Street Food Mondays at Angeli Caffe: Priyani

In January, I hosted a Sri Lankan crawl where I discovered Priyani. I was saddened to learn the restaurant is now shuttered. However, Evan Kleiman and Bill Esparza starting hosting Street Food Mondays at Angeli Caffe. I went to the inaugural “guerrilla street food popup” with Ricky’s Fish Tacos where I learned Priyani was going to be the next “popup.”

I was with people who had never had Sri Lankan food. I said it’s not really Indian nor Malaysian but almost a combination of that and more. The hoppers are pure Sri Lankan.

String hoppers are rice noodle patties, almost like giant Vietnamese bun (tiny vermicelli). I know people who eat them like tacos. Add a little curry and sime sambal (the fluffy stuff) and you got yourself a rockin’ meal.

Lampreis wasn’t part of the meal I had at Priyani in January so I was looking forward to this dish. It was a chicken curry wrapped in a banana leaf. It reminded me of Indonesian nasi bungkus.

We had ordered the entire menu. Like the lampreis, I didn’t get a chance to try egg hoppers at Priyani. I don’t know what I was thinking but I imagined egg hoppers to be made of eggs not to be a hopper (the crepe) holding an egg. You could also order it plain which we got with eggplant. Eating the egg one with mutton curry was great.

Watalappam is described as a coconut custard. I remembered thinking the first time I had it how much it reminded me of Thanksgiving. Priyani said it was the cardamon at the time and last week, Thanksgiving arrived early again. There’s just something very comforting about it.

I’m looking forward to more Street Food Mondays. I can’t wait for the vendors from the Wat Thai Buddhist Temple!

Street Food Mondays at Angeli Caffe

7274 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 936-9086