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| Vegetarian Haven - Baldwin Village |
I had always been hearing all this hype about this specific vegan restaurant, so I couldn't wait to try it out. For this week's review I visited the "Vegetarian Haven" that's located in the Baldwin Village (closest to University & Dundas St West). It was a Friday evening when my date and I dined in, so I had to make reservations in advanced. Yep, they're a fancier resto. The moment you walk in, you can feel that it's more of an upscale restaurant than the other traditional "chill and relaxed" vegan restaurants I had visited so far.
When we entered, we were kindly greeted by the hostess who introduced us to a lovely display of their "main special" for the evening. I thought the display looked fantastic.
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| Singapore Seitan - $13.49 / Salmon & King Prawn Special |
So the fabulous two dishes that you see in the photo on the right, starting with the entrée in the far back, is the Singapore Seitan and "Special Of The Day". The Singapore Seitan had tender slices of their succulent seitan cooked in a sweet and spicy pineapple peaunut sauce, served with purple rice and vegetables.
I had the Special Of The Day which was their famous 'salmon and king prawn' (made with soya protein and konnyaku root flour) served with their fresh rice noodles and mix of vegetables in their house-made Szechuan sauce. The Singapore Seitan was amazing but the special entrée that I ordered was 10x better! I kept saying after every bite "Oh my gosh...this is sooooo good!"
Our server was excellent. She was super enthusiastic, more than I would normally expect from a waitress at any restaurant these days. She was very knowledgeable about the particular ingredients we asked about and was honest about her preferred dishes.
I honestly cannot wait to come back here to try out their other selections. Their portions are massive and every plate that I saw pass by ordered from other tables smelled incredibly delicious and looked absolutely mouth-watering.
However, we did have an unfortunate exit experience. A different server had brought our bill to us without asking first. I had a Veg.ca discount card which should have been applied to the bill, so I took it out and just as I was about to apologize for not mentioning the discount card sooner, I was rudely interrupted with the question of whether I was paying by card or cash. My date and I exchanged glances as we hadn't yet decided and when we didn't give an immediate response, she impatiently repeated herself. Rude!!! At that point, we couldn't wait to leave, which was really disappointing because the evening was going so pleasantly well until the bill was brought to us.
I really wish I could give Vegetarian Haven a 5/5, but because of the end experience, I rate them a 4/5. Like I said, I cannot wait to come back to try out the rest of their menu but my advice to my readers: do not expect a consistent level "excellent service".
I had the Special Of The Day which was their famous 'salmon and king prawn' (made with soya protein and konnyaku root flour) served with their fresh rice noodles and mix of vegetables in their house-made Szechuan sauce. The Singapore Seitan was amazing but the special entrée that I ordered was 10x better! I kept saying after every bite "Oh my gosh...this is sooooo good!"
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| Matcha Green Tea Latte - $4.50 |
Our server was excellent. She was super enthusiastic, more than I would normally expect from a waitress at any restaurant these days. She was very knowledgeable about the particular ingredients we asked about and was honest about her preferred dishes.
I honestly cannot wait to come back here to try out their other selections. Their portions are massive and every plate that I saw pass by ordered from other tables smelled incredibly delicious and looked absolutely mouth-watering.
However, we did have an unfortunate exit experience. A different server had brought our bill to us without asking first. I had a Veg.ca discount card which should have been applied to the bill, so I took it out and just as I was about to apologize for not mentioning the discount card sooner, I was rudely interrupted with the question of whether I was paying by card or cash. My date and I exchanged glances as we hadn't yet decided and when we didn't give an immediate response, she impatiently repeated herself. Rude!!! At that point, we couldn't wait to leave, which was really disappointing because the evening was going so pleasantly well until the bill was brought to us.
I really wish I could give Vegetarian Haven a 5/5, but because of the end experience, I rate them a 4/5. Like I said, I cannot wait to come back to try out the rest of their menu but my advice to my readers: do not expect a consistent level "excellent service".
**All photo's are taken by me from my iPhone :)
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