Toronto Day 6

April 26, 2012

I had enough time on my last day in Toronto to squeeze in two final meals and a bit more sight-seeing. I decided to start things off at Toronto's famous St Lawrence Market (supposedly the world's best food market!). The market itself was pretty quiet on a Thursday morning - it seemed quite small to me, but I imagine it's a bit more bustling when the farmer's markets are on each Saturday. The downstairs area has a decent selection of cafes, including my breakfast destination: Cruda Cafe.

Cruda Cafe is a raw, vegan and gluten-free cafe tucked away in the markets. Sadly, the blueberry pancakes I wanted are only available on the weekends (I was constantly amazed by how many breakfast places in Toronto were totally focussed on the weekend), so I was forced to choose from the lunch menu. It's all raw - wraps, salads and a few bigger meals. I settled on the enchilada rawrap (avocado, vegan chilli and seasonal veggies, $9).

This was an amazingly healthy start to the day - the combo of the dehydrated wrap and fresh veggies was bursting with freshness and colour. The chilli was a bit odd - I think it was mostly made of tiny little mushroom pieces. It tasted nothing like chilli, but was a hearty savoury accompaniment to all the vegetables. At $9 this isn't a particularly good value meal - it's pretty small - but that's the price you pay for raw food I guess.

I couldn't resist supplementing the healthy wrap with one of Cruda Cafe's signature desserts - a vegan Nanaimo bar ($4.50).

This was wonderful - bittersweet dark chocolate layered on top of a cashew cream middle and a chocolatey, seedy, nutty base. Delicious.

Loaded up with raw nutrients, I hit the city for a while. Toronto is a great city for wandering - there are loads of distinct, interesting neighbourhoods. It's not particularly scenic, but there's a lovely atmosphere to the place. Still, my feet were eventually worn down from all the tramping and I tracked down some decent coffee and free wi-fi at Dark Horse - nice to find another proper latte after some of the swill I'd had elsewhere.

Recharged, I headed off to find some lunch. I had so many places I wanted to try: Urban Herbivore, Live Food, Hibiscus, Hot Yam, Rawlicious, Rancho Relaxo, Sneaky Dee's, Green Earth even vegan-frinedly chains like Lick's Burgers, Magic Oven and Chipotle. Instead, I just went to the nearest veg place I could find: Vegetarian Haven.

Vegetarian Haven is an all-vegan Asian influenced place that has a pretty great reputation - it won dine.TO's best vegetarian restaurant and has lots of great reviews on Yelp. The lunch menu has a decent number of options: noodles and wraps, salads and a half-dozen bigger main meals (or entrees as North Americans insist on calling them).

I was very tempted by the spicy coconut curry seitan and the sizzling seitain in black bean sauce, but decided to go mock-meat free and try the spicy eggplant tofu (Asian eggplant fired up in a hot wok with hot chilli slices served with purple rice, $11.95).

This was a great way to end my vegetarian tour of Toronto - the mix of fresh veggies, fiery chilli sauce, lightly seared tofu chunks and a cute dollop of purple rice made for a deeply satisfying lunch. They don't pull their punches on the chilli, which is perfect for this dish. I was sad not to try the tofu drumstick or their range of vegan desserts, but there was plenty of food in this one meal, and I had over-eaten my way through the week. Service was friendly and efficient (as it was everywhere I went basically) and the atmosphere of the place was low-key and welcoming (the surrounding tables seemed heavily populated with professors from the nearby university). Vegetarian Haven hadn't been that high on my list of must-visit places in Toronto, mostly because it's schtick (Asian-style vegetarian food) is not one that's hard to find in Melbourne. But it was great - really worth a visit if you're looking for some middle ground between diner-style fried goodies and raw food.

So, six days (4 full days and 2 part days really) and ten restaurants later, my Toronto trip was over. It's a great city, and a great city for veg*ns - very reminiscent of Melbourne in many ways. The people are friendly, there are trams, the place is bursting with culture and there's food - more food than you can possibly tackle in under a week. I can't wait to go back. Thanks to everyone on Twitter who suggested restaurants and activities for me!

