HipCityVeg- Broad Street
If you’re looking to feel good about the food you eat, HipCityVeg is the perfect restaurant for you. This all vegan restaurant uses compostable materials, so all of their packaging is entirely compostable. Also, all of their packaging are made of corn. HipCityVeg is focused on being more sustainable and making sustainability the new norm in the restaurant industry. Even inside the restaurant you can find energy efficient lights and appliances, and furniture made from salvaged wood. Not only does HipCityVeg care about the Earth, they also care about us little ones that live on it too. They consistently create superb plant-based meals for us to enjoy. What more can we ask for from a restaurant?
HipCityVeg currently has five Philadelphia locations and two locations in Washington, D.C. I had the pleasure of visiting their Broad Street location in Philadelphia. When you first enter this location it seems like a small restaurant with limited seating. However, there’s a large and heavy door with a small sign above it that brings you into a gold lit room with marble walls and ample seating. I ordered a Chipotle Fajita Wrap and a Chocolate Milkshake, and my boyfriend ordered a Philly Steak and a Vanilla Milkshake. We also shared the Crispy HipCity Ranch Burger. Despite the fact that it was pretty packed inside, we received quick service.
The milkshakes came out first and they definitely hit the spot. Both flavors were amazing in their own way. What I loved about the chocolate milkshake was that the chocolate flavor was not overwhelming. The vanilla milkshake tasted a lot like a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream or a cup of vanilla bean frappuccino. Both milkshakes were thick and perfectly sweet. Exactly what we needed on that hot summer day.
When in Philly, eat as Philadelphians eat, or whatever Saint Ambrose said. So we went ahead and ordered the vegan version of the infamous Philly Cheese Steak. The Philly steak sandwich consisted of pulled “steak”, grilled onion, mushrooms, and organic ketchup on a long roll. Initially I had no words for this sandwich, it left me speechless. I took one bite and couldn’t believe that a Philly cheese steak could be THIS delicious.
The “meat” was perfectly chopped and seasoned. It was also tender and easy to chew through. Listen man, it was a great sandwich, what more can I say? You just have to go there to see for yourself. Words will do it no justice.
The Chipotle Fajita Wrap (not pictured) was a very hefty wrap. This wrap had blackened chick’n, onion, pepper, cabbage, pico de gallo, avocado, and chipotle crema. All of the veggies in the wrap were not cooked too soft, so they still had a bit of crunch to them. Just the way I like it. The fajita wrap had me so caught up that I neglected to take a picture of it before chowing down.
The Crispy HipCity Ranch Burger wasn’t bad, but it didn’t compare to the Philly steak or the fajita wrap. Maybe we caught the chef on a bad day when it came to this burger, but it was subpar in all aspects. Despite the fact that we “buffaloed” the burger, it was lacking in flavor. It’s possible that my expectations for the burger may have been too high after eating two delicious sandwiches, or like I said before, maybe I caught the chef at a bad time, but either way, it did not match up to the other sandwiches.
HipCityVeg also serves breakfast until 11 AM at their Broad Street location only. Luckily I was able to stop there and order breakfast before hopping on the train to New York. I ordered the HipCity Breakfast Sandwich which consisted of tofu egg, organic soy mayo, and a sausage patty on a bagel. This breakfast sandwich was absolutely satisfying, so much so that I wished I ordered two instead of one.
Despite my slight disappointment with the burger, I would definitely visit HipCityVeg again because it is an overall great vegan restaurant that is making a lot of effort to be kinder to the earth and make sustainability the norm in the restaurant industry. I enjoyed majority of the food I ordered and I’m looking forward to trying more items on their menu. HipCityVeg is also the ideal restaurant for someone who recently stopped eating meat or for someone looking to try vegan food. Here you’re met with familiar sandwiches and wraps that are thoughtfully made and delicious in taste.
