Apey Kade, a Sri Lankan restaurant in Tarzana, continues to dominate, in the sparse landscape of this unique, fragrant and spicy island cuisine. This eatery has been around for a while, been always consistent in its high quality and therefore become a magnet for that hungry craving and adventurous foodie. Of the handful of Sri Lankan establishments in the SFV and its vicinities, Apey Kade provides the largest selection of staples, main dishes and those addicting appetizers called "short eats". Be it the fish roll (also called a Chinese roll), the cutlet, the patties, masala vadai, the scotch egg or the bacon & egg pastry, to name a few, everything is good here. For the mains, they have meals for string hoppers, hoppers, godamba rotis, pol roti and more. Let us not forget the ubiquitous rice and curry, the banana leaf rice packets and the lumprais. Important to note, for those that question it, Sri Lankan curries have a very different aroma, flavor and taste profile than food from any other country. The offerings here, are fresh and cooked with high quality Sri Lankan spices and ingredients. The pol (coconut) sambol is a must, it is intoxicating. Apey Kade is helmed by a delightful husband (Lalith) and wife (Niza) team, who are the culinary trifecta - owners, chefs and servers, at this small and cozy restaurant. Their humor, warmth and Sri Lankan hospitality, enhances the culinary dining (or to go) experience, that makes you desire to come back here, again and again. read more

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Definitely come, it's definitely worth it. Parking lot is small, and can be horrible, but get past that and come in and enjoy the small space. Being able to communicate with the owner is awesome. He is filled with personality, enjoys life and spreads joy. The food is awesome. It is of-the-best Sri Lankan food. Their items in the display case are good too, don't skip those, try them all! Definitely get a chai, it is SO delicious! If you are nearby and reading, come! read more

Wonderful mom and pop restaurant in the valley that specializes in Sri Lankan food. It's located in a small strip mall right off the freeway. It's one of those places that if you told me that it's probably the most authentic Sri Lankan food ever, I would be inclined to believe you because honestly, I'm not that well-versed in the food myself. But I will say it does have that feel of authenticity here. They got a warm neighborhood vibe in that they treat you like valued customers here or friends. I've been meaning to go here for a long time, but haven't had a chance to visit. I happen to be in the area recently and decided that I really wanted to go for lunch. I ended up ordering the fish curry package lunch. Lots of delicious flavors from the spices and such a fun presentation - it was all packed into the banana leaf. Again, I'm not well-versed, but if you were to tell me that this is as good as it gets with Sri Lankan food, I wouldn't disagree . read more

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My goal in life is to have a big party so that Apey Kade can cater it. Wonderful food with delightful owners. I live nowhere near it but try to stop by every time I'm remotely close. read more

I've been wanting to come to apey kade since seeing the raving reviews + the chicken kottu pictures. needless to say it didn't disappoint. there aren't a lot of sri lankan restaurants in the US, so it feels like a hidden gem in california. They also cover pretty much everything you could ever want here- from appa to pittu + all the short eats you can think of. I also got the vegetable lamprais & the parippu & eggplant in particular were both amazing. I was overwhelmed and wanted to try everything but they give ample portions so i'll definitely be back for more!! the restaurant itself is a hole in the wall (which i love) - really small with about 5-6 tables i would say and then the kitchen itself. it kind of creates an intimate experience with the owner/cook able to communicate with us at all times. it made for a rlly cohesive experience. I'll definitely be back & would recommend to anyone , but especially any sri lankans out there looking for a taste of home read more

Apey Kade - chicken kottu - Sri Lankan Near Me - Tarzana, California

The food was soo good! I would say it has heavy indian influences and some mexican as well (maybe being in SoCal and ingredients available?). This is my first time having Sri Lankan food but I would definitely visit again. Ask for the spicy pastry, it was my favorite. If you're feeling adventurous, I would just tell the owner (I think this is run by the wife and husband) that you want to try everything and they will start bringing you food. It was incredible and my friend and I were stuffed to the brim. Total ended up being around $54 and if we ate like normal people, this could have fed 3 people comfortably for sure. Inside is fairly small, I would say maybe seats 10 but I went on a random weekday afternoon so it was pretty empty. Definitely giving the "hidden gems " vibes, I'm going to visit again next time I'm in the area. read more

