Hibiscus + Other Healthy Things

Posted: January 20th, 2010 | Filed under: Health, Personal, Restaurants | Tags: food, hibiscus | 5 Comments »

It has been over a month since I’ve blogged. I think every blogger goes through this– the whole “Ahh I’m so bad, etc etc.” Except can I really call myself a blogger? I don’t exactly have a vast body of work behind me.

I thought if I was going to blog, I might as well write about the restaurant I’ve been practically living at for the past month. I was vaguely aware of this, but then my friend MK pointed out that I had tweeted about eating there 3 times in the last week…

Hibiscus is located in Kensington market. Just take the westbound streetcar outside College Station, and get off one stop past College & Spadina. Walk down Augusta Ave. and you’ll find it tucked away.

There’s not much to order there. Everyone mostly goes for the Soup & Salad special. Now hold on, this ain’t no romaine affair. I was hesitant too, when my friend GB introduced me. He usually introduces me to cool places, but for some reason I like to go kicking and screaming.

But back on track. Yes, there’s basically just the Soup & Salad special. They have buckwheat crepes as well, but you know what? The Soup & Salad special is so amazing that I have never, ever been tempted to order a crepe. Like I said, this ain’t no romaine affair. What you get with the special is a bowl filled with different piles of all these lovely, lettuce-free superfood salads. Things like quinoa with dried cranberry, sweet potato, marinated broccoli, ginger carrot, or one of my favorites– the soy paste with mushroom. There’s a bunch of other stuff, including grated beets with sesame oil. I’m usually not crazy about beets (I never understood those people who just piled those frightening, fluorescent slices of them onto their plate at the salad bar) but as my friend FM agreed, these are delicious.

Everything is delicious, and even though it’s just a bowl of vegetables, I have never met anyone who wasn’t full afterward. Even my friend CT was full– and he’s a tall, athletic, hungry guy. All the skeptical, burger eating people who have tried the special (including myself) have loved it.

It comes with a mug of the daily soup, which has ranged from butternut squash with beet to ginger carrot. Dip in their raw sunflower seed cracker that comes with your meal, and you’ll be one content son of a bitch.

Was that unnecessary language? I’m sorry, but I feel the need to be a bit aggressive after prattling on about all this flowery health junk.

But seriously, folks, this is a place you can leave feeling good.

A bunch of hippies that were sitting near me once voiced out the thoughts that I was secretly thinking– key point being secretly, as when you say things like this out loud you sound moronic and insane. But to their credit, yes, yes I did feel like all the toxins were leaving my body. I, unfortunately, was unable to match them on their spiritual cleanse…

In general, for this glorious year of 2010, I’ve been trying to stay on a bit of a health kick. Gone are my days of frozen dinners (although those cheese cannellonis seriously aren’t bad). I’ve been drinking water, eating real vegetables, and I’ve finally replaced sugar and maple syrup with agave nectar.

What the hell is agave nectar? Well, it’s this natural sweetener derived from the agave plant, and it’s supposed to be better for you. I think it’s because it’s sweeter than sugar, and thus you need less? Regardless, it’ll be a gentler calorie count, and it doesn’t have any scary side effects like aspartame. Usually, when we substitute something for something healthier, we’ve downgraded. This is not the case. I actually prefer agave nectar in my oatmeal now. It’s a lighter, cleaner taste than both sugar and maple syrup, without losing sweetness.

I feel like Gwyneth Paltrow. What the hell am I doing, touting agave? I’ve become Vanessa’s douchebag mother from Gossip Girl (“I only use agave”). But you know what? It’s pretty cool when you can find healthy things that don’t secretly sort of suck, like Hibiscus and agave nectar.

Not that I always treat my body like a temple. Sometimes, after popping all those omega-3′s and slow cooking all that oatmeal, a girl needs to eat something disgusting and awesome. Buffalo wings are a favorite. I don’t need a million different flavors– I’ll always be a Duff’s girl at heart. Last night I dropped by St. Louis’ for some hot wings with my friend MV after the Tegan & Sara concert at Massey Hall. Which brings me to a point Tegan raised on stage: when you tweet (or in this case, blog) about something, is it a form of bragging?

Things to consider.

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Notes:

Hibiscus (416) 364-6183
238 Augusta Ave.
Toronto, ON
M5T 2L7

Closed on Sunday. Open Monday to Saturday, and you have to get in the door by 6ish as they close at 7.

Also, try their ice cream. They’re all non-dairy, but I’d stick to one of their three coconut flavors: coconut mango, coconut blueberry, or coconut raspberry. Seriously, so amazing. I tried a regular flavor that wasn’t made with coconut puree, and it tasted like newspaper. Like the stuff you expect health food to taste like.

*The picture of the food from Hibiscus is mine, but I stole the store front from yelp.ca, and the agave picture from Thursday’s Girl.

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