Baltimore has recently had an up surge of fine dining and restaurant but eating well doesn’t have to be expensive.
In this blog, I’ll talk about a few places with reasonably priced great food.
Mount Vernon market place
Located in the historic Mount Vernon District, at 520 Park Avenue, this is about a 15-minute walk from the Convention Center, and is a one-place stop for a variety of foods. I would definitely recommend a walk around the market place and you’re sure to find something you’ll enjoy. There are over a dozen vendors with very reasonably priced food options: oysters, Korean bibimpap, dumplings, French crepes are only a few among the many options available.
I would recommend the kebobs at Maiwand kebab and The Helmand. Maiwand is cheaper with daily specials and closer to the Convention Center while Helmand is little bit pricier with a nice ambience and would recommend it more as a place for group dinner. For the vegetarians out there I would recommend chick-pea curry or the egg plant. Maiwand also has great appetizers, I like almost all, but one of my favorites is “mantu” see picture below (ground beef-filled dumplings, topped with homemade yogurt, meat sauce and mint).
While there are plenty of South Asian restaurants dotted across the city, my personal favorite for pretty authentic and reasonably priced place is Jasa Kebab. It’s a small place in a trendy Baltimore neighborhood called Canton. It’s a small more of a takeout place, but we’ve generally been able to find place to sit. If you’re not used to having spicy food, I would recommend telling them that at the time of ordering your food. They have some pre-cooked, ready to go options as well if you’re short on time but I would recommend ordering something from the menu. I recommend the boneless lamb or chicken karahi for the meat lovers and lentil curry with garlic naan (bread) or bread stuffed with potatoes for the vegetarians out there.
For dessert, I would recommend the Italian pastry place next door: Vaccaro’s. With the variety of gelatos, desserts and biscottis out there, everyone is sure to find something they would like. If you have time and energy after eating all that great food, you can either enjoy the evening in O’Donnell Square Park, which is located just across from Vaccaro’s or go into one of the pubs in the area.
Mantu