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Cruda Cafe has been met with universally positive blog reviews - check out: Toronto Vegetarian, Toronto Coffee Shops, Raw Candy, Going Raw - A University Student's Experience, Food Art Life, Greatest Wealth, Vegan Backpacker and The Healthy Hipster.

As for Vegetarian Haven, Life's Tasty Adventures, JYG's Urban Adventures, What We Eatin': Where We Eatin', the recreational vegan, Gail at Large, MeShell in your city and Newman Improved all loved it, while they call me queen of the universe was a bit less impressed.

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Cruda Cafe

Downstairs at the St Lawrence Market, 93 Front Street East, Toronto 

647 346 6502

Salads and meals $8-$14, Fancy juices $5.50-$6.50, Sweets ~$5 (all plus tax)

http://www.crudacafe.com/

Vegetarian Haven

17 Baldwin Street  Toronto

416 621 3636 

Main meals: $10-$16 (plus tax and tips)

http://www.vegetarianhaven.com

Accessibility: Cruda Cafe is downstairs at the St Lawrence Markets, although there's a reasonable possibility that there's a lift (I wasn't paying attention pre-coffee). Ordering and payment takes place at a relatively low counter, and there are reasonable tables nearby. Vegetarian Haven has a flat entryway and isn't too crowded inside. Ordering and payment happens at the table.

Toronto Day 2

April 22, 2012

Toronto skyline behind a massive double-crested cormorant colony

I'd arranged my flights so that I had a full day spare in Toronto before work obligations kicked off. This served two purposes: eating as much great veg food as I could find and heading out to do a bit of birding. I woke up obscenely early and decided to start wandering to Tommy Thompson Park, hoping that I'd stumble across a bakery or something that opened before 8am on a Sunday. Queen Street East is loaded with hip-looking cafes, bars and restaurants, all of which looked like they'd be unlikely to open before 11. And then there was Lady Marmalade - already open and with a menu in the window that looked very promising indeed. When I got home I discovered it's on a bunch of 'best breakfast in Toronto' lists - good fortune indeed!

Lady Marmalade is a cute little place - a mix of old-fashioned diner stylings and trendiness. At 7:30 on a Sunday it's pretty empty but by the time I left at 8:15 there was a queue forming. The menu (pdf is here) is mostly savoury - lots of egg dishes, a (slightly terrifying sounding) breakfast poutine and savoury waffles. There are a few sweet options - the crepes in particular sounded promising. I considered the tofu scramble but in the end couldn't go past the vegan adaptation of heuvos rancheritos (scrambled organic tofu with chilli, smashed beans, guacamole, chipotle salsa and wholewheat tortillas, $12.50).

What a delicious start to the day! The beans (hidden behind the coriander pile) were a teeny bit smoky and were soft and smushy - perfect for smearing on the tortilla. The scrambled tofu was rich with what seemed like a part tomato, part chipotle sauce and were dotted through with little (mild) chilli pieces. Shake on some hot sauce (as I did) and you're in Mex-breakfast heaven. The service was lovely (although things were starting to get a bit slower as the room filled up) and the setting was a warm and quiet oasis from the windy streets.

A short walk later I was at the park, which only opens on the weekends and was full of joggers, bike-riders and fellow bird-nerds. The icy winds meant that this wasn't my most enjoyable birding experience ever, and I think I was a few weeks early for the full range of migratory birds that turn up here, but I still managed a few hours racking up lots of new birds. It's a pretty lovely park anyway and is well worth a wander if you find yourself at a loose end over a Toronto weekend.

A song sparrow doing what it does best

By the time I'd walked all the way to the end of the park and back I had numb fingers and was starting to get hungry again. So I pulled out my veg map (The Toronto Vegetarian Association leaves piles of vegetarian directories around the place - I found mine in a bookstore - which include great little maps of most of the veg restaurants in the inner city) and headed for Sadie's Diner just off Queen Street West.

