Karmavore The Vegan Shop, New Westminster BC

From Vegan Gastrobot

Karmavore was a little bit out of the way in New Westminster, but it sounded amazing so we tried to fit it in. The only time we had was Sun morning so we had a very tasty sweet breakfast. First up was an ice cream sundae! They were out of chocolate, we had ordered the swirl, and so they gave us the vanilla with chocolate sauce for free. This was amazing! I love soft serve and wish we had this in Seattle. It was creamy and tasted just like normal soft serve to me.

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Next was a plain croissant and a daiya croissant. The plain croissant was Raymond’s favorite, but it was missing something to me….I couldn’t quite figure out what was missing. It was flaky and light, and good, but something was off for me. The Daiya croissant was much better – still flaky and the cheese gave it a nice flavor. They were both flaky like croissants should be, but a little denser maybe? I don’t know. I did like the cheese one a lot.

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Finally we had a cinnamon bun. This was so disappointing…it needed way more cinnamon. It didn’t really have much flavor which is surprising. I definitely would not get it again; it was dry and just not good.

Overall – I really liked the store/bakery set up. The soft serve was amazing so definitely get that! Also, the croissants were not bad. They also have cupcakes from Edible Flours which are amazing so they have lots of treats. Plus some shoes and other apparel and grocery items. Definitely worth a stop if you can manage it.

Wild Rice, Vancouver BC

From Vegan Gastrobot

I was very excited to check out Wild Rice in Vancouver as the menu intrigued me. They list themselves as modern Chinese cuisine, and the menu had a few vegan options that looked like we would have a fancy dim sum supper. First up we tried the smoked tofu and shitake mushroom radish cakes. When these came out they looked just like triangles of fried tofu. On the plate were marinated mushrooms and onions. Raymond loved the marinated mushrooms, and though while they were tasty the texture I just cannot do. Mushrooms are disgusting. The radish cakes had a nice light smoky flavor and were very crispy on the outside and just really tasty.

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Next up Truffle salt tofu and cauliflower puree with peas. The puree had coconut milk in it as there was a hint of coconut. The cauliflower added a nice hint of sweetness, the tofu was tasty, but didn’t have a lot of flavor. Wild Rice seems to use a lot of balsamic instead of soy sauce with adds a nice unique flavor to their dishes.

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And finally the Yam & Rosemary Potstickers. These were really sweet, but you could not taste the rosemary at all. These were not at all what you expect from a potsticker - there are not any of the normal veggies in it and they are really sweet instead of savory. I really enjoyed them.

Overall – if you have time and a reservation (unless you show up later in the evening) stop in for a small bite. The items were tasty and different from your standard Chinese cuisine.

The Foundation, Vancouver BC

From Vegan Gastrobot

I remember years ago when I lived in Bellingham, WA and we would go up to Canada all the time I used to go to The Foundation quite a bit. I wasn’t vegan then and I didn’t really remember what food they had, but I put it on the list for old times’ sake (and because Raymond had never been). All of the reviewers seemed to rave about the nachos, but I couldn’t remember if this was an all vegan place. Unfortunately they do not have vegan nachos. Oh well. We ordered the vegan chocolate fondue served with bananas, pears and strawberries. There was a ton of chocolate and we didn’t even get close to earing it all with the fruit. The chocolate was super dark and rich and even if we would have had more things to dip into it I don’t think I could have eaten much more since it is was so rich, but very tasty.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We also tried the east van town – black beans, banana, cocoa, and lime sauce served over rice with salsa. This was so good! I thought it sounded kind of…not so appetizing with all of those flavors together, but it worked surprisingly well. The bananas went well with the black beans and cocoa, the salsa was fruity so it added some sweetness as well and paired well with everything else. Really tasty – I might have to try and recreate it at home.

Overall – if you are in the area I would stop in here. They have some unusual sounding flavor combinations that we found actually work. It does get really busy though in the evenings.

Grub, Vancouver BC

From Vegan Gastrobot

While looking through vegan options in Vancouver I came across Grub – they change the fresh menu often (maybe nightly?) and only have one vegan option on it. Normally that would be another eh – let’s skip it kind of place. I did however find a review that was so great it convinced me to give it a try. Their thought – yes there is only one vegan option for dinner, but it is the best vegan food ever! Okay I have to try this out. We came just as they opened and ordered the vegan entrée and dessert to share. The entrée that evening was White navy bean, artichoke and spinach filled cannelloni baked in rosemary cashew coconut cream, smokey vegetable and corn salsa, lemon arugula salad. Sure it sounded good. They brought it out and it looked amazing!! I tried the first bite…and the reviewer was right. This was some of the best food I have ever had. It was incredible! The only have one vegan option, but they do do it well. The filling was creamy and smooth, the veggies were nice and smoky (finally! Someone who can do smoked foods right!) the asparagus on top crisp, the sauce nice and creamy and…just everything paired so well together that it was incredible. I REALLY wish we would have been able to fit in another dinner here. If we go back this is a must stop on the list.

