birthday restaurant suggestions - with annoyingly specific criteria (a challenge!)
Looking for suggestions for a birthday dinner, with a few requirements (actually more than a few..)
- birthday girl is 40+ and would prefer a hip atmosphere with a cool vibe
- she is mostly a vegetarian
- dinner party likely to = 8, which may or may not include a vegan and a 4 year old (actually an adult vegan AND and 4 year old vegan..although the latter will be happy with fries or noodles)
- need a reservation for Feb 12, which I suspect will be challenging given the big V-day rush
- location - generally downtown Southish (S. of Eglinton, east of Dufferin)
- price not really an issue
I was thinking maybe Origin, Woodlot, C5...but this is a tough group!! Your help is certainly appreciated!
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this is the list of vegetarian dishes on the menu
SOUPS
hot and sour soup
consomme with rice
bean cake and mushroom
chinese vegetable soup
chinese vegetables and bean cake
egg drop and mushroom
(all under $3.00)MAINS
Mixed chinese veg and bean cake
Broccoli and two mushrooms in ginger oyster sauce
Fried Bean Cake with two kinds of mushrooms in ginger sauce
Sauteed Fresh Mixed Veg
Sauteed Snow Peas with bamboo Shoots and water chestnuts
Chow Mei Fun singapore style
mixed hot veg with cashew nuts
Mixed veg Lo mein or chow mein
Diced veg and almonds
Plain egg fried rice
Mushroom Fried Rice
Subgum Fried Rice
Eggplant Cantonese StyleAll are under $8.00
›6 Replies-
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re: Herb
hot and sour soup $3.00
consomme with rice $2.50
bean cake and mushroom $2.50
chinese vegetable soup $2.50
chinese vegetables and bean cake $2.50
egg drop and mushroom $2.80Mixed chinese veg and bean cake $6.95
Broccoli and two mushrooms in ginger oyster sauce $6.95
Fried Bean Cake with two kinds of mushrooms in ginger sauce $7.50
Sauteed Fresh Mixed Veg $6.50
Sauteed Snow Peas with bamboo Shoots and water chestnuts $6.95
Chow Mei Fun singapore style $6.95
mixed hot veg with cashew nuts $6.95
Mixed veg Lo mein or chow mein $6.95
Diced veg and almonds $6.95
Plain egg fried rice $5.50
Mushroom Fried Rice $6.15
Subgum Fried Rice $6.15
Eggplant Cantonese Style $7.95There are some unlisted TOFU specials but I cannot remember the prices off-hand.
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Herb
Jan 31, 2011 05:35 AM
Cafe 668 fits the bill
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Cafe 668
885 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M6J1V9, CA›6 Replies -
I would recommend China Island Restaurant. They are located at 1572 Bloor Street just west of Dundas West TTC Station. The food is always fresh and I would recommend calling ahead of time although they are pretty quick with service and the food is always fresh and you can watch the food being prepared. I am a chef and like to frequent the hidden gems in Toronto. This is definitely one of them. If hip is what you are looking for (not sure how hip you want the place to be if there will be a four year hold in the group). If you want substance and not the WOW factor this is the place to eat. If you like WonTon Soup it does not get any better than the one served here.
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I've been to Fressen on Queen (at Denison, just east of Bathurst) a few times and enjoyed it. They do tapas-style vegan (and some gluten-free) dishes in a bit of a darkened setting, and have seen big parties seated at the front at the big round table though I haven't seen any children there. It's been a few months since I've last been there but I always enjoy the pan-seared mushrooms and gnocchi dishes; portions a bit small, however. Definitely more "hip" than "hippie."
http://fressenrestaurant.com/fressen/...
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Fressen
478 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5V2B2, CA›2 Replies-
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re: looosia
A friend of mine is vegan and we went to Fressen for her bday. It was a nightmare. First of all they were out of three of the dishes our table of eight wanted to order. Ok fine, can't do anything about that. We all pick different dishes. The one I pick comes with spinach, which I can't eat. The first dish I ordered also had spinach but the server assured me that sub for asparagus wouldn't be a problem. She said the same thing with my second choice.
It arrives and she indicates that the chef wasn't in a good mood and therefore wouldn't do the substitution. So I end up with mushrooms in a watery broth and nothing else for my main. Ok fine. Not my bday not going to make a big deal out of it. We had a vide assortment of app's for the table so I'm not going to be starving.
We finish dinner without the server coming to our table once to check on water, wine or how our meal was. Again, ok fine.
Then we order dessert. Only one dessert but with a candle we brought for the bday girl.
10 mins pass, 20 mins pass, finally at 25 mins we are tired of waiting and go track someone down. When one of our party member finally finds some one to get the dessert she is given a hard time about our complaint of waiting almost 30 mins for one dessert. Apparently their desserts are sooooooo special they take this much time. Really? I think not.
The highlight of the evening comes when we want to pay. One person in our party is paying with credit. After 15 mins of us with piles of case in the bill folder someone finally comes to see if we need anything else. They bring the POS to the table but our friend is having a hard time with one options and asked how to put a specific amount into the POS - $70.06. She wanted the tip to be a full dollar amount hence including the .06 in her payment amount. It was at this point that our server in a not so nice way says and I quote "oh don't worry about the $.06 we don't take nickles and dimes here so I'll eat it. "
We all left asking ourselves did that really happen?!?!? They got the last $0.06 from that party of eight that they will ever get. Full stop.
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Fressen
478 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5V2B2, CA
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estufarian
Jan 30, 2011 10:26 AM
My first thought was L.A.B. (in the College St strip) - most of my favourite dishes there are vegetarian (as is the co-chef) but you wouldn't even realize that just by scanning the menu.
