Fressen Restaurant 478 Queen St. W. Toronto

Last night my husband and I went out for dinner. We chose Fressen restaurant since my daughter is at Grandma's for the weekend and we were able to go a little more upscale on account of not having our daughter in tow. I am totally sorry that I didn't take my camera, but I had no idea it was going to be as wonderful as it was. Honestly, it was the best gourmet meal I have ever had out. A real bonus considering it was the only vegan gourmet meal I have ever had out. We arrived at about 7:00 p.m. to a pretentious hostess telling us that she wouldn't be able to seat or serve us for an hour, if ever. I could see the steam coming out of my husbands ears as he said OK, forget it. But! I was persistant! I was not going to pass up my chance to have a night out at an upscale restaurant, so I said, "Could we sit at the bar?" With a quick change of events we were sitting at the bar. My husband even said, "Good Idea!" So, if you can get past the snobby serving staff, the food is totally worth it.

We started with cocktail style juices. My husband had apple ginger juice - the ginger had a real kick, so it was an awesome sipper. I had pineapple, strawberry lemonade. The pineapple made it really sweet, so it wasn't tart enough to be lemonade to me... however it was a delicious drink in its own right if you took away the expectation of lemonade.

I loved the concept at this place. Each item on the menu was $9. The waitress (who was the nicest of the lot) recommended that we order 5 plates for two people. It was so hot and humid yesterday that we decided to order 4 with the intention of ordering one more if we were still hungry. Each dish was served on a giant white plate with a beautifully presented tower of food. From where we were sitting at the bar we could see the chef labouring over each plate that left the kitchen until it was perfect. We had asparagus on a bed of quinoa with a sauce that I don't remember. We had a shitake mushroom and spinach mix in phillo. I had my first good experience with tempeh!! Woo hoo! That plate as an adorable tempeh fish and chips - the chips were sweet potatoe the size of those hickory sticks, but longer - yummo! We also had squash raviolo in a tomatoe sauce that was so fresh it tasted like they got the tomatoe plants straight off the vine that afternoon. We skipped dessert. They only had one on offer and it really didn't appeal. I had read a review that main courses were better than desserts so we decided to fill up there. It would have been nice if they had done something with fresh fruit thought.

Anyway, this is my new favourite veggie restaurant in Toronto. It is definitely worth the price of a babysitter... so we will definitely be having romantic nights out there in the future - but, we will call ahead for reservations.

I will link you to some of the reviews of the restaurant.

Now's Review
By the way I think it is heads and tails above Live (but I don't really like raw food) and I love Cafe 668 - the food is outstanding there... but Fressen is different, a great place for a nice night out if you want to get dressed up and make it really special.
Yummy Baguette
Martini Boys

Anyway, I highly recommend it. It was totally awesome.

The whole night was awesome. Just strolling Queen St. W. before and after dinner was so fun. I got a pair of really cool sunglasses from a street vendor and I could have spent my entire life's savings on hand made jewellry offered by another street vendor. After dinner we went to hear a friend of ours play in his band at the Bier Markt in the distillery district in Toronto. It was a total blast! We danced the night away with all the other 30 and 40 somethings in Toronto. This place had over 100 beers on tap. My husband and I broke our usual sobriety and enjoyed a sampling of beers from around the world. (I have a total weakness for beer - I think there should be beer tasting, the same way there is wine tasting) The best beer of the night was one from Kenya (where my husband was born) with a really cute elephant on the front. We tried to bring the beer bottle home, but the waitress cleared it while we were dancing. I can't remember the name of our friend's band right now, but I will ask him and post to their web site too. It was so cool because the band took pictures all night long with a digital camera of them and the crowd. It was like we were their best friends and they were partying with us. Apparently they post the pictures on their website so I will link to them when they are up. I love Toronto, there is so much fun to be had!