The next stop on the Vegan tour of the DMV was Amma Vegetarian Kitchen in Vienna, VA (click here for parts 1, 2, and 3). Amma is an all vegetarian South Indian restaurant specializing in dosas (crepes) with spicy fillings. Unfortunately we quickly discover that Amma was on the Washingtonian’s list for being vegetarian friendly, NOT vegan friendly – they cook their crepes on a griddle with butter. After a lot of discussion with the man working the counter (who was very patient and helpful) we discovered that were maybe two options for my vegan friend – a fried bread and a whole wheat bread, both served with (SUPER) spicy potatoes and a vegetable stew.
Keerin’s chappathi potato bhaji is in the background, and my masala dosa (crepe filled with spiced potatoes and onions) is in the foreground. All the dosas come with sambar (a spiced vegetable stew) and a (delicious and slightly spicy) coconut chutney. Everything here is spicy, which was a little daunting for a wuss like me. But I was able to eat a lot of my food (with the help of a cooling mango lassi) because it was so tasty!
This was the second dosa that I got – filled with paneer cheese and green chiles. I didn’t like this filling as much as the masala potatoes, but the way they folded the crepe kept it crisper on the edges.
After all of that spice I needed something to cool down my palate, so I ordered a couple of creamy desserts. The samiya payasam (front) is thin vermicelli noddles in a creamy sauce (almost like rice pudding). Rasmalai (back) is a ball of paneer cheese soaked in sweetened condensed milk – I didn’t like this one as much because the components didn’t really blend, but alternated between being too sweet and not sweet enough.
Overall I say that Amma is pretty good for a quick and casual meal (especially if you like spice), but I would not recommend it to vegans. The dosas are obviously the star and the masala seems to be the favorite filling.