Tag Archives: Fusion

Cafe Santropol

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 3990 rue St. Urbain, Montreal
Phone: (514) 842-3110

My favourite dining spot in Montreal, since i was 17. Located right in the heart of the Plateau at Duluth and Saint Urbain in the old part of the city, Santropol has been a unique cafe for the community since 1976.  Located on the main level of a colourful old greystone building, this “chain-free”, “non-corporate” Bohemian cafe serves coffees, teas, and mostly-vegetarian fare to an assortment of clientele, ranging from funky artists from the Plateau, yuppy families and their kids, students from McGill, Concordia, UQUAM, and UDM, as well as seniors, teenagers, and Joe-Schmo.

The place has been undergoing a “mainstreaming” process since the early 1990’s but the menu still has much of the same items . Prices have gone up slightly. Tea selection has steadily decreased over the last decade since this place has become more well known for its famous “overstuffed” sandwiches on molasses bread, garnished with a colourful assortment of fruit and vegetables.  

In addition to huge sandwiches,  Cafe Santropol makes funky salads, unique soups (many vegan ), vegetarian pies, and their classic vegetarian chili.

The place is dark, but has an urban, grungy, funky decor (recently Santropol has become more mainstream). Back when I lived in Montreal, I was a weekly visitor to Cafe Santropol. I went almost every Friday or Saturday night from 1993-1999. When I visit Montreal, I make it a priority to go for lunch or dinner.

They were known for their herbal teas, coffees, and milkshakes flavoured with a variety of specialty syrups (almond, maple, mint, peach, are among some of the choices) constitute the available nonalcoholic beverages.

Some of popular sandwiches featured at Cafe Santropol are: Midnight Spread (peanut butter, honey, cream and cottage cheese spread, nuts and raisins), Paspebiac (tuna, tomatoes, and creamcheese), Sweet Root (apples, nuts, coriander, grated carrots and raisins, mayo) Tomato sandwiches, my favourite Vege Pate, and the Saint Urbain Corner (honey, nuts, olives, cream and cottage cheese (can be ordered with ham or chicken). My favourite from my teens is No. 13- (banana, honey, cream and cottage cheese, blackcurrent jam).

Vegetarian pot pies come in three varieties: spinach, millet, sarrasin and olives. They are served hot with vegetable salad.

For lunch fare, the menu is identical, but there is an option of a half sandwich/half soup deal. This option is offered from Monday to Friday until 5pm. Eligible sandwiches have an asterix (*) beside them. They specialize in herbal tea blends, now available for sale at Boutique Santropol, along with T-shirts and posters. Some Santropol brand herbal tea blends include Curiosi Tea, Humani Tea, Hospitali Tea (I used to enjoy Materni Tea but it does not exist anymore). Other herbal tea blends include Lemon Zinger, Cranberry Coe, and Emperor’s Choice. Some drinks include soft drinks (Coke/7UP), Milk Shakes, Diabolo (soda water and choice of twenty flavoured syrups), Cafe de La Maison (coffee, whipped cream, and choice of twenty flavoured syrups).

 

The restaurant is spread across three little dining areas, plus a romantic, amazing back terace with a pond with real goldfish and several cats that run by, this place has been voted for years as the most romantic place to bring a date.

Sandwiches range from $7.95-$9.95 and come with vegetables and are quite thick. I used to order the vege pate sandwich for years. The bread is fresh and to die for but I do not eat it anymore. A main staple is the vegetarian chili and the salads are worth trying. The dressing is simply wonderful with a mysterious hint of avocado perhaps? One percent of the bill is sent to organizations that ease hunger in Qu颥c and developing nations. Santropol Roulant (A Meals on Wheels service) literally across the street on Duluth and serves as a meals on wheels service for Montreal’s poor. Takeout is available. Accepts all cards. Open late on the weekends

Saigon Sister (closed 2008)

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774 Yonge
(416) 967-0808

Located right at the corner of Yonge and Bloor, this super trendy place looks super slick with white walls, minimalist design, and sleek beechwood slabs throughout. Decor is clean lines, hip, cool, funky, with minimalist decor. Almost looks like a hospital. Imagine entering one big room with an open second floor overlooking the first. Saigon Sister is somewhat affordable ($9.95-$17.95 for main dishes).