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Great authentic food. There are few Sri Lankan Restaurants in state (none in Bay Area) to nice to see this place, Tasty stringhoppers . Sparse ambience tho read more

Must try Sri Lankan cuisine but only if you can handle the spice ! I love this place because it's filled with love and warmth of the family that prepares these meals and serves them. Service is super friendly and hoppers are made to order. The Lamprais is one of my favorite it's got different elements packed into one meal wrapped and served in banana leaf. It's a small space with indoor seating. Parking spots also available. I wish they bring the all you can eat buffet back soon! read more

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Great food! Took takeout, very authentic. Tastes home cooked Will go again for sure read more

Great food and great service. I'm first generation Sri Lankan-American so I've been eating Sri Lankan food my whole life and this place is top notch. They had plenty of veg friendly options and the owners were so sweet! read more

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We were in the area and came to try this place on a whim. The place is cozy with maybe 5 tables and seems like a mom and pop place. We weren't sure what to order, and asked them for recommendations. We go the string hopper meal with beef, chicken lamprais, and a plain rotti. For us it was so interesting and so delicious! I've never had this before but the spices and flavors were so rich, and a nice kick too. I also loved the rotti, a bit of crispy bits, a bit of chewiness, a bit of burnt flavor. As we were dining in, they got calls and we heard that they were sold out it or running low on some stuff. The place was very clean, including the bathroom and the owners (?)/staff(?) we talked to were super friendly and easy going and joked with us, asked us where we were coming from etc. we'll definitely be back for more Sri Lankan goodness! read more

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Had the hopper lunch with mutton. Delicious crispy hoppers. Mutton gently, flavorful spicy, with an additional container of "hot". Welcoming and kind proprietors guided me through how to approach eating the hoppers. Flaky oniin and chicken curry handpies also memorably very yummy. read more

we just bought some Elawalu rotti and Rolls never buy again this restaurant giving completely wrong idea what is Ellawalu rotti and rolls ,never going back again, I can timagin how outher food looks like. read more

I have been visiting this restaurant from a long time with my family to relish authentic Sri Lankan Vegetarian food delicacies. Some of my favorites are Plain String hoppers, Vegetarian combo meal, Dhal Vada, Vegetable samosa, Mango Lassi, Falooda and Milk tea. Food tastes delicious, rich and flavorful. Reasonably priced with excellent customer service. Warm, caring & friendly hosts. read more

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An experience you simply don't find elsewhere! Different, delicious and down home. Definitely spicy so be forewarned. I am working my way through the menu and have enjoyed every meal. My goto is usually the string hopper meal or the hopper meal. The first is like angel hair pasta, three nests which you coat with the curry you select, and all the spices they provide. The hopper meal gives you 2 plain hoppers and an egg hopper. The curries are always flavorful with just enough meat. You also get something yellow with a boiled egg in it. I apologize I don't know the names yet but I love it all. I've also had lamprais, which is a complex banana leaf packet of rice, meat, carmelized onions, veggies and more. Always a joy. This is like eating at your Sri Lankan uncle and aunts house. Not fancy, a modest mini mall place with no real decor. But who cares?! Always good. I'll do an updated review with names soon, I promise. read more

Lived in Sri Lanka for a year, this is the real deal! Lovely food, lovely people! Call ahead for hoppers, or try the lamprais. Fish veg, chicken or beef, can't go wrong. read more

