India for culture, Sri Lanka for beaches, and Nepal for nature. All accurate. But for us, it was all about the battle of the desserts across the three countries.
Looking at our dessert page, you can see that India dominated our sweet tooth cravings, with Nepal and Sri Lanka offering more Western desserts than local sugar creations.
Nepal has been influenced by the French, with little pastries popping up high in the Himalayas.
Whereas Sri Lanka mainly pushed ice cream due to its intense heat.
Nevertheless, here are our top seven desserts across India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, in order of enjoyment.
🇱🇰 Wattalapam
Ranking: 7
Not the most flattering picture of this Sri Lankan dessert; normally, you will see these in a square, rather than looking like athletes’ foot.
Most restaurants in the country will have Wattalapam, as it’s the only local dessert on their menu.
Its innards consist of a coconut custard, where numerous spices and nutty flavours battle it out to be number one. Cinnamon comes out on top.
It’s an interesting dessert, one Gina and I didn’t warm to, mainly due to how it looked and its mushy texture. It did, however, leave a pleasant aftertaste.
A dessert worth trying, but we tried it once and never wanted it again.
🇮🇳 Kulfi
Ranking: 6
India’s version of ice cream, with a superpower.
India is not a cold country, so normal ice cream quickly becomes just cream after five minutes. Kulfi, though, is more dense than regular ice cream, taking its time to melt.
Despite this, Kulfi loses some of its flavour because of its texture; instead of soft cream, you taste hard blocks of ice.
We understood the need for Kulfi, but I would prefer whipped ice cream every time.
🇳🇵Chocolate Momo
Ranking: 5
Described by a local we met as a “disgrace to Nepalese cuisine,” but that doesn’t stop it from being a chocolatey, nutty delight.
Momos are everywhere in Nepal. Every restaurant puts its own spin on the phenomenon, with some opting to inject chocolate and peanuts into its doughy dumplings.
This craze has split the nation, with many thinking it is a twist on a dish that has gone too far. Others like the number of tourists ordering these exotic momos.
Georgina hated this dessert, whereas I gladly finished all ten pieces in the picture in one sitting.
🇮🇳 Falooda
Ranking: 4
Some say it’s a drink, but with a blob of ice cream at its summit, I think we can all agree Falooda belongs in the dessert category.
Falooda is a popular Indian summer treat that combines ice cream with cornflakes, dried fruit, and vermicelli noodles.
Discovering noodles at the bottom of the sundae at first filled me with dread. It turned out to be the best part.
A very strange dessert, one that is incredibly cheap in India, around 80 pence at most places.
It is the most refreshing dessert on this list, maybe it’s a drink after all.
🇮🇳 Bebinca
Ranking: 3
Looks like witches’ fingers, tastes like a caramel bounty.
Bebinca is a multi-layered traditional delight from Goa, rich with the taste of coconut and caramel.
We had Bebinca on Christmas Day, very different from the cheese and Jacob crackers I normally opt for, but maybe this Indian dessert will become a ritual for future festivities.
🇮🇳 Hello to the Queen
Ranking: 2
The most Western-looking dessert on this list, and for good reason.
A dessert purely designed to appeal to backpackers across tourist hubs, Hello to the Queen is a mixture of crushed biscuits, banana slices, ice cream, and chocolate sauce.
You’ll find this mostly in Goa, where you’ll also see many burnt Brits looking for love in their twilight years.
After months of eating strange-looking desserts, which have split opinion, with some even making me gag, Hello to the Queen was a welcome dish, and one I would race to order again.
🇮🇳 Halwa
Ranking: 1
Our number one dessert across India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal goes to Halwa. Very similar to Turkish delights, just much softer.
Made from semolina, ghee, sugar, and a variety of nuts.
The Halwa we liked the most was orange-infused, with cashew and pistachio nuts.
You can find Halwa in most restaurants, but they are best in markets or local shops.
Desserts in India are the sweetest we’ve ever tasted, and many are too sweet for their own good. Halwa, though, is one of the best desserts we have tried in South Asia.
As for Sri Lanka and Nepal, desserts are really not a thing, so India very much deserves the trophy when it comes to sweets.
