Eat mindfully, live blissfully
For some time I’d been looking forward to visiting my “sort of” doppelgänger.
My food blog is called Kitchen Bliss and this Waterdown restaurant is called Bliss Kitchen.
The similarities end there when you consider that many Hungarian recipes on my blog begin with lard, to which is added meat and carbohydrates.
Bliss Kitchen, on the other hand, could be described as elevated vegan. Their slogan — “eat mindfully, live blissfully.”
They opened four years ago. Co-owners Meagan Wright and Broghen Culver-Brush had met in a yoga class where Meagan was the instructor, and Broghen and her mom students.
Wright, who had experienced natural healing by adopting healthy eating habits, works the front of the house creating the milks, chia puddings and baked goods.
Broghen is a self-taught cook and learned much in the kitchen of her mother, who was a trailblazing vegan. They promote “a vegan lifestyle that has a really solid foundation in health,” using plant-based whole food ingredients and taking measures to ensure they stand apart from what Wright calls “junk food vegan restaurants.”
Vegans consume no animal products — no meat, eggs or dairy — but Wright stresses that by offering food that is not fried or prepackaged and has no preservatives, and by making everything from scratch, they are working to a higher standard.
Dining at Bliss Kitchen is not for vegans alone, and most diners will find menu items that satisfy. Supremely friendly and attentive table service included help with menu questions. The decor comes care of Wright’s talent for design, honed while studying to be a landscape architect. Live-edge wooden tables are arranged with pink chairs and banquette seating. The white minimalist industrial space is splashed with a medley of pastels — yellow, pink, green and lavender. Mason jar drinking glasses sit next to smoky grey flatware.
Agreeing that smoothies can be too filling, we skipped the Superfood Smoothies (described as nutrient dense blended goodness, available as a beverage or in a bowl topped with granola, coconut and chia seeds).
I was cheered up on a grey day with one of their lattes — the Golden Glow, which delivers turmeric, cinnamon and nutmeg with steamed “milk” but not dairy instead, coconut or cashew plant-based “mylks” made on site.
I chose cashew milk made from sprouted cashews, dates and filtered water. Coffee and a variety of teas are also available.
As an appetizer, we chose Sprouted Tacos — roasted Brussels sprouts, carrot, purple cabbage, sweet potato fries, sunflower Parmesan and turmeric tahini sauce. We gave a thumbs-up for the sauce and the sprouts, which were cooked perfectly. The menu described the tacos as “nestled in a romaine shell.” Translation — they were wrapped in a romaine lettuce leaf. This worked and certainly may have been healthier than a regular taco shell.
But health came at the cost of missing the crunch that so many diners like. With their decision to fry nothing, their fries are also oven-baked, and on this day were more flaccid than crispy.
Crispy was also missing in sweet potato latkes served with cashew sour cream. The sweet potato was spiralized and handformed with no binder. Regrettably, the texture and flavour were mediocre and our order seemed slightly burned. The bowls — common in vegan restaurants — had either an organic brown rice or zucchini noodle base. The Conscious Curry version was rice — topped with roasted sweet potato, roasted cauliflower, caramelized onion, avocado and coconut curry sauce. The sauce was tasty and arrived premixed with the rice, which was cooked beautifully — light and fluffy. (Wright said it’s made in a rice cooker for perfection every time.)
The promised caramelized onions had been sautéed to the translucent stage, thus underperforming as a sweet, full flavour booster. The oven-roasted cauliflower, seasoned with pink Himalayan salt and fresh cracked pepper, begged for a bolder flavour.
Burgers are popular in vegan restaurants and Bliss Kitchen offers several on gluten-free buns. We chose the Magic Mushroom Burger — a sweet potato and black bean patty, with romaine lettuce, roasted mushrooms, caramelized onion and house-made cheese sauce. Again, the expected rich flavour from caramelized onions was missing, thus disappointing.
Vegan desserts can be delicious and we shared a very chocolatey peanut butter brownie, chosen from an impressive dessert selection.
Bliss Kitchen’s cooler displays lovely chia puddings and raw organic juices from Greenhouse that have been curated into juice cleanses that can be ordered. They make custom cashew cakes, and run workshops on topics such as nutrition, and making nut cheese.
A popular event is Yoga & Brunch, run on the last Sunday of each month. The Sunday brunch menu offers sweet and savoury options and includes waffles and vegan eggs.
Bliss Kitchen has attracted a good crowd, and this was evident during our mid-afternoon visit. It’s a testament to Wright’s assertion that “a lot of people come to us because they know we’re a healthy option that also tastes good and fills you up.”
Diane Galambos is a food writer who shares stories and recipes at her blog kitchenbliss.ca. Follow her on Instagram http://instagram.com/ kitchenblissca