Mangal Kiss are a longtime favourite food truck downtown. A lot of food truck food is too indulgent to eat often, so it’s nice to have lighter and healthier options. The standout feature of Mangal Kiss’ wraps is the assortment of crazy-delicious veggies that they put inside.

I hate the word “wrap”. It conjures up images of food that’s been bastardized, blandified, test-marketed and franchised to death, leaving just a whisper of its authentic flavour and charm. (Just look at what’s happened to burritos.) The top of that cruddy heap has to be Freshii with it’s bland food that’s not exactly cooked but merely assembled like a car or Ikea furniture. Bland pre-cooked ingredients packaged in a plastic capsule, ready for your enjoyment! Blah!

Mangal Kiss is none of these things.

Soundtrack time!

 

They usually have a combo thing going, either a wrap and a drink or (what I saw last year) a wrap and a soup. I hope they bring the soups back. They were fresh-tasting, healthy and full of flavour.

They’re usually located on Georgia St., just in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery. But it’s best to check their latest schedule on Facebook, Twitter or Street Food App, cuz as with most food trucks, shit happens.

Their menu. Be aware that the lamb contains different fillings than the beef, chicken and veg. I still like the lamb once in a while but I always go back to the beef with its classic fillings. But since I ate waaaay too much the day before, I chose the vegetarian wrap today.

Unfortunately, they no longer serve their wraps in a taftoon/taftan because of supply issues. They’ve switched to pita bread, which is a bit of a disappointment because those taftoons really rocked. If I had to compare them to something, the closest would be Persian lavash (that soft cracker-like flatbread) but still not quite the same. Anyways, the pita bread does the job.

Just look at what’s listed under “salatim”! That’s all quality stuff. No iceberg lettuce or bland industrial tomatoes in sight.

Cantaloupe drink and vegetarian wrap. A healthy lunch that’s plenty filling.

If you want to eat healthy, just eat a lot of different colours! Venn diagram time:

I like that this wrap doesn’t give me a food coma when I head back to work.

This cantaloupe drink was great too! Fresh, sweet, pure, aromatic cantaloupe flavour.

I still don’t know what “Mangal Kiss” means…do you?