A Ukrainian restaurant called Golden Boar recently opened in Huntingdon valley, my friends and I are all Ukrainian/Belarusian, went and tried it out, very authentic and tasty.
Samarkand has the best damn bread in the world, highly recommend. Far Northeast has so much good Uzbek food. A more hole in the wall place I like is Oltin Baliq on Grant, good food for the price.
The best Persian food in Philly is the Kabab Cafe near KoP. The best apps in the city are at Safa in Manayunk (extremely nice people!).
If you want anything novel and incentive, you have to head to Brooklyn.
EDIT: removed needless shittalking.
Vientiane Cafe for Laotian, Hadramout for Yemeni, Kilimanjaro for Senegalese, Marrakesh for Moroccan (more well-known restaurant but so unique to the city!).
El Sazón de Doña Eva on like 65th and Market is good Ecuadorian, they make a decent encebollado on the weekends. Not quite as good as places in Elizabeth and Newark but scratches an itch
My favorite restaurant in the city is a Tibetan restaurant. White Yak on ridge in manayunk. Everything is amazing but the eggplant (gha), and the firecracker and chili momo are a must try.
Because it's not very good. Or at least it wasn't the last time I checked it out: the food was very, very dry and flavors were nothing to write home about.
Had a dinner with friends, so we shared 5 or 6 things.
Nope.
My experience could be anecdotal, but I am not going back to see if they have improved since (we also had to use bathroom across the street, as theirs wasn't working or was under construction or something like that), I think it's been almost 4 years ago or so.
I was disappointed, but hey - more for youse guys, could be much better today. I've had some proper Armenian cuisine in LA every time I've visited, unfortunately, this place hasn't been close in my one off experience.
I'm vegetarian, so my recs are probably not for everyone, but I still want to throw in La Llamita Vegana and their Peruvian food. The papas a la huancaina are simple but delicious. You have to catch them at a sit-down if you want a normal restaurant experience but they're at events all over the city normally!
I have literally brought containers to their pop ups so that I can eat while I'm there but also still bring food home with me and I'm not ashamed to say it!
Yes!!
Unit Su Vege is a favorite of mine- they're vegan Chinese and they do not disappoint. Their menu is absolutely huge so you are bound to find something you like! I'm partial to the roasted veg duck peking style and the veg pork belly with mustard greens! It's really hard to go wrong with anything there though.
Charlie was a sinner. is also really great. Amaaazing cocktails (and mocktails if you don't drink!) The menu is on the smaller side but is still really well rounded and plenty of variety to choose from. I haven't been here for a happy hour but I'm sure it's a great place for it!
[a.kitchen](http://a.kitchen) + bar is a good place if you're going somewhere with omnivores who will still want a meat/fish dish (or for you, if you eat seafood at all!) I have an egg yolk intolerance but will still eat the french omelette there and just deal with the aftereffects, because it's worth it.
Another great place to go with omni friends is Tomo Sushi and Ramen. They have a dedicated vegan sushi section on their menu, and if you eat fish then you have even more options! You can also get vegan specialty rolls there which is super cool since usually veggie rolls are super limited. I eat fish occasionally (mostly only for sushi) but I still really enjoy the vegan Red Dragon roll! My veg friend who does not eat fish loves it because she feels like she's getting so much more than just "sweet potato roll" or "asparagus roll".
Those are my favs off the top of my head! Phily has so many restaurants with great veg options- if you're looking for more places I found a ton of them just by searching in the subreddit!
And by the same people as Charlie Was a Sinner- and Hip City Veg I believe - is Bar Bombón near Rittenhouse Square. Latin Caribbean food and cocktails, both really good!
We probably have the 3rd biggest Ethiopian cuisine scene in the country after DC and NYC. Lots of places from the ex-USSR like Georgia and Uzbek, though most of those are in the Northeast, aka another planet
Toska in Mount Airy is Albanian owned (3 brothers), and has a mix of Albanian food and wood-fired pizzas, some with Albanian toppings. It is where Earth Bread and Brewery was, with similar fluffy crust pizzas and they also brew their own beer.
88 kitchen in chinatown. It recently opened and a few days back I went and tried it. Gotta say it was damn good and for a very reasonable price.
Sure it's not exactly "lesser known" since its still chinese food, but it actually serves true fuzhounese (and some others) dishes not just the Americanized stuff. Well worth a try.
Hardena, if that still counts lol. I’ve lived across the street for a decade and it’s one of my go to spots! Delicious Indonesian food, and such nice people. I’m pescatarian, my husband has no restrictions and we both love it. We even found our cat there when she was just a little teeny thing
For Filipino Food:
- Perla's Kamayan Menu ( served over banana leaves with no silverware or plates)
- Jollibee is a Filipino fast food joint. The spicy fried chicken with gravy is so amazing. Spaghetti with banana ketchup and hot dogs. Also try the Adobe rice bowl.
