Rice & Mix is a fairly new spot in Center City, located on 12th and Walnut. They serve super vegan-friendly Korean food, and it's excellent. Score for the city! Whoo hoo! I got jap chae ($8- glass noodles and veggies), my boyfriend got tofu bibimbap ($8- marinated tofu and veggies on rice.) Both were delicious, light, fresh, and something Philly doesn’t have a lot of: HEALTHY.
The atmosphere is burrito-chain-meets-hotel-lounge; order at the counter at the end of the open assembly-line kitchen, then sit in a booth or at a table under warm mood lighting while smooth jazz plays overhead. Strange, but it works. Stranger still was the staff, who were uncharacteristically friendly for Philadelphia. It would have been easy to convince me that we were the first customers they’d ever had ("Give 'em a week, they'll get jaded and rude like the rest..."), if not for the place being full of other diners. I guess these Rice & Mix folks are actually nice. That’s about as rare as healthy food 'round these parts. Despite it being a casual spot, there were lots of people on dates around us. We held hands over our Korean grub and swore we’d go back again and again.
BIBIMBOP TIP: We had never eaten Korean food before so we ordered blind, but after sneaking peeks at other people's bibimbop we realized that we made a wrong move not ordering the hot stone bowl. (It’s a couple dollars more but dramatic- it sizzles!- and cooks your veggies while you eat.)