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The dessert was chocolate and hazelnut layer cake with brulee bananas. This was a HUGE slice of cake. I was expecting a normal slice, but this would have been way too much for just me. The bananas on top were nice and caramelized and crunchy and really paired nicely with the cake and helped offset some of the dense richness and add a little sweetness. The hazelnut filling was almost like butter – dairy butter – which was odd but somehow it worked.

Overall – If you can definitely stop in at Grub. You will probably have to make reservations ahead of time as it gets busy, but it is well worth it. The one vegan option is amazing.

Sweet Cherubim, Vancouver BC

From Vegan Gastrobot

I had wanted to check out the co-op and found a ton of organic and vegan places in the same area. I had looked up Sweet Cherubim, but decided against putting it on the list as we had already had too many places to go to and nothing shouted out to me as have to try. We wandered into the store though and then the restaurant just to spy since we were there and found a case full of vegan treats. They all looked amazing! We tried the Chocolate carrot cake cupcake which looked really good (and was a different flavor than plain chocolate or vanilla). This was…just not very good. I tried to eat it, but immediately spit out my first bite it was that bad. I couldn’t do it.

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We also tried an oatmeal raisin cookie which I could eat, but it really wasn’t that good. It looked amazing, but I don’t know why it didn’t taste fantastic…we threw out most of it.

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And last but not least we tried a chocolate shortbread bliss cookie. This was the only thing that I enjoyed that we ordered. It was like a shortbread cookie with some chocolate inside. Really crunchy and good.

Overall – I would not go to Sweet Cherubim. Most of the baked goods were disgusting, the lady was not at all happy or pleasant to us (we asked for the goods to go as we wanted to sit outside since it was sunny, and she just threw them in a bag with the cupcake upside down so the frosting was all smashed on one side and it was just very unnecessary). There are much better places to get food in Vancouver.

Fairy Cakes Cupcakes, Vancouver BC

From Vegan Gastrobot

All vegan cupcake bakery? Yes please! We had to try out Fairy Cakes Cupcakes while we were in Vancouver. We tried the blueberry chocolate cupcake which was…not that good. The cake was dry, the frosting did not taste like blueberry….it just wasn’t good. We also had a chocolate chip cookie which was…alright but nothing special. I make better chocolate chip cookies at home.

From Vegan Gastrobot

And we tried a key lime cupcake as I love lime. This was citrusy, but the frosting was almost too sweet and the cake was way too oily. It was just not good. I was sooo disappointed as I would not go back here for baked goods. They just were not that good.

Overall – I would not recommend going here. The cupcakes were not very good, the cookie was just alright. I love supporting vegan places, but unfortunately this would not be a place I would stop by again, even if I were in the neighborhood and wanted a treat. The treats were just not good which makes me very sad.

The Wallflower, Vancouver BC

From Vegan Gastrobot

The Wallflower was top on my list of places to try in Vancouver. It sounded like divey dinner food with lots of vegan options. We were there on a Sat around 11 and it was packed! We had to wait a while for a table, but that was fine since we were still kind of full from breakfast. I loved the atmosphere – this is another place that I would return to again and again (maybe for one of the shows they have in the evenings? Or just a few drinks and some vegan poutine). They had many vegan options clearly marked on the menu. We tried the Vegan Mac & Cheesey – this was incredible! Probably my favorite mac and cheese I have had. Not very oily, I don’t think they used a commercial mock cheese, super creamy and just yum! It was so creamy and cheesey that it reminded me of “real” mac and cheese. Highly recommended.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We also got the vegan breakfast poutine – veggie dogs, marinated tofu, daiya mozzarella, hashbrowns and gravy. This was also incredible!  There were big pieces of potato, the hot dogs tasted very much like real ones (or what I remember real ones tasting like) I think the gravy was a miso gravy and was amazing, there was not too much of the daiya cheese, and the crumbled tofu really pulled it all together. I would definitely get this again! Much better than the poutine we had in Toronto. So tasty and we were so full, but we ate every last bite.

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The menu also lists vegan crème brulee which I had to try – I have never had a vegan version. While it did not have the caramelized sugar on the top to crack, I loved it! It was super light and creamy (I think it was a coconut milk base, but didn’t have a strong coconut flavor) with a super sweet sauce on top and was just amazing. The perfect end to a perfect meal.

Overall – I would highly recommend stopping by The Wallflower if you are in Vancouver. It was definitely one of my favorite places to eat in the city.