As of next week I will be working/staying in very south south philly for mon-thurs for several weeks. I’ll be on my own for dinners and know approximately nothing about the city or the restaurant options aside from the fact i’ll make sure to visit Zahav and Vedge at some point.
I’m not sure if at the end of the potentially very long work day i’ll be enthusiastic about going on a long adventure to find dinner, so i would appreciate any input about restaurants that would likely deliver via uber eats or postmates/etc, any notable destinations in south philly as well as beyond. I’ll be depending on cabs/uber to get around so that’s a budget consideration of mine.
I love ethnic food, especially asian food, but can’t handle anything too spicy. Italian isn’t my favorite, and i’m not especially interested in a vegan philly cheesesteak. I’m vegetarian but not looking for exclusivity veg restaurants unless they’re destination worthy.
All help is appreciated!
Where in south philly? A few places with great vegetarian options:
Hardena, on Moore between 15th and 16th, Indonesian, get the tempeh and the collard greens (or anything else, it’s all good but not all vegetarian)
Hungry Pigeon, 4th and Fitzwater (not deep south philly but one of the city’s best restaurants and the chef eats and cooks a lot of vegetarian)
Sophie’s Kitchen, Washington Ave. between 5th and 6th, Cambodian, get the bitter melon flower salad. It’s spicy but you can ask them to tone it down.
The tofu banh mi at Artisan Boulanger (on Mifflin east of 13th) is great for lunch.
The Tasty, 12th and Reed. I’m not a huge fan but many vegans are. They only do breakfast and lunch though.
Bitar’s, 10th and Federal, Middle Eastern.
Wow!
Thank you so much, these all sound fantastic! Especially the cambodian which I haven’t experienced much of, but i am a big fan of tempeh.
I’m staying down by the naval yard, which looks to have exactly zero promising dinner options by foot aside from something called “bar amis”.
Since i am really literally clueless i’m unsure how long of a cab ride or how expensive it would be in evening traffic to go downtown (?) or you call it center city? Anyways, therefore i was hoping to find south philly options that would be a shorter cab and/or deliver if it’s a late night for me.
It’s just for dinner that I’m at a loss, i have breakfast and lunch figured out for me by the office.
Yeah the Navy Yard doesn’t offer much in the way of dinner options and you need a car/cab to get anywhere. Isn’t there a shuttle bus or something? Hardena and Bitar’s are both pretty close (by car), both just a few blocks off Broad St. Definitely don’t miss Hardena while you’re here. East Passyunk is the city’s best food neighborhood and is close to you but there aren’t really any veggie-focused places here. You could stop by Sate Kampar (Malaysian) for tofu skewers, tauhu sumbat, kerabu.
In Center City, some other places I’d suggest:
V Street (Vedge’s more casual offshoot)
Charlie Was A Sinner (vegan)
Kanella Grill (Cypriot)
It may already be too late to get a table at Zahav or Vedge, but Vedge has a nice big bar where you can order the full menu. Zahav has a bar too but it’s not quite as comfortable.
Thanks for all your help here. I think there is a bus or shuttle of some kind from the naval yard, once i get there next week i will have a better idea what those options are. I was oogling the menu for Hardena’s! Very excited to go there.
For vedge and zahav i’ll be dining alone which i hope works in my favor to get a seat at the bar if nothing else
Hey TT - when I was basically living out of a hotel room for a few days a week (for months on end… “business travel”…) I would sometimes order dinner at lunchtime (ie 2 lunches) or an hour before I headed “home” because there were many more choices by the office. Dinner at lunchtime was also cheaper, because there are always lunch specials, but had to be something that would reheat well or be fine eaten cold (less appealing in chilly weather).
Yes I am being pedantic and I’m sorry but it’s “Navy Yard.” I am very glad you got “Center City” right—I’ve heard that one butchered in several ways. (City Center…Central City…NO.)
I wish I did, but I have never spent much time in that part of town except for going to Phillies games and the Navy Yard itself (where I believe I ate at the employee cafeteria in the Anthropologie HQ). Washington Ave. and the surrounding blocks are a great source for Asian food, though, so you may want to take a stroll around there.
Thanks! I’m hoping to spend a day or two in philly later in November which could be a good time to walk and stop and snack my way around washington ave area- looks a bit to far for dinner on a weeknight (unless I figure out a better/cheaper method of transportation before then)
Both the babkas they make are excellent but the chocolate halvah has a slight edge over the cinnamon hazelnut. I dream of this stuff! I live in NY and have two in my freezer right now that I am rationing.
Good iced coffee, too.
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meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
13
Maybe Ttrockwood can moonlight as a babka importer!
i feel like i must have been jewish in a past life, (which I don’t believe is offensive??) i LOVE babka! And bagels, and borscht, and knish, and…
thank you for this! I will make a point of going when i get the opportunity
Shoot!! I just saw they close at 5pm during the week… hmm. I’ll have to wait and go in a few weeks when I’m there over the weekend. The za’atar challah sounds good too!
I had a job for several years that had me at HQ in Silicon Valley 2 weeks every quarter. They put me in a nice hotel w/o mini fridges. I scouted around on my own time and found a couple of extended stay type hotels at slightly cheaper rates and asked if they could be added to the “approved” list and it was no problem. So much nicer to have a small kitchen I could use!! That might be something for you to think about.
Epic food fail this week…!! My days were so crazy and really long i just couldn’t deal. I ordered in twice, once from little morocco which was very good and last night from a middle eastern place a coworker recommended.
Hoping next week is less insane so i can get off the campus! There is actually a full kitchen i can use as well if i ever make it to a market
I am very glad you got “Center City” right—I’ve heard that one butchered in several ways. (City Center…Central City…NO.)
