It’s getting easier to have a plant-based meal in Toronto. Newly opened in the spring, Rosalinda serves vegan Mexican cuisine and is probably the fanciest meatless eatery you’ll find in the Financial District. Their airy dining room feels carefree and is polished and pretty enough for business lunches and socialites alike. The love child of Grant van Gameren, Jamie Cook, and Max Rimaldi, these owners know a thing or two about creating trendy hip restaurants.
Their
multigrain chicharron ($9) provides a
tasty nibble while waiting for the other dishes. You’ll want to gently spread the thick tangy guacamole onto the crispy multigrain crackers as they're not nearly
as strong as pork rinds. But, they do have that puffy crunchy texture, the
various seeds giving it a nice nutty flavour.
It’s not
often you’ll find fritters light and moist. Rosalinda’s veggie fritters ($7)
contained plenty of shredded vegetables bound together with a bit of chickpea
flour, enough to hold it together without forming a lump of dough. Accompanied
by a tamarind-ancho dip, to give it that Mexican flavour, I could have easily
eaten them plain if there was a bit more salt in the batter.
If I
didn’t know Rosalinda’s menu was vegan, the young coconut in the ceviche ($14)
could almost fool me for squid. There’s the blast of acidity you’d expect from
ceviche, but the dish lacked the herbs and onion to balance out the lime juice.
Moreover, if the coconut was cut into cubes, it’d combine better with the diced
apple and celery for contrast. With the coconut slices, the dish felt
fragmented as it’s difficult to get all the elements in one bite.
Our
waitress described the chilaquiles rojos
($15) as “nachos”. While not entirely untrue (since the dish is made with a
base of tortilla chips), my friend described it better as “soggy Frito Lays”. You
really need to get to the bottom of the dish for the ones soaked in sauce for
flavour; the ones on top merely taste like moistened chips. With nearly half a
dozen ingredients listed on the menu for the dish, it was still bland and
uneventful, even just a drizzle of crema on top would have been nice.
Not
surprisingly, there are a variety of tacos and tostadas on the menu. I’d skip
the roasted cauliflower tostada ($7)
- the fried shell was brittle (not crispy) and breaks into shards with a slightly
bitter finish. Although the cauliflower florets were nicely roasted, the sikil pak (a pumpkin seed spread) and
herb salsa verde were all colour and
no flavour. The chorizo verde taco
($14) was better, at least the corn shell was warm and soft with great flavours
seeping through from the poblano
tomatillo salsa and cucumber pico de
gallo. Just don’t order it expecting the salty spicy taste of chorizo as the filling tastes more like
spinach paneer than sausage.
In fact,
the taco led us into a conversation as to why vegetarian restaurants insist on
naming dishes after meat to begin with. If it’s their way of appealing to meat
eaters, anyone who orders these tacos expecting chorizo would be sorely disappointed. However, if they called them paneer verde tacos, it’s closer to the
reality and would be just as appealing. I, for one, wish vegetarian restaurants
will just showcase vegetables, legumes, and pulses proudly; not trying to
disguise them as imitation meat.
The dish
I was most excited for was the roasted Japanese eggplant ($16), which when done
well can be so good. Rosalinda’s version was almost there, with plenty of
flavours and textures from the salsa macha,
sikil pak, cashew crema, cilantro,
and pomegranate - I especially enjoyed the spicy kick from the salsa macha – it just lacked salt, something the
spongy eggplant needs a lot of.
Thankfully,
the Casare aioli on the Tijuana-style broccolini ($14) saved the day – adding it
to the eggplant made the dish sing. Consider ordering both dishes together as a
bit of the crunchy roasted broccolini paired with the softer eggplant is a nice
combination.
Although
the spiced churros ($8) with cinnamon sugar and chocolate banana caramel looked
and smelled great, they were so dense it was felt like we were eating fried bread
sticks. Where is the airiness of churros? Since the recipe doesn’t call for
eggs, it’s not as if making the dessert vegan is to blame.
Go for
the rhum roasted pineapple ($8) instead. While the pineapple is a little sweet
and there’s no rum flavour, the coconut whipped creamy is heavenly and the
toasted coconut chips adds a nice crunch.
Even
with my love for Mexican food, I don’t love Rosalinda … it simply doesn’t do
the cuisine justice. Mexican fare has so many vibrant sauces and ingredients.
While Rosalinda’s menu lists many of these, what shows up on the plate looks
pretty but tastes bland. All pomp, but little substance.
How To Find Them
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 133 Richmond Street West
Address: 133 Richmond Street West
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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
Is That It? I Want More!
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