What’s on the menu at Lov, the first Toronto location of Montreal’s popular plant-based restaurant
More plant-based places
Name: Lov
Contact: 620 King St. W., 416-366-8569, lov.com, @lovrestaurant
Neighbourhood: King West
Owner: Dominic Bujold
Accessibility: Fully accessible
The food
The menu is mostly vegan takes on comfort food. Although items like mac-and-cheese, burgers and poutine sound like cheat-day indulgences, the Lov team puts a healthy spin on just about every plate. The onion rings, for example, are kombucha-battered, while the fritters are actually packed with jackfruit and quinoa. Even the gnocchi gets a healthy boost from buckwheat and sweet potato. For clean-eating zealots, there are plenty of power bowls and salads to choose from, too.
The drinks
Lov’s wine program focuses exclusively on organic wines. Although there are a few Canadian bottles (Hidden Bench, Tawse), the wine list pulls from California, Spain, France, Italy and Australia, too. The cocktails (which include of trio of Seedlip-based mocktails) are just as much about function as they are about fashion—the short list of tipples were designed to match the décor.
The space
Tucked into the glassed-in ground floor of King West’s newest tower (Shopify and Indigo occupy the top 14 floors), the space is designed to make guests forget the urban sprawl outside. A foyer constructed from antique leaded glasses windows leads into a sun-soaked room done up in tea-party hues of dusty rose, sage and emerald. It’s all very Lewis Carroll, with greenery adding to the fairy tale quality of the space.
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Caroline Aksich, a National Magazine Award recipient, is an ex-Montrealer who writes about Toronto’s ever-evolving food scene, real estate and culture for Toronto Life, Fodor’s, Designlines, Canadian Business, Glory Media and Post City. Her work ranges from features on octopus-hunting in the Adriatic to celebrity profiles.
