Âu Lạc — Restaurant in Los Angeles

As a fan of the original fountain valley location, we came in thinking there's no way the DTLA location would stand in comparison... It's even better!!

Although this location doesn't have family-like service and the environment is a little bougie for my taste, the food is so amazing the 5 star wins out.

The creativity and execution of the au lac founder, a Vietnamese woman who sought to heal herself through plant based combined with the refinement of a Japanese chef whose taken a spiritual vow of lifetime silence is unmatched.

We've come back twice in a week and loved everything.

Trip 1: Grilled octopus Living seaweed/kale salad Some sort of raw living soup (last listed on the soup list)

Trip 2: Calamari Laab salad Ito burrito (living)

In order of sweet love in your mouth to still delicious but not the star Grilled octopus Living soup Laab salad Ito burrito Calamari Living seaweed/kale salad

Both the grilled octopus and calamari have in common a tempura/fried exterior that's crunchy yet somehow moist and marinated mushroom on the inside. The texture of which is so close to the real seafood it's shocking. What makes the grilled octopus the star is the full shiitake mushroom caps that are bursting with marinade flavor that combined with the sauteed veggies, sauce and forbidden rice is a party in your mouth that's not totally like anything else you'd eat. Whereas the calamari is a straightforward interpretation of the original (which has never been a star for me anyways).

The living soup is cool 😎 (pun intended). It's super different where it has a light delicate coconut herb broth with some delicious taro-like thing in the middle that's really a treat when you combine everything. Would eat alone as a snack or lunch everyday.

The laab. Omg. A hodgepodge of bright flavors with minced mushrooms that replace the texture of ground meat well and flavor even better. They have their own special vegan fish sauce that ties everything together. The one caveat is it's a very big flavor that deserves to have more purple cabbage wraps come with it to help balance. It only comes with 1 piece which is not enough for the whole bowl.

Ito burrito. Not packed with complex flavors like the rest but they've somehow managed to make beans raw and probiotic. They taste delicious and apparently are super nutritious!

Seaweed salad. Tasty though the most mild in flavor. Can be overtaken by the other amazing things on the table.

Overall if you like creative plant based takes on both traditional Vietnamese and global recipes and the fusion of them you'll appreciate the concept of au lac. If you love mushrooms you'll love au lac. If you love big bold flavors you'll love au lac. Of you love raw living foods that don't negotiate flavors you'll love au lac.

One warning. Parking is a b*tch and expensive so good...

Five star food but 1 star service

Service is very slow so don’t come here if you have plans on seeing a show nearby.

We gave ourselves a little over an hr to eat. We arrived at 624p.

It took maybe 6-8 min for someone to clean a table unless we wanted to sit at the bar, which I didn’t. 632p.

When we were finally seated, we were given our menus to look over. The waitress came back (who appeared to be the only one) and we told her we’d start w the fried shrimp appetizer. We got waters too but my cup was dirty and something was flowing inside. We asked for another one.

It took about 5 min (636p) for her to come back w a clean one so we were studying the menu meanwhile.

When she finally did come back w my clean up, we were about to put in our food order but she turned around so quickly that we couldn’t. But she didn’t come back for another 15 min or so !(651p). I actually got up a few times to check for her but didn’t see her or any other waiter around. When I finally spotted her she was on the other side of restaurant busy w other guests.

By this time I’m getting worried bc 1) is our shrimp app still hadn’t arrived and we just put in our food order but we had a show to make at 730 down the street.

We finally got our shrimp (almost 7p).

Luckily our other food arrived faster than our app. But they didn’t come out at the same. So we were sharing the first dish off one plate until the second dish came out.

By the time we got the second dish (710p) we had less than ten min to eat.

Right when the second dish came out I told the person who brought it out (not the waitress ) to get our waitress. When she arrived I told her we needed to pay at that time so by the time we were done eating we could just leave to make our show.

We ended up inhaling our food and left the restaurant at 720p and walked back down the street to the ahmanson theatre.

As for the food, we got the garlic basil noodle , chicken satay and the shrimp

Everything was so good ! Tho the shrimp was too tough for my liking but flavored really well still.

Also the satay came w rice, crackers and cucumbers but bc we didn’t have time, we only ate the satay and cucumbers.

I want to come back here to try other items but we can’t have anything planned after bc the service is just...

Last Sunday I wanted to go downtown LA. It’s been a while since I don’t go that way! My friend who it’s a vegan invited me to one of his favourite places in LA; called Âu Lạc LA It’s a plant base and vegan food and drink eatery inspired by Vietnamese traditional flavours. We were greeted by the waitress whom she was very knowledgeable, has great vibes and extremely thoughtful during our experience! Her name is Emek and she’s from Mars! She also checked on my table to make sure our experience was superb. The whole atmosphere was great! I can’t begin to tell you that the experience of the tasting food was heaven! That was the first word that came out of my mouth when Emek came to find out how was the experience and I was like: “I’m in heaven” We ordered the Crimini Pesto, which are stuffed mushrooms with thai basil pesto, macadamia nuts, bell pepper, microgreens. Salt & Peppered Shrimp highly recommended! Its hearty delicious and the lightly fried makes it crunchy, fulfilling! It’s paired with sautéed purple cabbage, jalapeño and cilantro! Seriously killer combination! With a red salsa it’s on fire.. Ito Burrito very soft but full of flavours with a green tomatillo sauce. and the Ginger Mint Bean Rice I mean this was a totally unexpected unique flavour! with wild rice, noodles, mixed in a ginger coconut broth top with mushrooms, corn crisps and hemp seed!! I mean one flavour after the other! I haven’t try anything like that seriously! And then every little bite that you put in your mouth at a very subtle and quiet moment just enjoying these flavours and honouring Mother Earth. At the end of diner I had the opportunity to meet the chef Ito who doesn’t talk but his expressions tells you the kind person he is. It immediately takes you back to the basics.. the real experience to dine in. The service it’s fantastic, this is da place to go! Let me know if your thoughts! @julieta_iscooking...