Last month, as part of my birthday celebrations, Diane and I reserved a table for tea at Animal Liberation Kitchen on Broadview Ave (Toronto). I’m not talking about just a cup of tea. We booked for the real deal — a three-tiered smorgasbord of sandwiches, scones, cookies, and pastries with a pot of tea. All vegan. I have had many vegan vegan afternoon teas before, but always at places where the default was not vegan. This was definitely far superior to anything I’ve had before.
I reached out to Tanya, the owner, a couple of weeks before to let her know that we were switching our reservation for my birthday tea from the Windsor Arms Hotel (a well-known destination for afternoon tea that includes a vegan menu if ordered ahead) to Animal Liberation Kitchen, which is all-vegan, all the time. We have watched a number of favourite vegan restaurants close their doors in recent months (RIP Planta, V-Foodspot, Rise Above, and most recently The Hogtown Vegan). If we want to fend off more closures, we need to support restaurants that are going that extra step. So I was happy to learn of ALK’s tea in time to move my birthday tea there.
We booked for Saturday late morning, when you can also get brunch (which we will go back for). They were expecting us and had a special spread all ready to go. It’s a pleasant, but not fancy, space and they had dressed up a table with a table cloth. We chose a pot of English Breakfast from a selection of teas (you can also opt for an Americano if you prefer coffee). In addition to what was on the three-level plate, we also got to choose either a chocolate-hazelnut or an almond croissant. I chose chocolate, Diane chose almond. Both were huge additions to an already full menu, so we boxed them up to take home for later.
ALK presented us with an abundance of delicious delights. Here is what was on offer:
Bottom tier: breakfast sandwich croissants with vegan bacon (yum — the delicious bacon from King’s Cafe), vegan egg, and vegan cheese; open faced tofu “egg” salad on a bagel. Diane said it was the best tofu salad she’s ever had (I won’t take offence, even though the only other she has had is the one I make).
Middle tier: three canapés per person — one with jackfruit, one with New School vegan salmon, and one with pesto and roasted grape tomatoes. I have not tried the New School salmon before and I have to say, it was amazing. I’m not sure if it’s always included, because the server said that Tanya offered it this time to make our tea more special for my birthday (thanks, Tanya!). The next time I get an opportunity to order it (Stefano’s has a dinner menu item with it), I’m there. The pesto and tomato was also delicious. I was less enthusiastic about that jackfruit, but Diane really liked it. I am weirdly picky when it comes to jackfruit. There is an underlying flavour (perhaps the flavour of jackfruit?) that I can’t do. I mostly need it to be smothered in BBQ sauce (pretending to be pulled pork) or completely indiscernible as jackfruit (such as in Jack and Annie’s maple sausage, which is delicious). Still, there was so much to eat that one miss didn’t make any difference.
Top tier: this level is traditionally for sweets, and the ALK tea is no different. We had frosted pumpkin scones, nanaimo bars, one lemon macaron, one lavender macaron. And fresh raspberries.
If you know baking, you know that a vegan macaron is rare indeed because they are traditionally made with an egg white meringue. So they were a rare and delicious treat.
I mean, in general vegan versions of croissants and scones and nanaimo bars are also hard to come by. And ALK’s baked goods are truly excellent.
All in all it was an enjoyable tea experience that I would go back for. It’s true that the setting lacks the grandeur of a fancy tea room. But the fully vegan tea service makes up for quite a bit of that, and the service is exceptionally welcoming.
Animal Liberation Kitchen is in Toronto at 202-100 Broadview Ave. In addition to tea and brunch, they cater events, and have grab-and-go take-out.
Check it out.
Bon Appétit!
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