This place fully embraced the diner aesthetic and had a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere (this was probably due to the lateness of my lunch - by 2:30pm there weren't too many other customers about). The weekend menu here is all about brunch and is a mix of vegetarian and vegan dishes. I went for the vegan brekkie burrito, which seems like their signature dish ($10 + $3 for a side of guacamole).

The chunky home fries were completely unmentioned on the menu - I get the impression that in North America you're just supposed to assume that your breakfast will come with a side of fried potato. I wasn't complaining. The burrito itself was a solid effort - a mix of rice, vegan cheese, tofu and chilli packed expertly into a tortilla. It was a much less messy proposition than the Trippy Taco alternative, but was a bit milder in flavour as well - luckily hot sauce seems to be a staple condiment, so I could give it the little kick I thought it needed. This place seemed like a pretty reliable veggie brunch option - they offer vegan French toast, more huevos and vegan-huevos dishes and a few other bits and pieces. The service was efficient if a little stand-offish, and they were happy to leave me sitting reading while I rested my feet for the walk home. Plus they've got a great wall of Pez dispensers!

 

The jet-lag was kicking in pretty hard by now, so I slunk back to the hotel to crash out for a while. By the time dinner rolled around I was still stuffed from all the spuds and too tuckered out to venture very far away from the hotel. Luckily, there's a veg restaurant right next door! 

Commensal is a very plain buffet-style place, where you load your plate up and pay based on weight. There are eight or so hot dishes, heaps of salads and some soups to choose from. 

For about $10 I got a decent sized plate filled with salad and a few pieces of the ginger tofu. 

I had high hopes for the tofu, but it was a bit lacking in flavour. Still, the salads were just what my body needed after a day of airline food followed by two big beany breakfasts. They were fresh and tasty and were a healthy way to end the day. Commensal has absolutely no atmosphere to speak of - you go there to load up on food and then you leave. But if that's what you're after (and it was for me) then it does a good job of it - I wouldn't put it on my must-visit list for Toronto but it'll fulfil a need for a lazy, healthy lunch or dinner around the middle of town. They have plenty of clearly labelled vegan and gluten-free options as well.

So my first full day in Toronto was a success - some great birding and three pretty decent meals. Toronto has loads of vegetarian and veg-friendly restaurants and I managed to sneak a few more meals around meetings, so stay tuned for more soon!

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A quick poke around the web turned up lots of bloggers raving about Lady Marmalade - check out some recent reviews at Lick My Spoon, Food Pr0n, lace and lemondrops, Food  should be yummy, Where Jess Ate, Amy's Food Adventures, Henry's Highchair, Eat Here Next, Relish and Quaff, Yours Edibly and Run Eat Read. /L/ was a bit less impressed.

Similarly, there's much love for Sadie's Diner. See: koshersamurai, Chronicles of a Hungry Man, Vegan Butthole Explosion, Veggie Tales, Vegan Band Dude, Ate by Ate and highheeledherbivore, although Until We Eat Again, Iliana's Palette and Drawn and Devoured were all a bit disappointed by the lack of flavour in some of the dishes.

Commensal has less blogger enthusiasm - I could only find a fairly mixed review from Eat Here Next and a more positive write-up from yuzulife.

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Lady Marmalade
898 Queen Street East, Leslieville
647 351 7645
Veggie breakfasts: $7.50 - $11.50 (plus tax and tips)
http://www.ladymarmalade.ca

Sadie's Diner
504 Adelaide Street West, Fashion District
416 777 2343
Veggie brunch dishes: $5 - $12 (plus tax and tips)
http://www.myspace.com/sadiesdiner

Commensal
655 Bay Street, Toronto

416 596 9364

Pay by weight - $10 - $15 gets you a good sized meal

http://www.commensal.ca/

Accessibility: All three of these places had reasonable accessibility - no more than a small step on entry and reasonably spacious interiors (although Lady Marmalade gets a bit tight as it fills up). At Lady Marmalade and Sadie's you do all your ordering and payment at the table, while Commensal you pay at a low counter. The buffet at Commensal is about waist high. 

