If you have a serious food allergy, eating out may feel stressful and require research and planning. Enter Riz: after moving north on Yonge, they morphed their menu into an entirely gluten free offering so there’s no risk of cross contamination. Celiacs, you have found the place to go to for Chinese food.

Their hot and sour soup ($6) contains traditional ingredients such as tofu, black fungus, and green onions, but could also something crunchier to round out the textures - in lieu of julienned bamboo shoots, Riz uses a softer vegetable. Overall, the soup didn’t satisfy my craving, especially since it had a sweet finish that I found strange.

The rice noodles (ho fun) used in the veggies and tofu pad see ewe ($19.75) is much thicker than what you’d find elsewhere. Perhaps, this is also why we found the dish blander and lacking the aromatic wok hay that’s synonymous with the noodles. A bit more soy would have helped and perhaps we should have taken them up on having some chili oil with the dish.

Luckily, the black bean tiger shrimp ($22.50) was flavourful and went nicely with the pad see ewe. The normally pungent black bean was mellowed into a sweet sauce studded with garlic and onions. Incorporating a variety of vegetables, the broccoli really soaks up the sauce so some people may find this too salty… for me it was perfect. Make sure to get an order of steamed rice to pair with the dish.

If you read the description of the purple Saigon eggplant ($17.75), you’d think the hoisin, garlic chili, and soy sauce would create a sweet, spicy, and savoury dish. Instead, there’s a tanginess that while not off-putting is also not expected. The eggplant was cooked perfectly, flash fried to retain its vibrant purple hue and quickly tossed with the rest of the vegetables. Given the chili logo on the menu, I would have liked this spicier.

I love that Riz incorporates so many fresh vegetables in their dishes. If what’s used in the stir fries and noodles aren’t enough, the snow pea and broccoli ($17.75) offer even more greens. During our visit, the recipe also included snap peas, likely used to augment the off-season snow peas that were a bit tough.

What Riz Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen lacks in finish, they make up for with their service. Attentive and friendly, it’s a restaurant where you feel taken care of. Stress be gone. 

While Toronto restaurants have made great strides with accommodating food allergies, choices are still limited for those who have celiac level allergies to gluten. It’s an added liability or investment that some restaurants don’t want to take on to make to ensure their kitchens and food handling is celiac safe.

Accordingly, it’s admirable that Tabule Middle Eastern Cuisine has not only dedicated their chain to being celiac friendly but also offers a wide range of menu options. In fact, they seem to cater to a host of dietary restrictions including those who are vegan.

Traditionally, the tabule in the sampler platter ($22) wouldn’t be gluten-free due to it’s use of bulgur wheat. As a result, the kitchen substitutes quinoa into the finely chopped parsley, tomato, and onion salad instead, which gives it a finer and more delicate consistency. I love mixing the citrusy tabule with smoky rich babaganoush and sandwiching a spoon of it into the thin and chewy laffa ($3.95 a piece), it’s a great way to start the meal.

In fact, you can make a whole meal from their starters with the host of other mezze options gracing the menu. From the inexpensive assorted pickles ($4.50) made up on turnips, olives, hot peppers, and dill pickles to something warm and comforting like the aaranbeet ($8.95), which is unbattered fried cauliflower that’s tossed with tahini creating a warm nutty bite.

Tabule’s falafel salad ($14.95) continues to impress, the crispy chickpea and fava bean nuggets are deliciously fluffy, moist, and flavourful putting other falafels to shame. I do find the vinaigrette overly acidic (mixing a bit of tahini into it helps) and the dressing could use a hit more salt. If you’re not into super lemony salads, I’d stick with ordering the falafels solo.

The warak enab ($12.95) is also overly citrusy, which is a shame as the stuffed grape leaves are a great consistency – the leaves delicate and soft and the rice not too mushy. If only Tabule tones down the lemon seasoning and augments the tomato, garlic, and other spices instead.

For something filling, go for the eggplant meal ($16.95) where slices of aubergine are fried until soft and topped with tahini and pomegranate creating a salty, sweet, and nutty main. The sauces and juices go equally well when soaked into the mujaddara, a fragrant rice studded with lentils and onions. If things become too oily or heavy, have a bite of grilled vegetables that round out the dish.

Gathering around the table to eat and share is such an important ritual to build connection. Cheers to Tabule for making this possible for so many more people. 

Azhar Kitchen & Bar is one of the many restaurants that forms the Gusto 54 chain, and it is no less inviting and delicious. After attending an event in Ossington, we were peckish and in search for a satisfying dinner before calling it a night. After being turned away from other Ossington establishments, it was Azhar that took us in and welcomed us onto comfortable seats at the bar.

Famished, we opted for shared starters, and I was excited to find zucchini flowers ($15) on the menu. The delicate flora is stuffed with a smooth cheese filling, which the menu describes as feta based but I tasted a faint blue cheese element as well, and deep fried giving the flower petals a light crunchiness, the centre a heat that blends with the creamy cheese, and the stem that zucchini texture and taste. Now these are the kind of flowers I like getting.

The babaganoush ($12) could easily satisfy four people, a huge mound of the roasted eggplant with a tart hit of date and molasses syrup and added crunchiness from a sprinkle of seeds. I appreciate Azhar’s use of vibrant high-quality olive oil that can blend with the eggplant or shine on its own. Either goes so wonderfully with the hot-from-the-oven pita that so soft and chewy. We thought one pita would do but after the first glorious bite, we immediately wanted another. The second arrived in no time and was equally piping hot… like singe your fingertips type of hot.

