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http://www.kingscafe.com/

Last week, I was lucky to spend a few days in Toronto and experience some of what this exciting city has to offer.  King’s Cafe is located in the Kensington Market area of downtown Toronto and serves vegetarian Chinese food. King’s Cafe is located right by China Town but King’s Cafe offers a few things that the vegetarian options that China Town does not: better atmosphere and fake meat!

Unfortunately, not everything at King’s Cafe is vegan. They do alert you to which items are not vegan and it’s good that mostly everything is vegan. There is also a small store inside of the restaurant where locals can buy fake meats and more.

The service at King’s Cafe is fantastic! The servers were very attentive and the food was served at a great pace. I needed my water filled a multiple times and it was filled before I even needed to ask. And now, onto the food!

Here’s what I tried:

Udon Noodles Soup: Udon noodles, simmered in an Oriental style vegetable broth with fried tofu, mushrooms, broccoli, crispy soy fritters, carrots and vegetables

The Udon Noodles Soup was very delicious. The broth had a great flavor that paired nicely with the vegetables in the soup. I was excited to see taro in the soup and the pork was very good. At $7.99 CAD, I think it’s a great price for a large bowl of soup for two to share.

Seasonal Special: BBQ Chicken: Soy cutlets with bbq sauce, served with bok choy on a bed of rice.

This BBQ Chicken was probably my favorite entree on my trip to Toronto. The faux chicken has a great texture and the sauce was very good. The sauce is more like a modified general tso’s sauce than a traditional bbq sauce. This entree was $8.99 CAD and was very good!

Rice Noodles with Soy Beef: Rice noodles stir-fried with soy-beef and vegetables

I really enjoy rice noodles, but as you can probably see from this picture, there were way too many bean sprouts! These noodles would have been perfect if there were a little less bean spouts. The flavor was great and the beef tastes wonderful. I’m not sure if they had ran out of noodles or what the issue was, but I would order this again if there weren’t so many sprouts.

Conclusion:

There aren’t many amazing vegan restaurants in Toronto, but King’s Cafe stands out from the few that are available. Kensington Market can be a bit awkward for a first timer with a hippy/stoner feel to the area, but King’s Cafe serves a better atmosphere than many of the restaurants in the area. The food is very affordable and very tasty. The service is very attentive and food is prepared quickly!

 Ratings:

  • Food: 4/5 (Very Good)
  • Atmosphere: 4/5 (Clean and Pleasing)
  • Service: 5/5 (Extremely Attentive)
  • Price: 4.5/5 (Very Affordable)

Be sure to check out my other restaurant reviews by clicking here.