Fressen

April 21, 2012

Eight years ago, Cindy and I spent some time in the U.S. living with a vegetarian couple - I decided to go veg for the duration of the trip to see whether I was up to it and, before we knew it, Cindy and I were both enjoying the smugness of being meat-free. One of the key moments that tipped us into sticking with it happened in Toronto, when we stumbled onto high-end veg place Fressen. It was veg food like we'd never realised it could be and has become one of our fondest food memories. So it was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that I used some free time on a work trip in Toronto to revisit. Could Fressen possibly be as good as we remembered? Was it only so impressive because we were such naive vegos? Or is it truly a veg dining Mecca?

Well, good news everybody: it's still great! To be fair, we've definitely eaten fancier food, but Fressen does a similar thing to Shakahari in Melbourne or (the sadly departed) Sirens in Hobart - high quality, well-presented, slightly pricey veg meals.

It's a pretty popular place - all the tables were booked or full. Luckily they squeezed me in at the bar and left me with the menu. Which. is. massive. Seventeen appetisers and ten mains, most of which are gluten-free and all of which are vegan. I had a tough time trying to figure out what to eat - this is the kind of place where you want a biggish group so you can get a taste of heaps of dishes. Alas I was forced to choose just one appetiser and one main.

I kicked things off with the spinach blini (warm avocado and corn salsa sandwiched between fluffy herbed poppy seed and spinach blinis, $9).

What a start! The blinis were puffy, soft and delicious and the salsa mix was a bit tangy and a bit sweet and rich with charred corn pieces and creamy avocado chunks. Amazing.

For my main I was tempted by the grilled black bean seitan but eventually settled on the battered tempeh (herb battered and fried tempeh, topped with a mango coriander salsa and served with fresh sautéed vegetables and roasted potatoes, $16).

This didn't quite measure up to the blinis but it was still a massive and delicious meal. The mango/coriander salsa tasted pretty great but was a bit too liquidy. The tempeh crust was perfect though - crispy and lightly flavoured, housing some excellent tempeh chunks. The veggies were good too and there were loads of them. It was a big meal - way too much on top of the starter for me to check out the dessert menu (which is a shame, because dessert was one of our favourite 2004 Fressen memories).

Fressen is wonderful. The service is lovely - friendly and helpful but happy to leave me quietly reading my book at the bar. The vibe is nice too - moody lighting, polished wood tables and a buzzy (but not deafening) atmosphere. I've got a tough choice for the rest of this week - do I go back or do I explore all the other options that Toronto has to offer? I'm not sure I can wait another eight years for more Fressen.

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Fressen's been around forever, and I don't really know the Toronto blog scene, but a quick search turned up a bunch of very positive reviews in the last year - check out Vegan Band Dude, MeShell in Your City, Might Good Eats, Frank Vs Veganism, One Healthy Munchkin and Might Good Eats for (mostly) positive reviews. Lisa from vegan culinary crusade recommended Fressen to me when I put the call out on Twitter for Toronto tips and also has a short review of their (sadly no longer operational) weekend brunch.

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Fressen
478 Queen Street West, Toronto
416 504 5127 (if you're going on a weekend it's probably wise to book)
Cold tapas 3 dishes for $15, Appetisers $9, Mains $16 (although the combination of GST and tipping means you end up paying a fair bit more than those prices - I've no idea why they list pre-tax prices everywhere, but they do)

http://www.fressenrestaurant.com/

Accessibility: Fressen has a small step as you go in and is dim and fairly crowded. There's another couple of steps between the bar area and the front room. I didn't check out the toilets, but I think they're somewhere above these steps (see MeShell's comment below). Ordering and payment happens at the table (or bar in my case).