Toronto Vegan Adventures!

I spent my reading week in my home town, Toronto (or Teronno, if you're local), and of course this meant eating at many fine vegan establishments. I tried to make it to all my old favourites and jam in as many of the new-kids-on-the-block as possible, but lemme tellya, the vegan scene has exploded in Toronto since I moved away 2 1/2 years ago! There are so many new restaurants, bakeries and vegan friendly coffee shops I could not possibly make it to them all! But here is a round up of the epicurean highlights of my trip:

Oh, my love, my darling  . . . Sadie's Diner is a long-standing favourite of mine and really, no trip to Toronto would be complete without the greasy-spoon delights they serve up. Sadly, I was feeling under the weather the morning I stopped in for brunch, so it was fruit salad and ginger tea for me, but I did get the vicarious thrill of watching my brunch buddies devour scrambled tofu, home fries, and veggie sausage. Not to downplay my fruit salad, it was amazing.

Another sadness of my trip was not having a chance to check out the new juice bar and vegan ice creamery that Sadie's has opened up in Kensington Market . . . I think this calls for a summer trip . . .

Green Earth was a new restaurant for me and I stumbled upon it quite by chance. And, I'm glad to report, it was a delightful lunch. My lunch date and I split the crispy wontons to start, which were sooooo good. Seriously. Then I had this crispy breaded burger, I think it was called something like the "good earth" burger or something, which was really good. I am generally more of a vegetable burger kinda veggie burger gal, so it wasn't my normal cup of tea, but I enjoyed it. It's been awhile, but I think this burger pretty closely simulated a breaded chicken burger. The crispiness was a fun touch, and the burger inside was juicy and flavourful. My friend had the chow mein, which was pretty standard veggie chow mein.

So, all in all, not the best restaurant in the world, but totally solid, reasonably-priced, multi-ethnic vegan food, making it worth checking out for a casual lunch. (And if you do, please try the deluxe fettuccine alfredo and let me know how it is! Not having that for lunch is maybe the biggest regret of my trip.)

Awesome. Awesomeawesomeawesome. What else can I say? Mylk Uncookies gets my vote. First, as a lover of puns, I deeply appreciate a coffee shop which makes its own almond milk onsite, serves up raw cookies and cheesecake, and names itself MYLK UNCOOKIES!!!!! Then, take into account that its products are of the highest calibre, what's not to love? Plus, the decor is precious in all the right ways.

They are not fully vegan, so make sure you ask before you buy. I tried two (baked) cookies (they were out of raw cookies the day I went in), shortbread and oatmeal-pumpkin seed, both of which were delicious. I also bought a jar of their almond milk to enjoy with my morning cereal and wow, just wow. I discovered you really haven't had almond milk until you've had real almond milk. Coming back to my regular old cartons has been a rough transition.

The verdict? Go to Mylk Uncookies, if that wasn't clear!

What is this, you ask? Why, it's a peanut butter banana muffin from The Green Beanery! It was so good I couldn't even wait to eat half of it before taking a picture. If you find yourself in the annex and in need of a coffee accompanied by a vegan muffin or cupcake, then I suggest you head on over to The Green Beanery, my friend.

I had been looking forward to my trip to Bunner's for months before arriving in Toronto, so there was pressure, but boy, did it live up to my expectations and then some. Bunner's is a vegan, gluten-free bakery, and by some alanis-morisette-style irony, it opened up shop a little over a year ago on the same block that I lived on for almost four years in the junction. Seriously, it is literally three doors down from my old apartment. But maybe it's a good thing I don't live three doors down from Bunner's, because even vegan, gluten-free baked goods are bad for you if you eat them everyday . . . or five of them everyday. Here are some more photos from my Bunner's trip (because I'm kinda in love):

My Box of Treats!

The mile-high buttercream on the french toast cupcake mmmmmm . . .

After gorging myself on divinity in sugar form, I needed something a little, um, healthy to balance me out  . . .

Which meant lunch at another old favourite, Fresh. I had my old reliable green goddess bowl and drank a deep immune juice (sans chyawanprash) and I felt all better. Plus, it was amazingly delicious! I love Fresh, simple as that. They are, and will forever be, one of my very favourite restaurants in the world. I'm not kidding, I always look forward to a chance to eat there and their cookbook has a special (and often used) place on my shelf.

The final stop on my vegan adventure is One Love Vegetarian, which I actually ate at twice! The first time was right at the beginning of my trip, when I had the bbq tofu served on rice with fried plantains and avocado. It was sooooooo good! My only complaint is that for the price I expected it to be two meals (or at least one so-big-I-feel-sick-for-eating-all-of-it meal), especially since it's a take-out restaurant. But hey, it's downtown Toronto. On my first trip, my friend had a roti wrap, which looked so good I had to go back to try it before I left and I'm glad I did. It was amazing. I had the chickpea and potato curry in the paratha shell and I can honestly say it was one of the best roti wraps I have ever had (and pleasingly well priced). I definitely recommend checking this place out. The menu is small, and like I said it's take-out, but you won't be disappointed in the quality.

Veg Jenski xo