Known as Vietnamese with style and flare, this place was super noisy with well groomed cool people. Wendy and I went there before our show last Thursday night and we started our adventure with an order of vegetarian hot and soup for me, and a glass of fruity sweet wine for her. It was cool to see that they have smoothies that were thick and smooth and a long list of vegetarian items that were marked with an asterix. I ordered the vegetarian hot pot for $13.95 which came with rice or noodles (did not eat them) and came with fried tofu, bok choy, stir fried vegetables in a lime juice sauce. The dish was simply divine, very different than the usual salty soy sauce stir fries I am used to. Wendy had fish with stir fried vegetables and she said her food was the best she’s ever had in a long time.

The seating at this place is interesting. There is a central dining hall with rectangular long tables and wood hard chairs. There is a row of booths, all connected like a schoolbus. These seats are enclosed in a white alcove. Seats are white leather (I think?) and tables are sleek and cool. Service is prompt and staff are accomodating and friendly. I did ask for more veggies or tofu since I had asked to leave out the noodles/rice. They did not comply. The portions were not large so of course I was still hungry. I drank about ten glasses of refreshing water flavoured with lemon juice (supposedly it aids digestion!)

There is a back terrace for summer dining that is a private dining space in the heart of downtown Toronto. We’d definitely go back since the food was high quality, fresh, piping hot, and service was reasonable. Bathrooms are gorgeous, with funky sinks, beechwood bathrooms stalls with unfinished wood slabs, and minimalist design.

We were impressed with this new restaurant and it shows by the crowds of people that Thursday night.

Reviewed by Mark

Byzantium [Winterlicious 2004]

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499 Church St 
416.922.3859 

I went to Byzantium twice so far, once for Winterlicious 2004 and enjoyed a boring thin-crust vegetarian pizza and an organic salad with raisins, cranberries ,and pumpkin seeds in a raspberry viniagrette- typical trendy salad and pizza. My latest visit to Byzantium was last Saturday night.

I went with 5 friends and we all chose this trendy spot in the village. I dressed “trendy casual”- … whatever the hell that means. Let me start off with the good points- the food is excellent and the service is excellent, quick, efficient, attentive, and staff are warm and friendly. The prices on the other are retarded. I order a tofu dish with two layers of tofu with a squash and sweet potato pudding/casserole filling that was layered with more tofu, and mango chutney for $17.00.

The dish looked like a glorified tofu sandwich with fancy jam (mango chutney), squash, and sweet potato filling. The dish came with yummy roasted vegetables (spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower) and a side dish of lentils that were highly spicy, in a nice hot red sauce. The dish was excellent and the portions were just right. I was not impressed with the price of my dish and all other prices on the menu.

Only a moron like me would pay $17.00 for tofu. One friend across from me had a cornish hen, another had a lamb curry on a funky, slanted plate and other friends had other meaty dishes like steak. Byzantium is also known for Martinis and my friend Aaron sure enjoyed many of them- one in particular was a spicy Martini with olives in it. He also ordered a pink Martini that looked like it could have been spiked grapefruit juice, such a shame that they were so expensive.

While waiting the friendly waiter brought out crispy bread (similar to Pappadums at most Indian restaurants), fresh cranberry whole grain bread, with a small platter of hummus. The decor is very chiche, trendy, urban, and hip. It’s obviously the place to be on Saturday night because after 11pm, the restaurant turns into a dance club and the lineups begin. We got a table right in front so we could see the people lining up just to enjoy the ambiance of a hip and cool place and an overpriced martini.

Towards the end of the evening, we had been there over four hours, dined on delicious food, enjoyed a prime sitting area (a large table right at the window in front of the restaurant) and our bill for 6 people came out to over $200.00

I found the place very pretentious, too expensive, and too trendy for my likings. I also found that there were not enough vegetarian items. Upon browsing the menu, I only found two vegetarian items –The Vegetarian Delight Platter and Thin-crust vegetarian pizza, Greek style. I was uncomfortable that at the end of the evening, it became a dance club, with very loud music, a lot of smoke, and way too many people roaming about schmoozing and trying too hard to be cool. I suppose it’s nice to go to trendy places from time to time, and dress up. I did find my meal very tasty and all other dishes were very attractive in their presentation and everyone seemed to really enjoy their meal. My experience at Byzantium was positive because of the good company, good food, and overall great service. Just be prepared to be ripped off and eat beforehand as trendy places tend to be skimpy on the portions.

