whenever i travel to london, i always look forward to eating at maoz vegetarian. the concept of the restaurant is simple: a small shop that serves open pita sandwiches with base ingredients such as falafel and hummus, with a heaping salad bar full where customers can fill up on any toppings they want. fast food without all the dead animals…what a great idea!
my default meal is a pita with hummus and falafel, generously stuffed with the delicious salad bar options. their falafel is some of the best i’ve ever had, perfectly spiced and crispy, and they don’t skimp on it either! almost everything at maoz is vegan, and i always wind up a sandwich weighing about three pounds—overflowing with broccoli, cous cous, cauliflower and hot sauce. everything at the salad bar is crisp and freshly prepared…i really wish maoz would open up in los angeles, because i would be there everyday.
the only down side of maoz in london is, it can get pretty packed and hard to find a seat—and you don’t wanna be huddled under a roof in the rain, juggling an overflowing sandwich. luckily though, the line moves fast and the tables turn over pretty quickly, so my advice if the place is crowded would be to wait until a seat frees up. we’ve posted on maoz in london before, and since then they’ve re-arranged the shop a bit to make it more classy and fit in more seating. the falafel is still exactly the same though, so tasty that it haunts my dreams when i’m back home in los angeles.
luckily, london isn’t the only place you can enjoy maoz vegetarian. they have locations in paris, spain, amsterdam and nyc as well. and soon they will be opening a shop in san francisco! if you are reading this maoz, please open up in LA ASAP.
maoz
43, Old Compton St
London, UK, London W1D 6HG
020-78511586
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9:25 am on October 14th, 2009
Tip: When they hand you your Maoz, eat a couple of the falafel balls out of it first so you have more room for the salad bar. Especially important if you’re carrying your sandwich out into the street.
9:46 am on October 14th, 2009
i wish they would open one of these in LA. i want falafel and don’t want to support that ripoff place =/
10:16 am on October 14th, 2009
Maoz is a life-saver whenever I go to Paris. I agree, an LA location should be their next.
10:29 am on October 14th, 2009
Oooo, Avi and I are going to NYC in a couple weeks so I’m gonna make him take me there. I think an LA location is only a matter of time.
10:41 am on October 14th, 2009
They just opened a place out here in Berkeley that’s similar. So effing good! Here’s their website:
http://chickopeas.com/
10:43 am on October 14th, 2009
one here? yay. me go.
1:44 pm on October 14th, 2009
that sounds delicious! my favourite veg food in london is at beatroot in soho, but i’ll have to try maoz too!
5:18 pm on October 14th, 2009
They have Maoz in Philadelphia as well.
Philadelphia has a few vegan/vegetarian restaurants that are worth checking out if you are ever visiting.
5:25 am on October 15th, 2009
Oh I’m so glad you posted about Maoz!! I used to eat this ALL THE TIME when I lived in Barcelona. There is one on Las Ramblas and one tucked away in the Gothic Quarter…so delicious and perfect! I agree- Bring Maoz west! (To Chicago and LA!)
1:10 pm on October 15th, 2009
I have no idea why I’ve never been to Maoz – next time I’m in London i’m going!
7:18 pm on October 15th, 2009
Oh yeah, we actually have *2* Maoz in Philly. And we had one before NYC. Pretty dope. I always just fill the side of my wrapper with boatloads of the cauliflower at the side bar. Literally on the side.
Maoz Paris was a lifesaver on our honeymoon, when we saught out a veg restaurant that happened to close down before we got there. Luckily there was a Maoz around the corner, cause we were starved.
7:42 am on October 16th, 2009
When we were there, omniboy asked me “…Are we in the red light district?” Yes. Yes, we are.
I got the box, because I’m more of a salad than a bread person, and you can fit even MORE salad in there. I was still stuffed before I got to the end!
It wasn’t crowded when we went, but it wasn’t raining, either. And they seemed to have about 30 seats.
1:11 pm on October 16th, 2009
I ate there and its so tiny but i had a tiny foldable bike but it still took up a large portion of the cafe. I have a picture somewhere.
11:03 am on October 19th, 2009
HI I MANGE MAOZ IN London I would like to start by saying thank you to all our clients visit maoz where ever they are. I would suggest all of our clients that they would squeeze their maoz sandwich (crashing the falafel balls in the pitter) when they get it before putting any salad in it then they would have more room for salad.
Hemin
At maoz London
4:08 pm on October 30th, 2009
THEY’RE OPENING IN BERKELEY! ON TELEGRAPH!
I can only assume it’s only a matter of time before they open up in LA or SoCal.
11:46 am on November 1st, 2009
Went here with my sister recently in London, wasn’t too packed but we ended up having to sit facing the street. Thats not a bad thing though…we just felt sorry for all the pedestrians who were walking past maoz and staring at us as we stuffed out faces with the falafel sandwiches!! XD