Vegan Practically

I’ve recently moved to Toronto from London, Ontario. London was a great place to be vegan. I had my two favourite all-vegan restaurants — PMK and V-Foodspot. And I had a handful of other places that were either mostly vegan or had a great selection of vegan options — Udupi Krishna, Zen Gardens, Udupi Dosa, Beertown, Zenza Pizzeria.

Toronto is a whole other story. I can’t begin to list all the places that are fully vegan, and I am slowly working my way through them. Planta remains a big favourite, but it’s not by any means the only place to go. Last night we went to Tenon Vegan Sushi in the Annex and it has now been added to our “must go back!” list.

We went on a Monday night and had no difficulty getting a great table right in the window so we could people-watch and eat dinner at the same time (there is only one table in the window — a deuce — so we feel as if we lucked out in a way that might rarely happen again). The Annex is a bustling neighbourhood and the restaurant is right away from a long-standing music venue called Lee’s Palace.

The menu at Tenon is divided into “Japanese Style” and “Thai Style.” We had a bit of both, with lots of things left to try in the future. The Sweet Potato Special Roll was tasty, with the only complaint being that the pieces are a bit large for easy eating. Still, it’s a delicious roll and served with a few pieces of sweet potato tempura on the side.

That would have been enough tempura, but since we didn’t realize it came with tempura we ordered more, the Soy Shrimp Tempura appetizer. I was never a big fan of shrimp so I’m not seeking to replicate it, but the appetizer came with two soy shrimp and then broccoli, sweet potato, taro, squash, eggplant and zucchini. It was all lightly battered and crispy. But it wasn’t our favourite part of the meal and we likely won’t order it again.

From the Thai Style menu, we ordered Mango Salad, which was fresh and yummy, and General Tsao Soy Chick’n. The main dishes don’t come with rice, so we added a bowl of white rice on the side. The soy chick’n dish had a lot of flavour and the bite-sized chick’n pieces had a great texture — firm and chewy (but good-chewy, not bad-chewy). The dish had ample sauce and lots of broccoli.

Restaurant reviews aren’t my strong suit and I always forget to take photos before digging in (so, no photos of the chick’n and only a mediocre photo of the mango salad (here it is):

We didn’t have space for dessert, but based on the photos on the menu, it looks to me as if they have vegan cakes from Sweets of the Earth, including my favourite, the Coconut Cream Cake, and one I’ve not tried, the Chocolate S’mores Cake.

Though not cheap, since no restaurant is cheap anymore, dinner for two was reasonably priced at $66 after tax and before tip. That included one can of diet coke.

I recommend Tenon and, as noted above, I look forward to going back.

Bon Appétit!

[p.s. if you have a Toronto restaurant recommendation, please share it with me in the comments]