Midori’s Floating World Cafe
A Neighborhood Favorite Hoping to Reopen
Photo by Becca Dilley
Tucked away behind dark windows at the corner of Lake Street and 27th Ave, owners John and Midori Flomer quietly made delicious Japanese cuisine for Longfellow residents for over 15 years before Midori’s Floating World Cafe found itself at the epicenter of a fight for racial justice.
Their restaurant is just a block away from the former Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct and on the first few nights of the civil unrest, John & Midori were there - witnessing the protests first hand. “It was like a war zone,” Midori says, “I never expected to experience anything like it.”
Originally from Nagasaki, Japan Midori moved to Minnesota in the 1980’s to attend the Minneapolis College of Art & Design - where she also met her husband, John. After a quick stint back in Japan, Midori came to the United States for good in 1992 with the intention of one day opening up a small tea shop. After some advice from a friend, one thing led to another, and Midori’s Floating World Cafe became a reality in 2003. According to Midori, “we didn’t know anything about owning a restaurant, that was the hard part. We made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, and learned a lot”. Whatever they did worked, Midori’s Floating World Cafe survived over the years and has been consistently a neighborhood favorite for it’s food and truly welcoming atmosphere.
By some miracle, the building their restaurant is in, a two-story, mixed use property, is still standing despite extensive interior damage and many of the buildings nearby having been totally destroyed by fire. From broken windows and a melted electrical box to the loss of all their inventory and handmade furnishing, Midori conservatively estimates at least $75,000 in damages.
“We really like the place we were in, and we’ve lived in Longfellow for more than 20 years. It’s the reason we want to stay and rebuild. We have so many loyal customers and they want to see us open again.”
- Midori Flomer, owner Midori’s Floating World Cafe
Photo from "Restore Midori's Floating World Café" GoFundMe
The love and support they’d built over the past 15 years came back full circle on the days and weeks after the civil unrest, with an outpouring of support. On June 2, they wrote on their GoFundMe page a simple, hopeful thanks:
Over the last few days, we have experienced an overwhelming outpouring of support, both online and in-person. It’s actually quite hard to believe. To those who have been able to donate to our restoration efforts, you have our utmost gratitude. To those who voluntarily stood guard outside our restaurant as the rest of the block burned, you are our heroes. To those friends, neighbors, customers, and countless strangers who offered condolences, brought us water, helped clean broken glass and ceramic off the floor and shelves, salvage what equipment and furniture we could, board up our windows, and bring our remaining possessions to a storage unit… we could never have done all this without you. We hope to see your faces again when we reopen.
Midori’s still isn’t back open yet, and while a grant from the Lake Street Council’s We Love Lake Street fund has been a boost to the recovery process, there are still many challenges and decisions to make in the months and years to come. Unfortunately, like so many businesses along Lake Street, they don’t own their property and their ability to rebuild and reopen is directly tied to the actions, or inactions of others. “We really like the place we were in, and we’ve lived in Longfellow for more than 20 years. It’s the reason we want to stay and rebuild. We have so many loyal customers and they want to see us open again.”
It’s not always easy to make authentic Japanese cuisine at home, Midori admits, “I miss good tempura. You need good quality ingredients and a deep fryer with lots of oils.”
Photo from The Heavy Table by Becca Dilley.
