Mharie and I have been challenged by the idea of getting to the Workshop Vegetarian in North Vancouver for a long time. It is not that it is so far away from us or too hard to find but the fact that they are only ever open Monday to Friday from 10-4 and then close on statutory holidays. My wife and I both work Monday to Friday so getting to this destination has been nearly impossible. However, thanks to my recent knee replacement surgery, I have been off work for 4 weeks and finally gathered enough mobility that I decided to make the pilgrimage to WV during the week.
Located at 3rd and Pemberton, WV is in reality a vegan restaurant and I'm not even sure why they call themselves Vegetarian. They have a very good selection of baked goods, soups, noodles and more, not to mention items ready for takeout and frozen items as well. WV was started with the idea of making Asian foods available without animal products (and healthier).
They make their own noodles in-house so I had to try their Rice Noodles with Organic Cashew Sauce. This was delicious! You'll have to trust me that the noodles are there, and very good and under a lot of other very tasty stuff! It was the cashew sauce that ruled here as it was savoury and just a touch sweet as cashews are. This dish had tofu, nuts and seeds, greens and veggies and was a satisfying meal all by itself.
I am a big fan of grilled cheese (someone isn't?). So if there is Cranberry Pecan Grilled Cheese on the menu, I am definitely there. This was a little crunchy and very melty with just a touch of tart from the cranberries. I didn't find out what brand of "cheese" was used but I was told it was a Swiss style.
Obviously, I couldn't leave without trying something from their bakery. This Cinnamon Bun was available with or without icing. It would have been pretty good either way.
I thought I'd better get something to go so my wife wouldn't miss out completely. I ordered the Kansai Style Udon and they packed it with broth separate from the balance for obvious reasons. At home, I warmed the broth and assembled it to my wife's delight. Substantial udon noodles and a tasty broth with the addition of tofu puffs and some other good stuff made us happy.
They have quite a few house-made products frozen and ready to home with you. I took this miso broth and being lazy, did nothing more than add some ramen noodles and enjoyed it immensely.
This morning, I opened my Insta to be greeted by a short reel from Workshop Vegetarian Cafe which outlined its history in a much better way than I could. It is a family-run business that has been around since 2016 and now their plant-based ramen kits called, Noods, are available online for shipment across Canada. And that is only the start of what they are making available.
So these folks are frankly, amazing. I had only one complaint and that is their hours of operation. The manager/owner that I spoke to told me that it is their intention to try to change that to some degree (I begged for one Saturday a month). In the meantime, I am going to check out their retail partners to figure out where I can get Noods. Maybe when I get my 2nd knee replaced in 6 months or so, I will be able to make a second visit to WV towards the end of my rehab. Be sure to check out their social media as it gives a better picture of them than this blog post!
Food 4 1/2 out of 5
Vegan Options 5 out of 5
Comfort 4 1/2 out of 5
Service 4 1/2 out of 5
Value 4 1/2 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment