Sri Lankan Fare Takes Center Stage Uptown

Lungi debuts on the Upper East Side this week

by Caroline Shin, Eater NY, September 18, 2024

While Sri Lankan food has made a mark in Staten Island, it’s moving beyond the borough to Manhattan’s Upper East Side with Lungi. Co-owner Albin Vincent is flipping Imli, his neighborhood spot for modern Indian food, into Lungi, with a focus on Sri Lankan and coastal South Indian fare. The restaurant is located at 1136 First Avenue, between 62nd and 63rd streets, opening Wednesday, September 18.

After running Imli for seven years, “I wanted to do something from my childhood,” said Albin Vincent, the co-owner and chef.

Lungi will be the latest to join a cadre of restaurants including Kanyakumari, Semma, and Jazba that highlight coastal South Indian fare. Plus, it’s making an impression on the Sri Lankan food scene. Outside of Staten Island, Sri Lankan food has made limited appearances with few restaurants serving the cuisine, namely, Sigiri in Manhattan’s East Village and Spicy Lanka in Richmond Hills, Queens.

 Alex Staniloff/Lungi

Alex Staniloff/Lungi

 Alex Staniloff/Lungi

 Alex Staniloff/Lungi

The menu at Lungi reflects Vincent’s childhood in Kanyakumari, a coastal city at the southernmost tip of India, across the Laccadive Sea from Sri Lanka. After his parents died when he was six years old, Vincent helped cook for his household of five siblings and grandparents. Together, the family would cook South Indian and Sri Lankan dishes.

“We would wait for the fishermen to come around 1-ish to bring the live fish,” he said. “It was only on Sunday when we would cook meat because that’s when the fishermen didn’t go fishing.”

To reflect that duality, Lungi’s co-owners Albin Vincent and Mervyn Winston tapped executive chef Vasantha Kumar and sous chef Andrew Simethy from the coastal states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, respectively. There’s a 60-40 breakdown of South Indian to Sri Lankan dishes, said Vincent. The menu, overall, leans into seafood and flavors of coconut milk, earthy Byadgi chiles, piquant green Indian chiles, and black pepper, while ushering in dishes that aren’t particularly accessible in New York.

For instance, the weekend-only sura puttu ($17) (stir-fried baby shark) is a staple of the Tamil Nadu state, where Kanyakumari is located. The shark meat is steamed and flaked, and then sauteed with eggs, green chiles, curry leaves, and garam masala, which is toasted and ground from whole spices at the restaurant.

The nandu chaaru ($14), a richly spiced crab soup mined from Vincent’s childhood, also pops up at Lungi. Aromatics like ginger, garlic, cumin, turmeric, and sesame seeds season a whole Dungeness crab before everything gets boiled together. Other South Indian specials include marinated and fried anchovies; tiger prawns stir-fried with curry leaves; and red snapper curry seasoned with tamarind and mango ($29).

The “short eats” menu reflects Sri Lanka’s snacking culture, and features baked or fried stuffed snacks like mutton rolls and fish cutlets. The multi-faceted lamprais is a mix of rice, lamb curry, brinjal moju (crispy eggplant strips), and seeni sambal (caramelized onion relish) that’s wrapped and baked in banana leaves.

A Sri Lankan classic, hoppers claim a section of the menu. For the plain and egg hoppers, a fermented rice flour batter lightly coats a concave hopper pan until the top edges get crackly and the bottom is fluffy on the inside. The whole thing then slides out of the pan, maintaining its bowl-like form. The hoppers are eaten on the sweet side with coconut milk and coconut sambal (dried grated coconut) or savory with lamb stew and assorted curries.

For the string hoppers, rice flour batter is extruded to create a waterfall of noodles that land into woven bamboo trays, in which they are steamed. The nests of noodles sop up curries and sambols.

On weekends, Vincent revives his memories of religious festivals and wedding banquets with the South Indian virundhu. An appetizer, curries, biryani, and pickles are served on banana leaves for a communal brunch.

“You cannot eat this with the fork and knife, you know,” Vincent said. You have to eat with your hand, okay? You can feel the textures. The food just tastes better.”

 Alex Staniloff/Lungi

Lungi is open Monday through Sunday 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. Reservations can be made via OpenTable.

Caroline Shin is a Queens-raised food journalist and founder of the Cooking with Granny YouTube and workshop series starring immigrant grandmothers. Follow her on Instagram @CookingWGranny.