sap that is gathered by toddy tappers who shin up the spindly coconut trees that…