• amwaj: vegan mediterranean food in los feliz!

    15
    March 23rd, 2011quarrygirlamwaj, LA restaurants

    wahooooo! a new mediterranean restaurant called amwaj has opened up in los feliz, and it has an entirely separate vegan menu. i’m not talking about your run of the mill, normal meatless options, either…amwaj is packing all kinds of surprises such as “beef” shawarma, meaty pastas, “chicken” sandwiches, and 5 different pizzas. hot damn!

    i first heard about amwaj from @tikidoll on twitter (tweet me anytime if you have tips!), and when i peeped their vegan menu online, i knew i had to check it out. i hightailed it to amwaj with brittany, my eating partner in crime, and we feasted it up like we were on death row. while it was clear to us that amwaj is still working out a few kinks, i know i will be back and i encourage everyone to check out this new restaurant that bothered to create a separate vegan menu.

    first up: brittany’s meal, because it really stole the show…

    vegan beef stoganoff: beef strips, roasted garlic, shallots, mushrooms, vegan cream cheese sauce, straw potatoes. $15.95

    britt went with the vegan beef straganoff, which was fucking epic. i’ve never had the non-vegan version of stragonoff, but this thing was so creamy and decadent, it felt like i was eating the real deal…

    the seasoned grilled “beef” strips tasted like gardein to me, and they were smothered in a milky sauce with a generous amount of mushrooms and roasted garlic. on the side was a giant pile of thinly cut french fries—perfectly crispy. with food this so delicious and convincing, there’s seriously no reason for people to eat animal products.

    amwaj is having a limited time boozy grand opening promotion, and they offered us each a free glass of beer with our meal. naturally we took them up on it, but unfortunately the beer wound up being room-temperature heineken. oh well, i guess you really do get what you pay for!

    for my dinner, i went with the vegan shawarma…

    vegan beef shawarma: beef strips, roasted garlic, onions, middle eastern spices, hummus, baby mix greens, stomatoes, cucumbers, tahini sauce. $13.95

    this was a good-sized vegan beef sandwich served with hummus and a large mixed green salad. as i said earlier, i think amwaj is still getting some of the new restaurant kinks ironed out, because according to the menu this sandwich should have been served in “greek pita bread,” but it looked like more of a baguette to me. maybe they ran out of pita, and started using bread from some of the other sandwiches? either way, i ate it all. the soy beef was really well seasoned, the produce was fresh, and the hummus was rich with a strong tahini flavor.

    free bread!

    at the start of our meal, the waitress brought us some za’atar pita and focaccia, which was the bomb. we had her double check that the bread was vegan, and she came back with reassurance from the chef that there were no animal products in the bread recipe. that being said, we did find a rogue slice (not pictured) that appeared to have cheese sprinkled on it. so…buyer beware.

    overall, i really enjoyed our meal, and i know i will be back to amwaj. sure, the beer was warm and the menu descriptions were slightly different than what we got. but hey, this place is brand new, the beer was free, and the menu we ordered off of was all vegan. i am sooo willing to cut this place some slack, and i will definitely give them another try. plus, the food was good and our waitress was awesome. she kept coming back to see how we liked our meal, and when we asked for ketchup, she even drew a doodle on a plate with it:

    awww!

    inside, amwaj is pretty classy. this is the kind of place i’d take omnivores and not feel like i was subjecting them to a weird vegan experience. it was empty when we were there (at around 7pm on a weeknight), so maybe this place needs some more love from the vegan community. seriously, go fill up on some gardein and free heineken. they also have hookahs, if that’s your thing! where else can you smoke a hookah and order from a vegan menu in LA?!?! nowhere!

    thanks, amwaj, for offering a vegan menu. i wish all restaurants would do that.

    amwaj
    1725 Hillhurst Ave
    Los Angeles, CA 90027
    (323) 522-3309
    Mon-Thu 11 am – 10 pm
    Fri-Sat 11 am – 11 pm

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15 responses to “amwaj: vegan mediterranean food in los feliz!” RSS icon

  • Niiiice! That beef-style stroganoff looks especially amazing.

  • FUCK! That looks tasty! I know where I’m going once I’m done with my juice fast.

  • Silverlakerunner

    I run by this place all the time, since it’s right by my house, so I’ll have to check it out, thanks. Hillhurst ave is also home to the infamous Green Leaves (Not Vegan) Restauarant.

  • Oh crazy–I was wondering when this place would finally open and was excited bc I love me some medi food…but I had no idea it would be so vegan friendly! Can’t wait to try it!

  • A wee bit pricey for my tastes…but I’ll still give it a try!

    Looks like the beer wasn’t too warm to render it undrinkable!

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा

    Looks good.

  • we suffered through every last sip. 😉

  • vegan stroganoff right here! YEEAAAH!!

    now that’s gangsta.

  • Looks slightly pricey (unless the pictures just make the food look small), but it’s good to have Mediterranean veggie options other than falafel.

  • My friend told me about this place and their vegan menu. I HAD to try it so we went.. it was AMAZING!! Its one of our fav spots now! (vegan food + hookah = perfection <3 ) LOVELOVELOVE =]

  • Thanks for the info. Heading there now.

  • They still serve the shwarma on bread, not a pita as the menu says.

    Definitely be careful when ordering. My friend’s meal came with rice that was suspicious (and it wasn’t “Spanish rice,” it was rice pilaf). We both tasted it and couldn’t be sure. We asked the waitress and she said it was made with “natural butter.” Doesn’t matter how natural it is, it’s not vegan. And if it’s not vegan, don’t put it on the vegan menu.

  • Went there today after seeing this post and I had the beef filet on baguette no red peppers. Looked just like the pic above and was super tasty! A bit pricey but it was very filling, only ate 1/2 and took the rest home for my hubs to taste and he flipped! Very very good. Will be going back!

    Also I went w/a carnivore friend of mine and he got the same vegan option as me and raved about it!

  • Follow up from my last comment. Went there a month ago and it was completely dreadful! Got the same thing as last time, the beef fllter on baguette. Looked like dog food in between discarded end pieces of bread and it no longer came with any sides whatsoever. Sandwich was cold and it was just awful. I have not been back since and have no plan on returning. You should do a secret follow up piece on them and see if their still up to your standards.

  • I had their Very Veggie Burger and I thought it was good. I am planning on going back and checking out some of their other items.

    They also have non-dairy fruit sorbets served in a fruit shell (i.e., mango sorbet served in a mango shell, coconut sorbet served in a coconut shell, orange sorbet served in an orange shell.)


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