The plant-based restaurants to visit when you’re looking for a meal that’s light on the body and on the planet.
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From Toronto to Montreal to Vancouver to Halifax, we rounded up some of the best plant-based restaurants in the country for you to visit on World Vegan Day and beyond.
ByCHLOE
New York’s famous fast casual vegan restaurant ByCHLOE is now open in Toronto. Modelled after the chain’s flagship restaurant in NYC’s West Village, the Yorkdale location pays homage to its inaugural space as well as its signature menu, with items like their Guac Burger, Quinoa Taco Salad and Chlostess Cupcakes. The Toronto menu also includes a Maple Bacon Cheeze Burger, Poutine and Split Pea Soup. Word on the street is they’re already looking for their second location, in the financial district.
Virtuous Pie
This vegan pie joint with locations in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria offers pizza toppings like herbed potato cream, truffle almond ricotta, spicy Buffalo cauliflower, and gochujang-braised jackfruit. They also have vegan ice cream in flavours like Thai tea, bourbon vanilla, and salted caramel & chocolate pretzel. For World Vegan Month, they’re offering customers something called a Vegan Passport, which you can find out more about here.
LOV
Montreal’s beloved vegan restaurant recently expanded into Toronto with an airy, plant-filled space at King & Portland. Menu items include poutine with miso gravy, lasagna with lupini tempeh bolognese and buckwheat sweet potato gnocchi, as well as an organic wine list, cocktails, coffee and baked goods. Their newly-launched brunch menu, meanwhile, offers a tofu Benedict, French toast with apple-infused cashew cream, and a vegan omelet.
Aux Vivres
For over 20 years, Aux Vivres has been offering Montrealers an eclectic range of vegan food, including Indian chana paratha, Thai rice bowls, Greek gyros with souvlaki tempeh, and “Mexicali” burritos.
Planta
The plant-based restaurant has three outposts in Toronto—its flagship in Yorkville, with items like eggplant lasagna and vegan pizzas; Planta Burger, which offers six different kinds of burgers and oat-milk milkshakes; and Planta Queen, whose Asian take on vegan food includes items like watermelon maki rolls and potato truffle dumplings.
Heirloom Vegetarian
Located in a beautiful heritage building in Vancouver, Heirloom offers a large selection of vegetarian dishes like artichoke tacos, cauliflower steak and cashew coconut curry. Everything on the menu can be made vegan and gluten free, and all the products used are sourced locally. Aside from the flagship location in South Granville, there’s also a juice bar and a fast casual spot by the same owners.
Raw Eatery and Market
This vegan restaurant in Calgary’s Kensington Village offers items like ‘egg’ salad with turmeric scrambled tofu, vegan sushi and almond-milk smoothies. If you’re looking for a more holistic lifestyle change, the restaurant’s co-owner, Megan Pope, is a registered nutritionist who offers nutritional assessment and custom meal plan services.
SaVeg
This cafe in Calgary’s Beltline district brings the flavours of traditional Korean cuisine to vegan food. Items on its all-day menu include Bibimbap (rice with fresh vegetables and lentils marinated in Korean BBQ sauce), Japchae (Korean savoury “glass” noodles with vegetables and bean curd slices) and tofu rice bowls.
The Acorn
Named the best vegan eatery in the world by Big Seven, a travel publication, Vancouver’s The Acorn has also made it to the pages of Bon Appetit, which encourages readers to “take advantage of the restaurant’s forest-centric cooking (you’re unlikely to find candied lichen elsewhere) and its truly British Columbian ingredients, like blushy salmonberries and Haida Gwaii kelp.”
La Panthere Vert
This 100% vegan restaurant with six locations in Montreal is known for its falafel sandwiches, rice and lentil bowls, vegan poutine, and wide array of plant-based desserts.
En Vie
This all-day “vegan kitchen” in Halifax offers items like panko-crusted king oyster mushroom “wings, chili “cheeze” fries (all the vegan cheeses are made in-house), and a burger with a house-made seitan patty.
Pure Kitchen
Located in Ottawa, this “scratch kitchen” makes all its items fresh in-house using whole ingredients. The menu offers both cold and hot bowls with toppings like maple tamari tempeh steaks and coconut bacon, and sandwiches and burgers with fillings like lemon lentils, fried cauliflower and a double mushroom walnut patty.