Swan

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892 Queen West
416.532.0452

Walking inside the restaurant (if you call it that) I was greeted with
a quasi retro fifties diner vibe. The front half of the space is well
lit and narrowed by a bar with vinyl covered bar seats. Across from the
bar are tables with narrow booths seating 2-4 people. More tables are
available towards the back (and less lit) -end of the restaurant.

Good
luck finding a space for more than four people. The place doesn’t take
reservations and it becomes packed on brunch weekends. The atmosphere
was generally cool with white walls. The lukewarm heating system didn’t
make us feel any cozier eating in the middle of January.

I would
recommend visiting this place in the summer, when there is less winter
gear clutter, with the sun’s rays warming up the atmosphere. It’s a great
place to gab with a couple friends on a summery Sunday morning. After
eating you may better enjoy touring Queen West.

The brunch meals were adequate and generally well portioned. I had eggs,
but eggs are eggs. Nothing in the Omelette stood out. One of their
specialties are their clams and mussels which no one tried. Mark was the only one who ordered a non-egg meal- the warm half- grapefruit with a sprinkle of brown sugar with the vegetarian split pea soup. He seemed quite happy with his meal, but he was disappointed that there were not enough vegetarian and vegan items.

The menu has that funky bacon called Pancetta. It’s an oily meat to
consume for a first meal of the day, nontheless, bacon eaters dig in!
Service was friendly and very accomodating. Make sure you ask for no ice
in the juices, or you’ll be sitting with watered down orange juice.

-Jonathan Isenberg

Chai

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 1575 Bayview Avenue
(416)483-9512

Recently, I’ve become enamoured with the idea of visiting restaurants in less hyped areas of the city. One such area is the Bayview/Mt. Pleasant area between St. Clair and Yonge. Every time I drive through here, which isn’t often, I notice several upscale yet untrendy lunch and dinner joints. Working only a 10 minute drive away in Scarborough, I decided to try Chai on Bayview just south of Eglinton.

With a nice little patio that was crowded upon our arrival, I was nicely surprised by someone, who I believe was the owner, come out and set up a table just for us. With a lunch special of a variety of gourmet sandwiches and the soup of the day, I decided on a roasted veggie sandwich and a hot and sour soup. My sandwich, served on foccacia, consisted of the typical roasted eggplant, and red peppers and goat cheese. It was quite average and so was the soup. I believe my lunching partner felt the same.

Lately, looks have been deceiving. I hope things improve or I am going to revert back to the regular tasty restaurants.

Hair of the Dog

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Hair of the Dog

 

Hair of the Dog was on my list of restaurants to visit for quite a while. I wasn’t completely sure if it was a lounge, or a bar/restaurant with sub standard food. In any case, I finally visited this establishment at the southern end of the Village on Church St. near Carlton and thoroughly enjoyed my experience.

Initially taking a seat on the main level of the restaurant, I found the room to be excessively loud for the romantic tone the dim light suggested. It was so loud in fact, that we asked our accomodating (not to mention attractive) waiter if we could be moved to a patio table. This was a wise decision as it was much more subdued under the covered patio and I could actually enjoy my conversation without cupping my hands around my ears.

The menu was extensive and had several interesting sounding dishes for what I would consider a typical, non-nationality specific restaurant. I settled on the special, which was a lemongrass curry chicken on a bed of basmati rice and baby bok choy ($13.95). I am a big fan of curry and prefer eating my entire meal covered in the sauce. Unfortunately, this was a bit lacking even if everything else, including the curry, was well prepared and tasty. There was a decent list of martinis, one of which called the Midnight Dream that I enjoyed.

For a restaurant that doesn’t specialize in exotic food, Hair of the Dog makes efforts both in service and in atypical food to keep the customer happy.

Verveine (closed 2006/2007)

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1097 Queen St. E.
416 . 405 . 9906

With the exception of Xacutti, the restaurants I have frequented that specialize in dinner but also serve up brunch invariably cannot compare to the restaurants that specialize in brunch. Brunch is a highly specialized meal that should not be the typical scrambled eggs, homefries and bacon. That is what we call breakfast. And breakfast is boring. It is what you eat when you are at best in a rush or at worst completely hungover and looking for a greasy delight. Even adding a side of smoked salmon does not constitute a brunch-worthy meal. The smoked salmon actually needs to be apart of the eggs for that.

