Get Real Cafe
135 Ossington Avenue
Phone: 416.532.4564
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Eating at Get Real reminds me of Michael Pollan's maxim: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I think that this is good advice and that Get Real does a bang on job helping me take it.
I come to Get Real Cafe on a sunny afternoon, bringing a vegetarian friend for company. (This reminds me of nervous P.C. assertions from the 90s. Well, no I'm not a vegetarian, but my neighbour is). But seriously, I eat meat, but not too much. My friend eats none. We get along just fine.
I order the daily special, a potato frittata that surprises with soft slices of thick potato and sweet potato, blue cheese and sharp cheddar, all snuggled in a soft pillow of fluffy egg. Generously graced with fresh dill and dill seed, this dish combines several of my favourite flavours in a novel take on an old classic. I love it!
My friend orders miso soup and two salads: beet and chickpea. The soup is a veggie-laden riff on the standard miso, colourful and highly textured with celery roots and leaves, carrot and seaweed shreds. Thin noodles add substance but not too much starch, and a fine balance of miso paste allows earthy mushroom undertones to enchant.
Both beet and chickpea salads are laced with a pungent vinaigrette that is a little too strong for my taste, but as my friend cheerfully asserts, "I've had many a bland chickpea salad, and this is not one of them!" She loves the dressing, and quite literally eats it up.
The key ingredient at Get Real? Freshness. Made-to-order, each dish at Get Real is a timely reminder that healthful eating can be delightful. Add a smiling server and a sunny dining room filled with vivid abstract paintings, and I'm ready to amend Pollard's maxim: Eat--at Get Real. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Lunch for two: $26 including tax and tip.
Comments (14)
Weekend brunch here really hits the spot! The waffles are really delicious, as is the tofu scramble. Tiny restaurant, but fantastic menu sure to please herbivores and omnivores alike.
You ought to review Hibiscus, too, in Kensington Market. Hibiscus is 100% vegan, offering salads, wraps, cookies and ice cream. I didn't know vegan could taste as good until I strated going there. Worth a visit/review.
It might have been an off day, but I personally found the potato frittata that you rave about to be among the most revolting things I've ever put in my mouth. I love Get Real and go there quite often for brunch but the frittata was terrible. Dry, underseasoned and bland.
I can't stop agreeing with u on that.
It's true they have few good and delicious items but I think that their cuisine is a little too mixed up of flavors for the creation of their vegetarian menu.
we all are vegetarians and appreciate vegetarian restaurants but when it comes to get real cafe, I think they have to get real and think simple.
Their real thing stands only to their name.
Sorry guys.
This menu needs lot of work.
Let's move on. Shall we?
I'm not a vegan, or vegetarian. This being said, GetReal is one of my favourite places to eat in Toronto. Somebody said bland, but it's far from it. Everything I've had here is delicious, and it lacks the over-priced pretension of places like Fresh. The atmosphere is relaxed, which is exactly what I need on a Sunday. Keep up the good work.
I agree that almost all of the food is great - I just had to chime in about the potato frittata, as it was the rare unpalatable item that I tried. I was just surprised that the reviewer thought to point it out as flavourful when it was far from it when I tasted it.
This place got better to me every time I went. I can only seem to schedule in weekend visits, and wish there were one or two more vegan options (only because I seem to go quite often now!)
The owner is also amazing. I asked if she knew when they would have a particular soup I fell in love with again and she laughed and told me I just missed it by a day. When she brought out the bill, though, she came with a "gift" - a free bowl to go! Little things like that make me want to go out of my way to visit many more times.
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