When we lived in Washington, DC, we were surrounded by food from all around the world. Asheville isn’t the same size or global hub, but it’s still a surprisingly rich food destination. If you enjoy exploring global flavors, there’s plenty of vegan international food in Asheville, from Ethiopian and Colombian to Cuban, Thai, and Middle Eastern.
One quick note before we begin: Asheville has several good Indian restaurants, so we’ll save Indian food for its own guide..
Addissae
We are huge fans of Ethiopian food. As young adults, we lived in the Adams Morgan neighborhood in Washington, DC, and there were four excellent Ethiopian restaurants within a few blocks of our apartment. We are grateful to have a solid option here in Asheville.
At Addissae, the Tempeh Tibs are super tasty, with tempeh marinated in their special sauce and sautéed with onion, garlic, ginger, and green pepper. That said, we almost always share the vegetarian platter so we can enjoy the injera, which is also gluten free, with a variety of flavorful veggie dishes like red lentils, yellow split peas, brown lentil stew, cabbage, chickpea stew, and collard greens. Go with friends, eat with your hands, and enjoy a fun, delicious meal.
Juancho’s Fonda
Juancho’s Fonda is a Colombian restaurant in South Asheville with unique flavors, and everything happens to be gluten free if that is something you are looking for. They serve meat, but the staff knows the vegan options well and can help with substitutions when they have specials.
For appetizers, the vegan empanadas and mushroom tostones are both good. We really like the Bandeja Vegana with arepa, avocado, plantain, lentil patty, rice, and beans. The Vegan Sancocho Dinner plate is large and full of delicious flavors and textures.
La Rumba
La Rumba has a massive vegan menu. (Seriously, go look and scroll down to the two-page vegan menu.) The owner takes great pride in offering options for everyone, and they even have a separate area in the kitchen for cooking vegan dishes.
Tortillas, tacos, burritos, salads, bowls, quesadillas, nachos…pretty much everything you can think of when it comes to Mexican food, they have it.
We told you about the Burrito de la Casa in our sandwiches guide, so this time we will call out a few other favorites. Chef Mike’s Sampler is a great way to try a lot of things, including a vegan chorizo street taco, vegetable tostada, plantains, yucca, and slaw. The King Taco Salad is huge. It comes in a crispy tortilla bowl and is loaded with vegan chorizo or crumbles, salad greens, avocado, vegan cheese, corn and bean salad, rice, and pepitas. The watermelon aguas fresca is a refreshing drink too.
Mountain Madre
Mountain Madre has locations downtown and in North Asheville. Tacos, chimichangas, enchiladas, burritos, bowls…lots of options where you can add vegan chorizo or vegan chicken. They have a vegan queso if you want to veganize the nachos, and their homemade guac is delicious.
Baba Nahm
Baba Nahm has a small menu of Middle Eastern street food, and they recently moved to a larger location on Biltmore Ave downtown, which gives them more space to serve their growing crowd. The falafel pita with Israeli French fries is our favorite. They also have a hummus bowl and a fattoush and tabouleh salad that are tasty too. The baklava is vegan as well.
Gypsy Queen
You may remember Gypsy Queen from several other guides, so we have to include them here too. Located in West Asheville, Gypsy Queen has a robust menu of Middle Eastern dishes with a number of vegan options.
We have told you previously about the Vegan “Not Lamb” Shawarma Wrap with seitan, Lebanese spices, toom, lettuce, tomato, red onion, parsley, and vegan mint cucumber sauce, and the vegan kafta plate. The baklava is a winner too.
Cousins Cuban Café
This is a great place for Cuban food, especially if you’re out in Black Mountain, you can get breakfast or lunch here. The vegan empanadas filled with meatless crumbles are delightful, and we also love the Cubano sandwich, which comes with jackfruit, vegan cheese, tofu ham, pickles, and mustard.
Another favorite is the Havana Wrap, which has jackfruit, plantains, white rice, black beans, avocado mash, and cilantro aioli.
https://www.cousinscubancafe.com/
HieThai Sushi and Vegan
Located off Tunnel Rd on the east side of Asheville, HieThai has an expansive vegan menu with a lot of vegan dishes and even vegan sushi. We counted over 30 different vegan dishes the last time we went.
Our favorites include the roti with pumpkin sauce appetizer, the Larb Tofu salad with tofu, onions, carrots, chili, mint, and cilantro with a lime dressing, the Pad See Ew noodles, and any of the delicious curries, including red, green, yellow, Panang, Massaman, or pumpkin. And of course, mango sticky rice for dessert. If you’re a sushi fan, you’ll be happy to know they have an entire vegan sushi menu.
https://suwanaasiancuisineasheville.com/
Heiwa Shokudo
Rounding out this list is Heiwa Shokudo, a Japanese restaurant in downtown Asheville. They have a good number of clearly labeled vegan options, including sushi, tofu and noodle dishes, and a delightful vegan ramen.
Wrapping Up
We have been fortunate to make many trips to India in our lives, and Asheville has a solid repertoire of Indian restaurants. So in our next food guide, we’ll dive into the Indian restaurant scene here and explore all the great vegan options around town.
Asheville Vegan Map
Here is a map with all the places from this guide so you can plan your meals around town.
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