For years, Toronto has had Winterlicious and Summerlicious: city-wide dining events built to get people into restaurants during slower seasons. Now something new is on the calendar. Sustainablicious, running from May 15 to June 14, brings together more than 30 Toronto restaurants for a month-long initiative focused on plant-based dining and sustainability-minded eating. As grocery prices climb and conversations around food inequality and climate become harder to ignore, the event aims to turn eating out into something a little more community-driven — and a little more conscious.
The participating restaurants span all corners of the city and all types of dining experiences: from Michelin-recognized to natural wine bars, everyone is doing what they can. While some spots are fully plant-based, others are simply creating limited-time climate-conscious dishes for the month, and every change counts.
From inventive tasting menus to comfort classics reimagined, these are the 10 sustainalicious restaurants we wouldn’t miss.
1. Dailo
Chef Nick Liu’s acclaimed Asian brasserie has long been one of the city’s most inventive dining rooms throughout all seasons, blending French technique with Hakka Chinese influences and bold Southeast Asian flavours. For Sustainalicious, the restaurant is offering an eight-course tasting menu that’ll make you wonder if you’ve ever truly eaten before.
Highlights include a Vegetarian Big Mac Bao with mushroom and house-made processed cheese, a crispy cauliflower taco in a jicama shell and a dumpling pissaladière layered with caramelized onion, truffle, mushroom dashi butter, and black olive.
2. PAI Northern Thai Kitchen
One thing Toronto does exceptionally well is Thai food, and PAI remains one of the city’s biggest success stories. The Michelin restaurant is participating with its Pad Cha Hett: a spicy stir-fry packed with seafood mushrooms, bamboo shoots, snow peas, Thai basil and wild ginger, served over nutty Thai riceberry rice. This dish will prove to all of you who doubt our local vegetarians that plant-based eating doesn’t need to be boring.
3. Stefano’s Diner
From the team behind Michelin-recommended Gia, Stefano’s takes classic diner comfort food and reimagines it entirely plant-forward. The Dundas West spot is offering a chicken salad sandwich complete with mustard aioli and fries, alongside a chopped chicken salad loaded with crispy chickpeas, yuba bacon, focaccia croutons and house-made ranch. If any spots on this place were made to fool your non-vegan friend into accidentally loving entirely plant-based restaurants, this is the one.
4. Casa Morales
From the founders of Toronto favourite Gus Tacos, Casa Morales brings a more elevated, cocktail-bar approach to Mexican dining in Kensington Market. For Sustainalicious, the restaurant is serving a four-course prix fixe tasting menu from chef Felipe Kwon. The standout is easily the Mole Blanco: roasted cauliflower and kale wrapped in tortillas with a deeply rich white mole sauce. Also worth noting: candied sweet potato for dessert is the exact kind of thing Toronto foodies are about to become obsessed with.
5. Bar Bacan
Family-run Venezuelan and Argentinian inspired spot, Bar Bacan has become an iconic neighbourhood fixture in the Roncesvalles neighbourhood. Their Sustainalicious menu includes a “Choripatty” featuring a plant-based burger, sweet plantain, cheese, and chimichurri on a grilled arepa with yuca fries.
6. Bar BossaNova
Toronto’s natural wine scene continues to grow at an almost alarming pace, and Bar BossaNova remains one of the city’s coolest places to spend an evening. The once again Roncesvalles wine bar is offering Ontario-made vegan cheese plates and plant-based spreads like spicy jerk bean and tomato confit, because who said Saturday night cheating meant meat?
7. AM Bagel
A good bagel shop is basically a necessity for me and many in Toronto, and AM Bagel has built a loyal following thanks to its fresh Gryfes bagels one of our favourite bagel shops in the city), house-baked treats, and coffee program. For Sustainalicious, they’re offering a plant-based pastrami sandwich alongside Nanaimo bars, proving once again that sustainability and carbs can absolutely coexist.
8. Bar Avelo
If there’s one restaurant on this list that fully leans into vegetables as luxury dining, it’s Bar Avelo. The Yorkville restaurant has become known for its highly creative plant-forward tasting menus, where produce gets treated with the same level of precision typically reserved for steak or seafood. Their Sustainalicious offering includes mushroom pâté with sourdough, a garden paella loaded with king oyster mushrooms and artichokes, and a classic French custard tart for dessert.
9. Sushi Momo
Montreal’s cult-favourite vegan sushi restaurant is finally here in Toronto as of August 2024, and Sustainalicious is the perfect excuse to finally go. Their four-course tasting menu includes beet and orange salad, artichoke blast rolls, rice-free sushi rolls topped with vegan salmon, and a chocolate zucchini cake dessert.
10. Bad Attitude Bread
Now what would a list be without a bakery? Toronto’s bakery scene has become wildly competitive, and Bad Attitude continues to stand out with entirely plant-based pastries, biscuits, sandwiches, and cakes that don’t feel like substitutes for anything. Their smoked salmon lox Danish layered with herby cream cheese, vegan smoked salmon, capers, dill,
and red onion on a garlic butter Danish pastry sounds like the kind of thing people are going to line up for by 10 a.m.
And while these are the restaurants currently sitting at the top of my Sustainalicious list, there are plenty more participating across the city, including Hawker, SOOS, Bellona Kitchen, Vagabondo, Antylia and Mexhico.
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