Being a weekday vegetarian, I appreciate the host of meatless options on Azhar’s menu. Although, I found they are generally a series of dishes (a side, a plant-based protein, etc.) that need to be ordered together, rather than having one dish that works as a complete meal. Accordingly, unless others at the table also want to go meatless it would be too much for one person.

In the end, I thought the Mujadara rice ($21) would be the best bet for a main, albeit a tad heavy for one (there were leftovers to bring home). The fragrant stewed lentils and caramelized combined nicely with the basmati rice studded with raisins and spices to create a flavour-packed dish. Generally, I’m not a fan of fruit with rice, but when combined with the creamy labneh, the raisin’s sweetness helped tone down the yoghurt’s acid. I wish there was the option to add another vegetarian protein to really round out the dish, a handful of roasted mushrooms might be great with the rice.

Service was top notch even sitting at the bar. The bartender was by to make sure we were satisfied and taken care of whenever he had a chance, and despite also having to man the bar was engaging and welcoming. In fact, if I had to describe Azhar with one word it would be ‘welcoming’, from interactions with staff members to the dishes that draw you in for another bite - Azhar would be one big welcome mat.  

We all know that COVID has hit restaurants badly. If you’re a newly opened restaurant or one beginning during the pandemic, it’s even worse. O&B’s latest addition, Babel, is unfortunately one of these restaurants that has been affected since operations only began in late 2019, when COVID was a mere whisper.

Their Mediterranean inspired menu relies on the 12-foot open concept hearth, where fires are ablaze and the force for cooking their dishes. It’s a shame, as from our patio vantage point, we couldn’t see it. Babel did try to make up for it by putting two blazing torches on the patio. They are beautiful, adding much needed light to the dark parking lot and an element of ambiance, but they’re more for décor as they don’t release much heat for warming.

Yet, their staff did everything they could to make us feel comfortable and welcomed. First, moving the table from the patio and onto the walkway beside the restaurant to give us more light and blocking some of the wind. The “heating lamp” was pushed as closely as possible; a second one later added until the other reservation for the night arrived. A fuel warmer, something you’d normally use under chafing dishes, was brought out to warm our hands. Pots of boiling water were substituted to the ice variety to warm us from the inside. They really tried to go above and beyond, which certainly helped as despite the frigid temperatures we stayed for two hours and didn’t want the evening to end.

With the dishes made with fire being marketed as a specialty to the restaurant, we had to try a couple. The smoked charred eggplant ($13) is a beautiful plate: the eggplant smeared into a thin layer and topped with pistachios, pomegranate, and edible flowers; drizzles of tahini and date molasses giving it tons of flavour with each bite. While more interesting than the typical dips, the delicate creamy eggplant does get covered with all the other ingredients, so if you really want the flavours of the vegetable, perhaps try the stuffed eggplant instead.

The beef tenderloin kebab ($30) arrives more done than we hoped – closer to medium well compared to the medium rareness described – but likely due to the hot metal cooking skewer being left in the kebab to help retain the heat longer. No harm done as being a tenderloin cut, the beef remained tender anyways. With the beef sitting on the pilaf, the rice becomes well seasoned with the juices soaking into the grains.

Both fire-cooked dishes were good, but so were the deep-fried falafels ($9), a green harissa mixed into the batter giving it lovely green hue and more flavour. Crispy outside and fluffy on the inside this is exactly what falafels should taste like.

They go nicely with the fattoush meets Caesar ($14), a salad that’s exactly as described: take charred romaine and drizzle it with a light Ceasar dressing and some of the ingredients typically found on the salad (parmigiano and filets of anchovies) and augment with other things found in fattoush – cucumbers, tomato, onions, and of course, crunchy pita bits. While it didn’t look overly exciting, it ended up being a decent salad.

We would have liked to see more chicken and less chickpeas in the shawarma ($17), a strange addition making the hand-held even messier to eat. After having shawarma in Dubai, I realize they are best kept simple: tons of chicken, a little bit of lettuce and pickles for crunch, and just enough garlic sauce and tahini for flavour but not to soak the bread. Babel’s probably looks better but is cumbersome to eat, especially when it’s served in a halved pita rather than in a chewy wrap. I’d also reduce the seasoning on the fries, as they were salty even for a person who likes things flavourful.

Truth be told, some of my favourite dishes of the night doesn’t even sound Mediterranean. The Babel wings ($17) was a perfect patio eat, the sole dish that arrived and stayed piping hot. We literally could see the steam being emitted from the wings as we bit into them. And the dry spice rub coating the skin was fantastic – slightly sweet but also bursting with other flavours like sumac enhanced with earthier tones.

The chef had to substitute tagliatelle in the spaghetti aglio e olio ($23), which was fine by me and perhaps worked even better to capture all the oil-based sauce. This was dish that gets cold quickly, but even warm was delicious, the pasta done nicely and just flavourful enough without being overly garlicky. The shrimp were also cooked perfectly and there was plenty of it with the pasta.

Can I have a knafeh ($10) to end? Of course! A thin layer of cheese sat on the bottom, enough to have the toasted crispy vermicelli stick to it with hazelnut and pistachio pieces sprinkled on top. There was just enough cinnamon syrup for sweetness but not to soak into the dessert. It’s one of the lighter renditions of the dish I’ve had. Normally, a small wedge of the dessert is all I can stomach; at Babel, I probably could have eaten it entirely.

Maybe it has something to do with eating outside in the cold, our bodies are burning so many calories just to keep us warm through the ordeal. At least that’s what I tell myself – dining in the cold will help work off all the fried food and carbs I just ingested (those who understand science and nutrition, don’t bother correcting me). Plus, the experience made me feel like a real Canadian. I may not ski, but I can eat in the cold.