Fressen - Toronto

Fressen (liker navnet, aner ikke hva som egentlig ligger bak navnevalget, men "fressen" på tysk betyr "å ete" - når det er dyr som spiser. Om mennesker brukes "essen";o) er en vegansk restaurant i sentrale Toronto.

Det er ganske mange veggis-spisesteder å finne i canadiske byer, men en ting jeg ikke er voldsomt begeistret for er at det brukes temmelig mye "mock meat" produkter her: har vært innom et par veggiskaféer der omtrent alle rettene på menyen inneholdt en eller annen form for kjøtterstatningsprodukt. Fressen er fullstendig annerledes: her brukes friske råvarer, all mat lages fra grunnen av, og fokuset ligger rett og slett på deilig!! mat (i stedet for på fraværet av kjøtt!).

Menyen var særdeles fristende, var mye jeg kunne tenkt meg å smake, men til slutt klarte jeg å bestemme meg for "Sliced avocado over marinated tomato, fennel & chick peas on baby spinach. Served with sesame flax crackers" og "Rice flour wrapped squash ravioli with basil and creamed sesame butter, sautéed with leeks and basil in a tomato and olive oil sauce" - alt smakte utrolig bra, spesielt raviolien var fantastisk god!

Alle rettene koster 9 CAD, og her er det meningen at man skal dele: til en person anbefales 1-2 retter, to personer deler 3 (eller 4 om man er veldig sulten!). Rettene kommer på bordet etter hvert som kjøkkenet har dem ferdige (så ikke forvent at alt serveres samtidig) - vi måtte vente nokså lenge men det var i grunnen helt greit; restauranten er koselig, den. Og så fikk vi ferskt, varmt brød og en liten skål hummus å knaske på mens vi ventet.

Vi var her en onsdag kveld og da var det nokså fullt - kan sikkert være lurt å bestille bord, spesielt i helgene.

Kan noen åpne en restaurant som denne i Norge, værsåsnill?

• Prisnivå: alle retter koster 9 CAD
• Adresse: 478 Queen Street West

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Fressen (love the name - not sure what the story behind the name really is, but "fressen" is German for "to eat" - when animals are eating. Humans eating: essen. ;o) is a vegan restaurant in downtown Toronto.

It isn't hard to find veggie restaurants and cafes in Canadian cities (and it's certainly a breeze compared to Norway!) - but many seem to use quite a lot of mock meat products, which I'm not a huge fan of. I've visited some veggie cafes where pretty much everything on the menu contained some sort of meat replacement product - but not so at Fressen! At Fressen, they use fresh ingredients, and everything is made from scratch - they're simply focusing on delicious, fresh *food* instead of on the lack of meat. Perfect!

The menu was amazingly tempting, and there were so many things I'd like to try - but I finally managed to make up my mind: "Sliced avocado over marinated tomato, fennel & chick peas on baby spinach. Served with sesame flax crackers" and "Rice flour wrapped squash ravioli with basil and creamed sesame butter, sautéed with leeks and basil in a tomato and olive oil sauce". Yum! It was all delicious (and beautifully presented!), but the ravioli was simply to die for.

All dishes cost 9 CAD, and you're meant to share: one person orders 1-2 dishes, two persons order 3 (or 4 if you're very hungry!). The food is "served when it's ready", so don't expect things to arrive in any particular order. We had to wait quite a while, but that wasn't a problem - the restaurant is pretty cosy, and we got some fresh, warm bread and a small bowl of hummous to munch on while we were waiting.

We visited on a Wednesday evening and the restaurant was pretty busy - probably a good idea to reserve a table, particularly at weekends.

Could somebody please open a restaurant like Fressen in Norway....?

• Price range: all dishes cost 9 CAD
• Address: 478 Queen Street West