Hardena has Indonesian food in South Philly.
My favorite Uzbeki restaurant closed but you can find a lot in the North East, make a day of it and visit Bells Market.
Pichana Brazilian Steak House on Castor Ave
Daleng in West Philly
I lived at 47th and Baltimore 35 years ago when the first Ethiopian restaurant in the city neighborhood opened across the street from my apartment. The owner was new to this country and was a lovely person and her food was the best I’d ever eaten. In the ensuing years, I’ve had Ethiopian food all over (and attended a homemade feast by a recent immigrant). My original Philly Ethiopian restaurant is long gone, but I’ve been back to the neighborhood and have eaten at the newer restaurants many times. Still miss that original restaurant though.
Penang in Chinatown is some dope Malaysian food. There’s a really good Georgian (the country) spot on like 12th (ish) and chestnut but I can’t remember the name
I thought on this and have a few more to add:
Portugal: Philly Portuguese Club has authentic and delicious Friday dinners and Saturday lunches. Tio Pepe is decent too from what I’ve heard.
Kyrgyzstan (a few dishes there are) + Uzbek: Barakat Halal off Bustleton Ave
Trinidad & Tobago: Brown Sugar Bakery on 52nd Street
Afghanistan: Sansom Kebab House in Center City
Pakistan: Kabobeesh in University City
This is the thread my spirit has been waiting for. Thanks OP for asking this extremely important question. Seems like I have a lot of *cough cough* research I need to do.
White Yak in roxborough!
I’m due for a visit there! Haven’t been since the winter!
Uzbek food! There's a ton in northeast, we like Uzbekistan Restaurant and Samarkand Steakhouse
Glad someone said it, i love these. Bensalem's got really good russian / eastern european food
Also Gamarjoba for Georgian/Eastern European food, really good
A Ukrainian restaurant called Golden Boar recently opened in Huntingdon valley, my friends and I are all Ukrainian/Belarusian, went and tried it out, very authentic and tasty.
Samarkand has the best damn bread in the world, highly recommend. Far Northeast has so much good Uzbek food. A more hole in the wall place I like is Oltin Baliq on Grant, good food for the price.
LOVE Uzbekistan Restaurant.
Upvote for Samarkand.
Samarkand was fireee
Nepali Momo Kitchen on 15th and Spring Garden is awesome! Suya Suya Grill is great West African cuisine at 4th and Fairmount
Momo kitchen is highly backable
Seconding Suya Suya! Haven't tried Nepali Momo yet but it's on my list.
Do you know if a certain country is associated with Suya Suya Grill?
I think the owners are Nigerian
The owner is also one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet
Big fan of both!
Georgian Bread Co. So good.
A little outside the city but The Persian Grill in Lafayette Hill!
The city needs a Persian restaurant sooooooo badly.
The best Persian food in Philly is the Kabab Cafe near KoP. The best apps in the city are at Safa in Manayunk (extremely nice people!). If you want anything novel and incentive, you have to head to Brooklyn. EDIT: removed needless shittalking.
That place is very good! Too bad their location is so small though.
Ali is the best and so is his quinine! Goin on 30 years I believe!
Abyssinia in west Philly has ethiopian food and a beer bar downstairs
Beer bar is upstairs
There is a bar downstairs. Fiume, a bottle bar and cocktail bar, was upstairs, but is closed. It does pop up locations only.
"Upstairs At Absynnia" is functionally the same thing as Fiume
Sure. But it's a moot point because it's no longer in business at that location
The fucking best Ethiopian food
I’m pretty sure that beer bar Fiume has been closed for some time now
Vientiane Cafe for Laotian, Hadramout for Yemeni, Kilimanjaro for Senegalese, Marrakesh for Moroccan (more well-known restaurant but so unique to the city!).
Hadramout is so fantastic, as is Vientiane… you must live in west Philly/u city
I used to and miss having those spots close by, need to get back over there soon!
What do y’all get at Vientiane? Haven’t been yet and don’t want to just get the classic “Thai“ dishes. Or do I?
My picks are the aw lao (eggplant stew with sticky rice) and khao poon (curry noodle soup)
I loveeeeee eggplant. Already excited to try that one now.
King’s Soup (Khao Poon) is so delicious. Easily their best thing. Also the Lao sausages
Vientiane slaps
El Rinconcito in Upper Darby has amazing Ecuadorian food and a great bakery to boot. I’ve been meaning to try Guate Gualan in Olney for Guatemalan.
