Restaurants
Paradise Farms Cafe
Paradise Farms Cafe recently opened their first of many (at least that's the plan) farm-inspired eateries in the condo-filled Bayview and Sheppard area. Owned by real estate mogul Shane Baghai, the café unsurprisingly is the flagship tenant in the St Gabriel Manor condo development.
Named after his Caledon area farm, Baghai recently became motivated to enter into the restaurant business after his wife was encouraged by doctors to eat a hormone-free diet. While the use of HGP (hormonal growth promoter) is rampant in the farming industry, Baghai vehemently bucks this trend and insists his meat instead be local, delicious and sustainable.
Its cafeteria-style interior is eerily reminiscent of a futuristic Harvey's, as is the fact that you place your order with a cashier and wait until your name is called. The glowing menus hung above the counter offer a somewhat schizophrenic selection of of patisserie type offerings--such as croissants, loose leaf teas and ice cream--which compete with brisket sandwiches, kobe beef burgers and steak sandwiches.
Cold drinks are self-serve, and packaged in glass bottles that definitely inflate the price ($2.25 for a Coke), but as we know, glass is the ultimate vehicle for pop--it just tastes better.
We shared a BLT ($4.95) a gourmet version of the classic with peppered, maple-smoked bacon, sliced beefsteak tomatoes and a basil aioli on a ciabatta-style bun. The bacon was salty and sweet, and a perfect complement to the basil and juicy tomatoes. Traditional BLTs are pretty vanilla; they're always a safe choice, as they are Paradise Farms, but the noticeable alterations elevate it somewhat.
With the 6oz Angus Burger ($6.95) being sold out (even though it was only noon) I was forced to upgrade to the massive 9oz burger ($8.95) topped with aged white cheddar ($1.50). While it took almost 10 minutes for them to beckon me to the counter to top it up, it was worth the wait. Served in a rectangular shape, this was one hot mess of a sandwich.
In all fairness, I did up the mess quotient of my own volition by garnishing it with chipotle mayo, homemade ketchup, tomatoes, lettuce and caramelized onions. Food allergy sufferers take note; the spoon for the mayo was reused when it came to ketchup. With no egg allergy to speak of, I happily carted my giant silver platter over to my table and, armed with about 50 napkins, went to town. Just because it's hormone-free doesn't make this a healthy option. With minimal nutritional value and a steady geyser of grease erupting from the patty, it doesn't take a doctor to confirm that this isn't exactly diet food.
The Veal Steak Sandwich ($12.95), served on a length of crunchy French bread was cooked to a lovely medium, although I would prefer the gristle cut off; plastic knives aren't cut out (pun intended) for that sort of sawing. Enhanced by a tangy Gouda cheese ($1.50) and a slathering of Dijon mustard, the tender and juicy steak was well paired with its side of buttermilk battered Onion Rings ($3.50) and fresh cut French fries ($2.95).
The fries were fairly standard, and had they arrived a minute or two early they may have still been crispy, but the onion rings were some of the best I've ever had. The thinly-sliced, sweet Vidalia onions battered in buttermilk were absolutely spot on.
The interior only seats a maximum of about 20, but the corner patio with coloured umbrellas looks like a promising alternative when temperatures aren't soaring to record-breaking heights. Free parking is accommodated around the back of the condo, and there is no liquor license, so save the beer budget for another time.
With future plans to roll out more of these cafés, and dozens of buildings in the GTA with Shane Baghai's name on them, odds are good that you'll soon be tempted by Paradise Farms Cafe's convenient locations as well as their flavourful beef.
Discussion
21 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
At these prices, I would expect them to be able to spend the extra $1 on another spoon. Or even have these sauces in squeeze containers so they are not exposed to the open air and bugs (even the cleanest of places will have the occasional problem with fruit flies near the topping station).
Like this writer, I am not allergic or adverse to either ketchup or mayo. But if I just want ketchup, I just want ketchup, no mayo mixed in.
I'm not even going to touch the Kobe subject as it's already been addressed by many readers.
Sounds like this place has some potential, but needs more work in order to be a success.
Only downside to meal was Onions rings, while good, they were a tad cold and for $3.50 I got 6 onion rings (3 big ones, a medium one, 2 small ones). Seriously? only 6?
Got expensive quickly. went with fiancee, 2 burgers, an onion ring, fries, and two drinks, over $33. Ouch.
We were going to share it with our 2 year old son, but to my surprise and disappointment they didn't have any high chairs. To make it worse the manager didn't really care. This woman must not have children. The customer service needs major improvement.
Overall, the food was decent, but FIVE GUYS serves up a better tasting burger in a more family friendly environment. In addition, SOUTH STREET has a great burger and friendly attitude.
There are an abundance of fast casual burger joints in Toronto. Get your customer service right Shane or just leave it to those burger places that already do it well and just concentrate on real-estate.
Thanks for the feedback, every suggestion is important to us and we thought you'd like to know what we've done to improve!
We do in fact have high chairs now and yes all our sauces are in squeezable bottles, so no cross contamination may take place. We also now offer WHOLE WHEAT breads to cater to those looking for a healthier option.
A note regarding the KOBE/WAGYU. There is no such thing as Kobe Beef outside Japan, this is very true. This is why our beef is Kobe "Style" beef. The cattle we raise in Caledon is Wagyu. Kobe beef is a specific type of Wagyu cattle bred only in the province of Kobe in Japan. Therefore, the relation between the two is that they are from the same breed stock. On our menu this has been clearly labelled as Ontario WAGYU beef, kindly refer to our site for the menu and additional information.
Feel free to email us with any questions or concerns at info@shanebaghai.ca. Every suggestion leads to an improvement! Thank you!
sometimes the truth hurts.