First time being here after watching a review on YouTube. Absolutely a hidden gem!! Wonderful tiny mom-n-pop joint with the warmest service and fantastic flavorful food. I ordered their Saturday lunch, which consisted of 2 types of rice, 3 veggie and 1 meat (shrimp curry) side dishes, as well as papadom. I also got a tuna/egg cutlet. Everything was so delicious... so much so that after I was full I ordered a Chicken Lamprais to go, as it was also another recommended item. After I finished my lunch, they even offered me hot chai, supposedly to sip and help with the digestion of the spicy food, which I took my time to enjoy. I will definitely be back soon (even though I am over 60 miles away from it) read more

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You don't really see many Sri Lankan restaurants in LA. There is a sizable Sri Lankan population in the Valley. Everyone at Apey Kade is so friendly from the customers to the owners. For now, most people are doing takeout from behind a screen, but there are a couple tables along the hallway. When it reopens fully, the buffet and upstairs seating will return. The owners were happy to explain how to eat the food as well as describe the ingredients. They even gave me a hot cup of tea with milk on the house! Considering how nice everyone is and how great and unique the food is, a trip to Sri Lanka may be in order. String hoppers (idiyappam) are rice noodles that have been steamed together into stacks of flat circles. The beef curry has 13 secret herbs and spices, including a mix of chili peppers. Golden coconut milk curry is slightly sweet and creamy with onions and a hard boiled egg. The curries can be poured into each corner of the dish. Coconut pol sambol is made with fresh young coconut for the milkiest flavor, peppers, and lime juice, and it tastes sensational like a coconut ceviche. Take a string hopper and grab a bit of the beef curry, a little of the coconut milk curry, and the coconut sambol. All of the flavors and textures team up for a delicious, chewy and squishy bite. Beef Lamprais: Opening the banana leaf is like unwrapping a present. The short grain rice is firm and flavorful, imbued with broth, coconut milk, and banana leaf aroma. There are nice chunks of beef covered in curry. A mashed yellow lentil cake contains large bits of garlic. Dark caramelized onions add sweetness. Stewed and fried eggplant are soft. There is a round dip fried croquette containing curry flavored potatoes. A bit of the coconut sambol wraps this up. read more

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Love the food here, and the people are warm and welcoming! As a Sri Lankan living away from home, this is my go-to spot for authentic and delicious Sri Lankan cuisine. From short eats to rice and curry, Apey Kade is doing everything right. read more

Very good service and food is excellent I would recommend them anytime . The buffet spread is always epic read more

Great people, great food. Had my fist Chicken Lamprais, and loved it. the veggies, rice, eggplant & onions were all very flavorful. The fried fish balls are divine. will be back for more food soon. read more

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Excellent Sri-Lankan restaurant. The mutton kottu was great and the person making the dish was so sweet. The cutlet, pastry and fish bun were great as well. read more

Apey Kade - Mutton Kottu - Sri Lankan Near Me - Tarzana, California

Another great Sri Lankan meal today, at this hidden gem of a restaurant! :-) Also, they have one of the most consistently clean and sanitary client restrooms, out of ALL the restaurants I've been to all over LA!! Clean restrooms = clean kitchen! read more

the food is not fresh more like to worm frozen food on the microwave, not sure how they make the fried onions to look and taste like mud . and the price is wayyyy to expexpensive. they will tale you the final price only in the end . not recommended at all. $28 and i have taste of used oil in my mouth. read more

Hard to believe that Apey Kade is just one out of two Sri Lankan restaurants in the greater LA area given that the Sri Lankan cuisine is extremely tasty food. Apey Kade translated into English means "our little store" and indeed it is a great little restaurant run by a married couple from Colombo. My go to dish is their chicken curry, which is to die for, and I love that every dish comes with a wide variety of vegetables you can pick from. I highly recommend the lentils which are my personal favorites and the okra if available. Make sure you try some of the sambol which is a combination of shredded coconut and spicy Thai chilies and it goes well with the curries. While Sri Lankan food can be extremely spicy, Apey Kade definitely cooks on the milder side, imho. Lastly don't forget to try their fish cutlets; they are very tasty and have a nice little kick to it. 5 Stars for delicious and reasonably priced food and for great & friendly service. I'll be back. Enjoy and Bon Appétit. . read more

