I want to eat South Asian sweets! -I went to Ikebukuro "Al-FLA Supermarket"

The area around the north exit of Ikebukuro is an exotic area that symbolizes the changing Tokyo. The Pakistani food store "AL-FLAH SUPER MARKET" in one of the forested buildings offers everything from South Asian spices to sweets and tea.

A shop on the 4th floor of an elongated building

Around the north exit of Ikebukuro. There are restaurants serving local Chinese food lined up with pink signboards, and if you walk down the street, you can hear words other than Japanese well, and at night, barkers call out to tipsy passers-by.

Alfa La Supermarket is also in the downtown area, but it is a little quiet during the day. When you go up to the 4th floor of the long and narrow "Onoya Building", which you can hardly see from the outside, you can see the shops.

By the way, the operating company has been importing "Halal ingredients" for about 30 years.

Inside, you will find an array of ingredients from South and West Asia, centered on Pakistan. If you look at the spice shelves, you can see the classic cumin and coriander in curry, cinnamon in sweets and the thick milk tea "Chai" in South Asia, and other things that aren't immediately used. There are bags of different sizes from 100g (3.53oz) to 1kg, and it seems to be a good deal if you buy them in bulk, but will they be used up at home?


Retort Pakistani curry is also on sale. There is a kind of restaurant that seems to open. Besides, various seasonings are added to the popular cup noodles in South Asia. There is also Japanese "halal soy sauce".



Tea also has an eccentric flavor. I know jasmine and apple, but cardamom is interesting. When I look at the sweets, I don't know the name "Halva" as "Soper cookie". I remember "Gulab Jamun". It is the "sweetest sweet in the world" to be eaten in India and South Asia.





page I bought tea and sweets

Cardamom green tea

After thinking, I bought "Cardamom Green Tea Bag". 250 yen (excluding tax, the same applies below). As it is a tea bag, it can be easily brewed. Pour hot water into the cup and wait for 2 minutes to complete.

Cardamom has a scent reminiscent of lemon. It smells pretty when the paper is opened. When you take a bite, it looks like chai without milk. It's refreshing, but the bitterness and stubbornness of tea is there.


For iced tea, the scent of cardamom does not disappear even when cooled, and you can drink it refreshingly. But after all hot one may be recommended.

Habishi Halva

Another one I bought was Habishi Halva. It was 190 yen. Wheat and nuts hardened with caramel. It seems to be a traditional confectionery, but it is mercilessly sweet. The Pakistani version of Nougat.

It is said that it contains almonds and pistachios, but anyway, it seems to be sweet and unconscious, so I hurriedly drank cardamom green tea and returned to myself.


South Asian sweets are prepared to eat, if not as much as Gulab Jamun. It comes in small bags, but it depends on the person whether or not one person can carry one bag at a time. By the way, the reporter was fine. The sweetness gradually became more enjoyable, and I almost giggled alone.

As you can see, there are various unexpected encounters at Al-Fla Supermarket. If you want to see a new world, it's not a bad idea to stretch your legs for lunch. Please note that the shop is closed for worship from 13:00 to 14:30 on Fridays.