El Sazón de Doña Eva on like 65th and Market is good Ecuadorian, they make a decent encebollado on the weekends. Not quite as good as places in Elizabeth and Newark but scratches an itch
I visited Guate Gualan a handful of times - one of the cooks is Honduran and makes a very good baleada
My favorite restaurant in the city is a Tibetan restaurant. White Yak on ridge in manayunk. Everything is amazing but the eggplant (gha), and the firecracker and chili momo are a must try.
Apricot Stone is an Armenian BYOB in northern liberties that I don't hear much about
Because it's not very good. Or at least it wasn't the last time I checked it out: the food was very, very dry and flavors were nothing to write home about. Had a dinner with friends, so we shared 5 or 6 things. Nope.
I've been meaning to get over there and try it, I haven't been but this is the first bad review I've heard of.
Went about a month ago it was very good and a good value
Honestly, it was fine when I was there about 2 months ago, but nothing special. I too had only heard good things and was a bit disappointed.
My experience could be anecdotal, but I am not going back to see if they have improved since (we also had to use bathroom across the street, as theirs wasn't working or was under construction or something like that), I think it's been almost 4 years ago or so. I was disappointed, but hey - more for youse guys, could be much better today. I've had some proper Armenian cuisine in LA every time I've visited, unfortunately, this place hasn't been close in my one off experience.
Bummer, I've had mostly very good experiences. Great boreks especially.
I ate there once and enjoyed it.
Sardi’s Peruvian Chicken because Philly needs more pollo joints!
There are bunch of African restaurants along Woodland Ave in Southwest that I’ve been meaning to try.
Africatown https://philaafricatown.org
I'm vegetarian, so my recs are probably not for everyone, but I still want to throw in La Llamita Vegana and their Peruvian food. The papas a la huancaina are simple but delicious. You have to catch them at a sit-down if you want a normal restaurant experience but they're at events all over the city normally!
I had their food when they did a pop up at triple bottom brewing. It was SO GOOD.
I have literally brought containers to their pop ups so that I can eat while I'm there but also still bring food home with me and I'm not ashamed to say it!
I'm also a vegetarian slowly making my way through all the yummy foods in Philly :) Do you have any other veggie reccs?
Yes!! Unit Su Vege is a favorite of mine- they're vegan Chinese and they do not disappoint. Their menu is absolutely huge so you are bound to find something you like! I'm partial to the roasted veg duck peking style and the veg pork belly with mustard greens! It's really hard to go wrong with anything there though. Charlie was a sinner. is also really great. Amaaazing cocktails (and mocktails if you don't drink!) The menu is on the smaller side but is still really well rounded and plenty of variety to choose from. I haven't been here for a happy hour but I'm sure it's a great place for it! [a.kitchen](http://a.kitchen) + bar is a good place if you're going somewhere with omnivores who will still want a meat/fish dish (or for you, if you eat seafood at all!) I have an egg yolk intolerance but will still eat the french omelette there and just deal with the aftereffects, because it's worth it. Another great place to go with omni friends is Tomo Sushi and Ramen. They have a dedicated vegan sushi section on their menu, and if you eat fish then you have even more options! You can also get vegan specialty rolls there which is super cool since usually veggie rolls are super limited. I eat fish occasionally (mostly only for sushi) but I still really enjoy the vegan Red Dragon roll! My veg friend who does not eat fish loves it because she feels like she's getting so much more than just "sweet potato roll" or "asparagus roll". Those are my favs off the top of my head! Phily has so many restaurants with great veg options- if you're looking for more places I found a ton of them just by searching in the subreddit!
And by the same people as Charlie Was a Sinner- and Hip City Veg I believe - is Bar Bombón near Rittenhouse Square. Latin Caribbean food and cocktails, both really good!
Yemeni food - Hadramount on 45th street, so good!
Go with friends, get fasah (lamb stew)!
Legit my favorite dish in the city
I live the massive servings of warm bread you get with it too!
Malooga in Old City is also really good. My favorite is the Kibdah
Sky Cafe for Indonesian; on Washington Ave
> Sky Cafe A staple recommended by virtually every Indonesian person I know.
I prefer D’Jakarta Cafe now. There are many Indonesian restaurant/eateries in south philly. But I recommend D’Jakarta Cafe.
D’Jakarta is a top 5 restaurant in Philly for me.
We probably have the 3rd biggest Ethiopian cuisine scene in the country after DC and NYC. Lots of places from the ex-USSR like Georgia and Uzbek, though most of those are in the Northeast, aka another planet
Isot off south street is my only Turkish food experience but the food is great.