What a great find! My spouse and I were looking for a cuisine that was new to us, and we decided to try this place. The couple who run the restaurant are so kind and friendly. The food was so flavorful and well cooked. The rotti were fresh and hot off the grill. If you like spicy food, this is the place. I'm looking forward to going back to try even more dishes. read more

Apey Kade - Sri Lankan Near Me - Tarzana, California

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Truly enjoyed this place and would recommend to anyone looking to try Sri Lankan food. The service was amazing and the manager actually had a good chat with me while he made my food. I'll definitely be back!! Ordered a bunch of different dishes but the chicken curry was my favorite. Will be back to try more things soon read more

Apey Kade - Sri Lankan Near Me - Tarzana, California

Great food and even better people. The family who owns this restaurant is so incredibly kind and gracious. On Fridays they have a buffet which is great if you're really hungry and it was only $15 for all you can eat (solid deal, amazing food). The food was awesome spanning from curries to wonderfully prepared chicken/beef as well as veggie/meat pastries. They also have exceptional drinks. The mango lasse and faluda drinks are soooo good!!! The mango lasse is almost like a mango smoothie (but even better) and the faluda is a sweet milky drink with rose syrup, basil seeds, and ice cream (13/10 would recommend). I will add though, if you are a white person such as myself (or simply from a background that doesn't eat a lot of spicy food) be warned lol. Some of the dishes are very very hot if you're not use to it. For example, if you were at a Thai restaurant some of their dishes would be at least a level 7 on spiciness lol. So just make sure to ask them what's really hot and what's more mild, they'll be honest with you :). I also will add that I love the fact that they don't dumb down the spiciness of their food for people. It's wonderfully authentic food and it definitely shows. If you eat spicy food on the regular you'll be totally fine, I'm just a big wimp. read more

Apey Kade - Sri Lankan Near Me - Tarzana, California

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Stopped by on the way to a hike. Delicious food, friendly service. I recommend the faludeh and the pol rotti.

Finally after almost ten years to the day, I returned. Seriously for like 2-3 years I thought this place was closed, that it hadn't survived the pandemic but the store itself was still there. But after realizing that it was still open, we finally went bakc today. My brother and I got the weekend lunch plate, $19.00 per plate plus tax, a very good deal for such amazingly tasty food. I have always loved Indian food but Sri-Lankan has even better (different) spices. The same hole-in-the-wall atmosphere exists there as it always did. They did eliminate their buffet, which wasn't all that big to begin with but the same delicious food remains. I will definitely return sometime soon as this is the only place of its kind around. The Indian restaurants nearby - what few there are - are overpriced for the amount of food you get. So, I never go to them anymore. The days of "cheap food" are completely gone now, if you're lucky you will find a place like Apey Kade that does have food that is worth what you pay for it and they give you a decent portion. read more

It's 100° at 6:00 p.m. in Encino tonight and no sign of letting up! No way my wife was going to fire up the stove, oven or BBQ for dinner. Take Out tonight was her battle cry. We both felt like Indian food, but our go to place on our last order sent us food saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Food that bad cannot get a second chance. So, we hit our perspective browsers and from no where Apey Kade showed up on every platform (including Yelp) as a "Thumbs-Up! Now, I'm well aware that Apey Kade is not Indian food, it's Sri Lankan food: just like Thai food doesn't even closely resemble the food of it's neighbor Vietnam the same can be said for Sri Lankan vs. Indian food. Not understanding the labels Sri Lankan people give their food, we were basically flying blind while trying to order. By that I mean we ordered food not knowing what the hell we were getting. We ordered six dishes from these very nice people, and I liked three of the dishes. Don't get me wrong, all of Apey Kade's food was good; just three dishes didn't suit my palette. Will I try Apey Kade again? Yes, but with a little more research and a little less comparison to Indian food! read more

