A note on the words: moju is a Sri Lankan side dish of vegetables fried and simmered in a lightly sweet-and-sour spiced sauce, here made with eggplant and green chili. A cutlet, in Sri Lankan cooking, is a fried fish croquette — firmer and crispier on the outside than the Japanese potato kind. Chicken devil (also called devil chicken) is a Sri Lankan stir-fry of chicken in a spicy, tangy sauce with peppers and onion. Banana leaf curry is curry and rice served wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf, which is unwrapped at the table.
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Florida Tei on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. This time we are in Ikebukuro — well, more precisely, near Toden Zoshigaya Station — at a Sri Lankan restaurant called “Florida Tei.” I was searching for something interesting around here and Sri Lankan food sounded fun! And apparently Sri Lankan exchange students actually come to eat here. That sounds properly authentic! Can’t wait!
Stepping inside, I was not quite sure what to make of it — is this a restaurant or a bar? Low sofa seats and tables.
It’s a pretty relaxing kind of space. A slightly unusual atmosphere.
This place is apparently known for its banana leaf curry, so I have to try that before I leave!
For now, though, I’m going to work through some Sri Lankan-ish dishes a la carte.
First, beer!
Is Lion beer a Sri Lankan beer? I started off with the stout.
A stout that goes down surprisingly clean and easy.
This is the eggplant moju. I think it’s eggplant fried and simmered in a lightly tangy spiced sauce? The green chili isn’t all that hot, so it works more as a mildly spicy snack to go with beer. Delicious!
“Too organic, too sweet” salad lol. The name alone is funny.
Since it’s made with organic vegetables, it’s a really nice salad. I can kind of picture what they mean — the carrots especially are quite sweet.
It’s a huge pile of it, so this alone is plenty. It feels like the right size for about four people to share.
Apparently this is a signature dish of the island nation of Sri Lanka. A fried fish croquette of sorts.
Eating it, it really does taste like a croquette, but the outside is harder and crispier — more like a fried ball. The inside has a bit of a chewy texture too, different from potato, and it tastes distinctly of fish. This one is nicely spiced as well.
And I’m not totally sure how connected this is to Sri Lanka, but here are tacos named after the restaurant itself — Florida tacos.
Piled generously onto a hard U-shaped shell, with a satisfying crunch! Tacos are good anywhere, aren’t they!
Since we’re already on a Mexican tangent, I wanted nachos too! So I added an order of Mexican nachos.
The nachos have a nice contrast between the soggier chips and the crisp ones. If anything, these are the ones where the jalapeno heat and the taco sauce really shine.
And this one, which looks like a spicy sweet-and-sour pork, is chicken devil. Apparently it also goes by the name “devil chicken,” and it’s a standard menu item in Sri Lanka. Just as it looks, calling it a spicy sweet-and-sour pork-style dish fits perfectly lol. Delicious!
And here is the famous banana leaf curry!
For now, let’s open it up and mix everything together!
Mmm, this looks good.
The light, fluffy rice pairs really well with the curry. If anything it leans more toward a coconut-forward curry, and with all sorts of ingredients mixed in, the complex flavors blend together differently depending on which bite you take — that’s part of the fun. It’s a surprisingly deep dish.
So there we have it — Ikebukuro’s well-known Sri Lankan restaurant, “Florida Tei.” It lived up to its reputation, serving authentic food in a genuinely welcoming, homey atmosphere. There really were groups of customers who looked like Sri Lankan exchange students eating there too, which made it clear this is the real deal. The prices are fairly reasonable as well, so it seems like a solid value for everyday use. Might even be fun to book the whole place out for a party!
Florida Tei (Sri Lankan / Toden Zoshigaya Station, Higashi-Ikebukuro Station, Higashi-Ikebukuro-yonchome Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
