The Naam (2724 West 4th Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-738-7151) is no secret; indeed, it’s Vancouver’s oldest and arguably best-loved “natural food” and vegetarian restaurant. It’s open around the clock; boasts a delightful patio; and serves wine, beer, and cider, as well as heady desserts such as double-fudge cake and pecan pie. There’s also a vast array of soups, melts, Mexican dishes, veggie burgers, and entrées such as fettuccine con aglio e olio. In addition, the Naam serves macrobiotic dishes, and others with no eggs or dairy.
A perennial favorite among vegetarians, and the place for the likes of soy-based mock duck, is the Buddhist Vegetarian Restaurant (‘37 East Pender Street, Chinatown, 604-683-8816).
Another popular spot, a take-out really, is Asia-inspired Planet Veg (‘94’ Cornwall Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-734-1001). This tiny eatery comes up with excellent samosas, burgers, subs, rice-pots, and roil-rolls — the latter served with tamarind chutney. Many vegetarians swear by Habibi’s (1128 West Broadway, Central Vancouver, 604-732-7487), which serves traditional Lebanese dishes in new ways.
Sweet Cherubim Natural Foods and Restaurant (1105 Commer¬cia! Drive, East Vancouver, 604-253-0969) dishes out inexpensive snacks that run from feta-cheese samosas and wheat-free nachos to hemp-raisin-walnut cookies with organic chai. You get the picture and the baker’s a vegan. Circling Dawn Organic Foods and snack bar (1045 Commercial Drive, East Vancouver, 604-255-2326) is, of course, entirely organic. And if that isn’t enough goodness, Circling Dawn runs a “herbal sanctuary and pharmacopoeia” a few doors down.
A favorite of mine — especially with the sun streaming into a nicely appointed nook-like space — is Raw (1849 West 1st Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-737-0420). Not much more than a take-out within a larger, market-like complex, Raw rises above its circumstances with imaginative concoctions elegantly served.
A popular and inexpensive eatery just off Commercial Drive is The Olive Café (1716 Charles Street, East Vancouver, 604-251-4141).
Leaning to Turkish tradition, yet vegetarian, The Olive offers a wide choice of tapas-like meze with pita bread, further spiced by live music (some nights) and a belly dancer.
Qyejo’s (4129 Main Street, East Vancouver, 604-420-0832) specializes in Brazilian-style “cheese-buns,” sans wheat and gluten, in “flavors” such as sun-dried tomato, basil, and jalapeflo. Little wonder that there’s lots of foot traffic here, and that quejos (“kay-hoes”) turn up at upscale vegetarian eateries and shops elsewhere, including Raw, and the wheat- and gluten-free Kitsilano bakery Panne Rizo (see “Bakeries”).
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