Eating in the Eaton Centre Just Got A Lot Easier For Us Vegan Types…

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

I was really curious to see what the Eaton Centre would do with the sketchy foodcourt at the North end when they said they were renovating. Torontonians were promised the “urban eatery” with 900+ seats and sustainable practices including reusable dinnerware, glasses and cutlery.

I was even more excited when I heard that they were adding an Urban Herbivore. This meant that vegans had a great option right in the midst of the KFC, McDonalds and other random food court picks

I’ve now gone a couple times and I have had amazing service on both occasions. DSCN0527

I checked it out with the lovely Steph Belding (whose appearance in 50/50 I just saw on the weekend!! So awesome to see a familiar face in such a great film) around mid-September. Steph opted for the soup and I grabbed a curry bowl. We both enjoyed our meals and appreciated the reusable bowls (especially once we figured out where to put them once we were done!)

I went again last week with the lovely Lindsay for a lunch date and opted for a make your own bowl concoction. DSCN0596My bowl included brown rice, artichokes, tofu, snow peas, beets, cucumber salad and avocado. Our server was really great about letting me know what was gluten free vs. not (something I had asked less about the first time I had gone) and I found the bowl to be super filling and delicious! As Lindsay said, while all the components would be easy to make on their own, we generally wouldn’t make 6 different veg dishes to put on rice/quinoa, so it was brilliant to have so much variety all in one place.

DSCN0597All together now…

I love having such an easy vegan option right in the heart of the food court. I’m in the Eaton Centre at least once a week (for my Wednesday night Weight Watchers class) so it’s amazing to know that it’s there when I’m in a rush or just hungry! I’ve also found the staff to be more friendly than the location in Kensington and the portions to be more generous (that may change over time…) The price of a bowl is roughly $10 and they’ve also got juices, desserts and a soup of the day.

The new Urban Eatery also has a gelato place, complete with dairy-free gelato options. I chose peach-mango and pineapple

DSCN0598

While it’s no SOMA or Ed’s, it was pretty delicious and a perfect treat for a Friday afternoon. I’m pleased with the changes to the food court (although apparently we’re not supposed to be calling it that?) and happy to have such a great, local, vegan option.

Vegans – what do you do when you’re forced to eat in a mall food court?

3 comments:

coldandsleepy said...

Neat!

I mostly just don't eat in food courts, which is easy because I don't go to malls often. But there's one mall around here that actually has a Loving Hut kiosk inside of it and I've been there just because I thought oh man! vegan food in a mall food court! I have got to do this! It's so nice to just have the option when you need it.

Trish said...

Thanks so much for this post!
I don't live in TO but visit often for work and often end up at the Eaton centre for lunch and dinner. You've just saved me 30mins .... wandering around... reading menu boards.... trying to find something I can/want to eat.
Thanks

LauraA said...

Jealous! I find Ottawa is not very veg-friendly in general, although I did discover a great vegan cafe near my place recently. Food court options are pretty slim though! When I was still vegetarian I often found that Subway was the only (boring) choice.

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