Urban Herbivore
Whether you're looking for organic salads, vegetarian sandwiches, vegan soups or just a really healthy, flavourful (and filling) lunch, Urban Herbivore has got you covered.
Sure enough, Toronto is already a great place to find a good meatless lunch, but with the standard sandwich shops are still making a "veggie" sub out of the lettuce and tomatoes other sandwiches include as filler, this Kensington Market kitchen is redefining the Veg Sandwich.
A friend and I pop by in the early afternoon after nearly being sidelined by freshly baked chicken pupusas up the street. They smelled so good, but we were looking for a few more vitamins in this refuelling session. After examining both salad and sandwich options at Urban Herbivore, we order up 2 sandwiches: Avocado and Grilled Vegetable ($6.49).
Everything is made on-the-spot when you order, so we take a seat in the window of this house-turned-eatery and wait.
First up: Avocado. Presented on a multi-grain bun (made in-house), it's packed with avocado, bruschetta-style chopped tomatoes, spinach, sprouts, etc, etc.... and it looks amazing .
"Well how is it?" I ask(as my friend had not even considered waiting 'til my food arrived).
"This is... (chomp chomp) so, (chomp) sooo, (chomp) GOOD. Can't you see I'm eating?"
She looked more like she was inhaling, but there was no time to grow jealous. My grilled vegetable sandwich was here.
As if fresh bread wasn't good enough, these sandwiches are also toasted. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and this one was stuffed with warm grilled eggplant, soft sweet potato, zucchini, chopped tomato, red peppers, shredded carrot, alfalfa sprouts, spinach leaves, olive paste, and the list goes on (pictured at the top).
All that, and it wasn't even heavy or oily. Wow. If it hadn't been so incredibly filling I would have ordered up a second one just for the joy of it.
Finally, on the way out, I picked up some freshly squeezed pink lemonade. Very zesty, my friends. It was great (especially on a hot afternoon), but not one for the wimpy lemonade drinker! I'm pretty sure I looked like I was winking at strangers as I sipped!
All in all, herbivore or not, I'd highly recommend this lunch to anyone. It's practically got me trying to book work in the area just so I'll have an excuse to stop in.