With that rousing introduction, I bring you Verveine. This is a restaurant that specializes in dinner and voila, serves up a plain, mediocore “brunch”. The interior of the restaurant is nice enough, which brings us to the back patio. It is always nice when a restaurant has a patio and Verveine’s is simple enough.

Just as simple as the patio is my breakfast. Scrambled eggs on a bed of spinach and on the side of the plate some plain slices of smoked salmon. Exciting eh? I could have walked a few blocks west on Queen to have a much better smoked salmon fritatta at Hello Toast. Oh, did I mention that I also ordered a side of “Herby Homefries”? They at least sound interesting, but no, they are just pretty standard homefries. They are not Xacutti’s tandoori homefries.

To be fair, my brunch partner had lemon-ricotta stuffed french toast. This looked pretty tasty but judging from the lack of oohs and ahs it doesn’t sound like it tasted all that special. Again, what can beat the cheesy french toast of Xacutti?

I may come back to Verveine for dinner but for brunch I think I will stick to the restaurants that know where it’s at when it comes to creativity with eggs.

Living Well (closed in 2007)

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692 Yonge
(416) 922-6770

Urban, funky, laid back ambiance, with Asian, Indian, and Arabic cuisine. The place is on two levels: a bar upstairs and a restaurant/lounge for food, drinks, hanging out, or enjoying a simple dessert. There is a back terrace on the main floor and a lounge/bar on the upper floor. Both floors are large and sits about ten tables. The food is flavourful and spicy with large portions and a diverse menu. The restaurant staff are very flexible in making the selections vegetarian friendly. The place is very gay friendly.

There is an interesting mix of people and the tables are close together. There are a lot of people watching and overall ambiance is comfortable. Part of the kitchen is open concept so you can see the chefs prepare some of the food. The entrees are $10.00 and up. Large portions and dim lighting and interesting art work make this place very unique.

I usually order the Vegetarian Moroccan stew with chick peas, red kidney beans, potatoes, mushrooms, green and red peppers, and onions, with cous cous. The meal was bursting with intense flavour. I have also ordered the Malaysian Chicken Stir Fry with peanut sauce and without the chicken. It is more expensive but has a lot of vegetables and is fabulous. Although prices are more expensive, ($10-$15 for an entree) the food is excellent and it is a great place to bring a date.

Sugar Cafe [closed Fall 2007]

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942 Queen St. W.
416.532.5088

 

Queen West is my favourite part of Toronto, and it seems whenever I am down there I recognize at least a few people on the street. Sure enough, sitting by the window in Sugar Cafe I happened to see several people I knew or at least had noticed before. There was the cute, gay rapper I had once seen on the U8TV cameras and a frequenter of the Vazaleen party, my former math teacher from grade 10, and two other queers I knew back in the day. Quite the melange of people to be sure.

As for brunch, there’s not really much to say. A small, standard menu with the typical Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine, and musli yogourt did not impress me much. Neither did the prices, especially considering the size or lack thereof the meal. I settled on the grilled veggie sandwich on foccacia which I have never seen on any brunch menu. Not that it wasn’t tasty, it definitely was, but it was the long wait as well as the petiteness of the sandwhich which really left a sour taste in my mouth. To top it off, we were charged $4 each for the two coffees we each had. If you’re going to skimp out on the meal, at least provide free re-fills.

Azul

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 181 Bathurst Street
phone number: 416-703-9360

Azul was my introduction to the Toronto brunch scene, so it must have some good qualities. A trendy little restaurant in the Queen West area, just north of Queen on the east side of Bathurst; Azul serves up a bevy of meals from brunch to dinner. They also have a wide juice selection which to my memory I have yet to sample. One thing I do like about Azul is their coffee. Besides being delicious, it is served in a large thermos-like container so you can re-fill yourself instead of waiting on the staff.

This time around, I had the Eggs La La, which were poached eggs on a crusty bread with avacado and tomatillo salsa. It came with a sparse amount of potatos and a tasty side salad. I like when brunch is served with salad, since it balances out the heaviness of the rest of the meal. The eggs were good, though nothing stood out as a great combination of taste that other brunches have provided. Lawrence had the Eggs Azul which were similar to the La La but was served on corn bread, an interesting and tasty choice. Definitely recommended, though hardly the best that Toronto has to offer.

http://www.toronto-underground.com/index.html?/food_drink/local/fusion.html
http://www.martiniboys.com/pages/reviews/azul.htm