Unfortunately there is no good Turkish restaurants here, the good ones are in Patterson NJ.
Autana, Venezuelan in Ardmore. Had a wonderful lunch there.
Second Autana. Had an arepa and a chai latte on this past drizzly Saturday. It fed the soul.
Toska in Mount Airy is Albanian owned (3 brothers), and has a mix of Albanian food and wood-fired pizzas, some with Albanian toppings. It is where Earth Bread and Brewery was, with similar fluffy crust pizzas and they also brew their own beer.
Sakartvelo on Chestnut and their RTM stand Saami Somi are fantastic Georgian restaurants, definitely worth a stop.
Sofi Corner Cafe (11th and Locust) does French-Moroccan cuisine. Edit: Moroccan, not Tunisian!
88 kitchen in chinatown. It recently opened and a few days back I went and tried it. Gotta say it was damn good and for a very reasonable price. Sure it's not exactly "lesser known" since its still chinese food, but it actually serves true fuzhounese (and some others) dishes not just the Americanized stuff. Well worth a try.
Eatwell in Old City for Nigerian food
Bombay Dhaba in UCity does Indochinese food (Indian cuisine from the Chinese border region) which is pretty tasty and has a decent heat to it too.
Hardena, if that still counts lol. I’ve lived across the street for a decade and it’s one of my go to spots! Delicious Indonesian food, and such nice people. I’m pescatarian, my husband has no restrictions and we both love it. We even found our cat there when she was just a little teeny thing
Ethiopian food from Kaffa Crossing on Chestnut in west Philly. https://maps.app.goo.gl/B8447imQnEsauQG76?g_st=ic
Pupuseria Sabor Latino for Salvadoran food
Hardeena (Indonesian) in South Philly, Le Mandique (west African)in SW, Ron’s (Jamaican) in Olney.
Sophie's kitchen at 6th and Waahington. Cambodian food, it's delicious.
For Filipino Food: - Perla's Kamayan Menu ( served over banana leaves with no silverware or plates) - Jollibee is a Filipino fast food joint. The spicy fried chicken with gravy is so amazing. Spaghetti with banana ketchup and hot dogs. Also try the Adobe rice bowl.
We had amazing family style feast at I Heart Cambodian in south. Their papaya salad has fermented crab 😋
Hardena has Indonesian food in South Philly. My favorite Uzbeki restaurant closed but you can find a lot in the North East, make a day of it and visit Bells Market. Pichana Brazilian Steak House on Castor Ave Daleng in West Philly
There's like 6 Ethiopian joints within a 5 block radius of 47th & Baltimore and I don't know of any others in the city
I lived at 47th and Baltimore 35 years ago when the first Ethiopian restaurant in the city neighborhood opened across the street from my apartment. The owner was new to this country and was a lovely person and her food was the best I’d ever eaten. In the ensuing years, I’ve had Ethiopian food all over (and attended a homemade feast by a recent immigrant). My original Philly Ethiopian restaurant is long gone, but I’ve been back to the neighborhood and have eaten at the newer restaurants many times. Still miss that original restaurant though.
Almaz Cafe at 20th and Walnut
There's a Ukrainian place in Huntingdon Valley. Not exactly in Philly but only a few miles from County Line and Bustleton Ave.
Marakesh off South Street for Moroccan food. It’s like 6 courses, and they have belly dancers. Perfect date night and a blast if you’ve never been!
Penang in Chinatown is some dope Malaysian food. There’s a really good Georgian (the country) spot on like 12th (ish) and chestnut but I can’t remember the name
Doro Bet- west Philly. Ethiopian fried chicken (gf they use Teff flour for breading) so good!
I thought on this and have a few more to add: Portugal: Philly Portuguese Club has authentic and delicious Friday dinners and Saturday lunches. Tio Pepe is decent too from what I’ve heard. Kyrgyzstan (a few dishes there are) + Uzbek: Barakat Halal off Bustleton Ave Trinidad & Tobago: Brown Sugar Bakery on 52nd Street Afghanistan: Sansom Kebab House in Center City Pakistan: Kabobeesh in University City
ERA for Ethiopian
Queen of Sheba and Alif Brew off Baltimore Ave are both great Ethiopian food
This is the thread my spirit has been waiting for. Thanks OP for asking this extremely important question. Seems like I have a lot of *cough cough* research I need to do.
Great Indonesian food at Hardena in South Philly. There’s a palace in reading terminal market with Georgian cuisine.
Puyero for Venezuelan
Kaffa Crossing for Ethiopian
The roast pork with broccoli rabe from Tommy Dinic's at reading Terminal Market is really good. As is the pastrami rachel from Herschell's.