Toronto, Canada

Caleb has been back to being vegan for a while now and I try and eat veggie/vegan most of the week too so when I joined him on tour a few weeks ago, I was happy to go to a vegan restaurant with him for lunch. He had the day off in Toronto, so after looking at what was on offer around us, we found The Hogtown Vegan.

The Hogtown Vegan 

Our friend Bobby is from Toronto, so he assured us this place had a great reputation and after a bit of a wait (there seemed to only be one waitress trying to hold down the entire (packed) place down(!) we sat to see what they had to offer. I was relieved to see they had a separate GF menu and promptly ordered a whole bunch of food.

From the GF menu, I had the GF Southern Combo, which was BBQ "chicken" jackfruit chunks, mac n cheese and sautéed garlic collard greens. We also ordered a side of standard fries for me and a portion of Fries Supremacy for Caleb (fries with nacho cheese, fakin' bits, sunflower sour cream & scallions). Caleb also had a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich which was GIANT and he really loved it, but couldn't get close to finishing it. They didn't do GF bread, so this wasn't an option for me. 

My Southern Combo was exactly what I wanted that day. It had been really cold and I was craving comfort food and got exactly that. My mac & cheese was actually a little cold, which upset me, but the waitress was so busy I didn't get it replaced and just ate it down. It was also a little under cooked, but you would never tell it was dairy free. The jack fruit pieces were as tasty as ever and the collard greens....oh my gosh, SO good! I could've eaten an entire plate of them. The fries...were really tasty. By now, you know me and you know I love fries, so of course I had to have some and I wasn't disappointed. Be aware the portion size here really was gigantic, we had a lot left over! The only thing that disappointed me about this place, was that there was no dessert option... 

Make sure to remember that because this place is vegan, most fake meat items are made from seitan, which is NOT gluten free. Therefore, as most restaurants say they cannot guarantee 100% GF, but I had no issues after eating here. So, take that for what you will.

Do you have any suggestions for places in Toronto? I have started to create a list in my phone of cities and places to eat in them and so far for my next visit to Toronto I'd like to go to places like OM Grilled Cheese, De Floured Bakery and Smoque & Bones.