Still one of the best Sri Lankan food joints in LA. The food is authentic, and the service is friendly. The ambiance is pretty poor, but they have a following and most people do take out. Be adventurous and try everything. Ask for string hoppers or hoppers. Probably not the place to a date night. read more

Apey Kade - Rice and cury with shrimp - Sri Lankan Near Me - Tarzana, California

We came here for dinner on a Friday night pre-covid. Everything about this place is perfect. The owners are hilarious. The food is incredible. We ate all we could and ordered more to go for the next day. Tip: if you're a wimp about spicy food (like me...) pack a little container of Chobani or something to help put out the tasty, tasty fire in your mouth! read more

Apey Kade - Sri Lankan Near Me - Tarzana, California

Delicious! We tried the chicken lamprais and it was soooo good! The spices have a delightful dance with the tastebuds and are beautifully accompanied by the caramelised onion, toasty eggplant, rambunctious chicken, and the spiced potatoes. We are happily anticipating the next meal from this wonderful mom and pop. read more

Followed the Yelp train & LA Times 101 and truly enjoyed Apey Kade. The cook taking our order told us (wife is spicy hot averse) that the food is "flavorful but not hot." My wife would beg to differ. Still, we both want to return to further Apey Kade's Sri Lankan culinary adventure. So much so that I steered total strangers their way the very next week. read more

I went to this restaurant because they are on the top 101 la times list of restaurants. I was prepared to eat fire because Sri Lankan food is the hottest I've ever had. I was surprised to find the food wasn't that hot. Admittedly, it was fairly spicy but it wasn't the white knuckle experience I've had before. We ordered up front and since there are only three tables downstairs, we went upstairs and waited for the food. I got the chicken hopper meal. It was pretty tasty. But I have to admit that I preferred my companion's choice which was the beef lamprais. This meal came wrapped in a banana leaf which lent it an air mystery. I don't know what kind of oil they cooked it but the flavor was great. The guy who runs us was a gregarious sort, always with a contagious laugh. If you want something different and like spicy I'd highly recommend this restaurant. read more

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I was craving Chicken Lamprais and found Apey Kade, and this place did not disappoint! The food was incredibly flavorful and the menu had plenty of options for people with differing tastes and food can be made spicy upon request. I'll be going back again soon read more

Apey Kade - Chicken Lamprais - Sri Lankan Near Me - Tarzana, California

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Incredible food and very friendly owners. My Sri Lankan friend told me the name means "Our Shop". We tried several curries, and the Lamprais. All of it was delicious. The owner even gave us some Sri Lankan tea, which reminded me of Teh Tarik. Just amazing. I'll definitely go back when I'm the area. read more

Apey Kade - Chicken Lamprais - Sri Lankan Near Me - Tarzana, California

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Based on many good reviews, I ordered a birthday meal to be picked up. I called it in a little after 1 and they said one of the items wouldn't be available until 3 so I said we could pick it up at 3. Unfortunately it wasn't ready at 3 so I had to wait almost 1/2 hour - but worse they got the order wrong. Sent the wrong pastries and forgot 2 items. Since not everything was labeled a vegan got a meat dish. My wife's desert was missing. The curry dish was missing. The chicken pastries were substituted to something else. I asked everything to be mild - didn't happen. The veggie pastry was replaced by a pancake. Would have enjoyed the food that was provided if it didn't burn my mouth.- and I like spicy food. They might do themselves a favor by having a website where you could order online. Maybe that would reduce errors. Very disappointing. read more

A small authentic Sri Lankan Restaurant. Small but with mighty dishes! Very delicious food especially their string hoppers and lamprais. Owners are very friendly and sweet. Do not go to over priced Sri Lankan restaurants in LA, go here instead where there is a guarantee of experiencing original Sri Lankan food that you won't regret! Highly recommended! read more