When modern Tandoori cuisine originated 500 years ago, it was only prepared for kings. Now, this aristocratic experience comes to Toronto at Aafrien. The exclusive restaurant specializes in using the traditional clay oven tandoor to provide an authentic Indian dining experience. Aafrien’s extensive menu offers tandoor-cooked kebabs, curries, vegetables and hot naan. The long list

With a name that rolls off the tongue, tea and treats (and tobacoo-free hookah) and an assortment of board games, Czech-inspired lounge Bampot Bohemian House of Tea and Board Games is drawing quite the crowd. Eastern European textiles and colourful boho threads hang from every inch of this decorative tea room. The staff here are

“Nabati” is an Arabic term meaning “made of plants” and represents the type of vegan food served at this Egyptian restaurant. All affordably priced and 100 per cent plant-based, the pitas, bowls, and desserts at Eat Nabati combine the flavours of the Middle East with the harvest of the North. At Eat Nabati, diners have

Moira Nordholt, owner and founder of Feel Good Guru, wants to have the greenest business in Toronto. At her new Queen West store and restaurant, which specializes in a tantalizing tongue-twister of “hyper-local super-awesome organic plant-powered food,” this vegan virtuoso is on a mission to change people’s notions of what it means to eat healthy, one meal at a time.

Starting as a stand-alone juice bar, Toronto’s first hot spot for stand-alone raw and cold pressed juices has become the city’s largest plant-based restaurant chain. Fresh on Eglinton is one of five locations from owners Ruth Tal, Barry Alper and Jennifer Huston. Starting as a juice company making small plant-based treats for an on-the-go crowd,

Gia, a reimagining of much-loved Dundas West restaurant Ufficio, brings to life the version of Ufficio that owner Jenny Coburn had originally envisioned. “When I first started Ufficio with my partner we were going to do it vegetarian,” says Coburn, “but this was five years ago.” At the time, Coburn says they weren’t sure Toronto

Midtown has a new restaurant dishing up “soul food”. No, not the jerk chicken or stewed oxtail variety but “whole food for the soul.” A lawyer and sometime food blogger Sarah Huggins and her partner are behind the new Mary Be, located at Yonge and St. Clair.

Plant-based, wholesome Thai from scratch is the motto at this Bloor and Bathurst spot. Mugi offers 100 per cent plant-based food inspired by traditional Thai cuisine. The menu features a variety of salads, including jackfruit, papaya and mango, as well as a variety of noodle and curry dishes. Request a shot of the house-made chili

On the southwest coast of India sits the beautiful town of Udupi. Rich in culture, the Temple City has produced millions of food connoisseurs, like the people who brought Udupi Palace to Toronto. This southern Indian vegetarian restaurant is pulling out all the stops to show us that Indian food isn’t limited to just curries

If you like sausages and beer (and really, who doesn’t?), then you’ll like WVRST, King West’s newest emporium of innovative eats and casual cool. Opened a couple of weeks ago, the beer-hall style venue highlights a dizzying selection of sausages — around 18 varieties — along with Belgian-style, double-dipped fries. For owner Aldo Lanzillotta, the

Wvurst is King and Portland’s sausage and bierhalle. Since Aldo Lanzillotta opened Wvurst in 2011 he has been dedicated to proving to Torontonians that you don’t need more than beer and sausages to have a good time. The two-storey space on King West is inspired by the great food halls of the world. Communal picnic

Only in the 21st century do such things as plant-based butchers exist. Yam Chops is the resident one in Little Italy, and its motto is “grown not raised,” which just about sums up the difference in the food. Stop in and sit down for a meal, do some grocery shopping or take a to-go lunch.