Food Fight is dedicated to highlighting the differences between vegan and omnivorous cuisines. By reviewing restaurants in Metro Vancouver, our columnists Yelin and Bart show that you can have the best of both worlds.
Field and Social:
This beautifully laid-out restaurant found its niche by bringing nutritious, well-balanced, ‘fancy’ salads to Vancouver. The owners opened the restaurant with the goal of taking the boring out of salads, and offering a unique, modern, and trendy social eating experience. Critics are raving over their stylish marble-interior and their carefully curated salads. Ther carnivore-friendly options that complement the protein packed, flavour filled vegan options make this a win-win lunch spot on Dunsmuir Street.
MeeT in Gastown:
Main Street’s popular vegetarian/vegan comfort food restaurant, ironically named MeeT, has opened another location on Water Street and people can’t shut up about it — myself included.
Go and enjoy the social environment, sit down in the refurbished school chairs, and feast your tender soul on cruelty-free mac and cheese burgers, buffalo ‘chicken’ wings, and chili cheese fries. It’s as good as it sounds. I loved the tofu rice bowls because of the perfectly cooked tender tofu and incredible sauces.
It was amazing to see so many people waiting in line to have their dinner at a local vegetarian restaurant instead of opting for elsewhere. MeeT proves that compassion for health and animals is relevant in our time.
Choco Coo:
This relatively new café in Lougheed has a beautiful, well-lit interior that doesn’t outshine the high quality cakes crafted by a French trained South Korean pastry chef. Their matcha-inspired desserts are to die for.
My personal favorite, the matcha mousse, is chilled and layered with chocolate crisps that give it the appearance of a cake: it is a sweet and sinful must-try. Their dark chocolate mocha was great, but my only complaint is that they have no dairy substitutes. Being an up-and-coming business in the food industry and not catering to common dietary restrictions could become a problem, given that so many other business are doing so. However, rumour has it that they are opening another location in downtown Vancouver soon, due to the overwhelming success of their current location.
Laduree:
You’ve probably heard of this place before. If you haven’t, where have you been that you could ignore the fantasy-like trend of macarons and Parisian culture for the past decade? The aesthetic of this tea parlour is reminiscent of the film Marie Antoinette, and has been making people chatter all over the world with their decadent sweets. This month they opened their first store in Canada on Vancouver’s iconic Robson Street. After the swarms die down, definitely go give their world famous macarons a try.
720 Sweets:
Recently opened in Kitsilano, this ice cream shop has become a must-visit. Their unique flavour combinations and dry ice presentations make it worthwhile. The ice cream is rich and silky, but not overdone in any way. The classic flavour I thought would be quite plain and irrelevant proved to be the best soft ice cream I’ve ever had.
720 Sweets reminds us that dessert should be a novelty not only in taste but in experience. It will be ready to remind the rest of Vancouver soon by opening up to franchise offers in the future.
