March 4, 2012

Raw. Daw 11

Naked Sprout - There's nothing to be bashful about being naked. 

Did I get your attention?  Does this sound interesting?  Wondering what it is?  It's not a person, it's not a sprout, it's a restaurant in Burlington, and it's a place you must try! 

I've always wanted to visit this place but never had the chance too.  Today, I got the chance and I'm glad I did.  Once you walk into the restaurant you notice the calm colours, the friendly and relaxed (in a good way) employees who are very knowledgeable with the items on the menu, a "stage", and retail area.  

Intimate seating by day. Stage by night
The place isn't that big, can seat up to 30 people, and at the rush hour (when I went) it got really busy, really fast, and because of this you will notice how small the space really is.  I didn't know that this specialty restaurant would be so popular, in Burlington of all places.

The menu.  Everything is vegan!  Raw vegan, cooked vegan, all vegan!  This is fabulous!  Hamilton doesn't have a vegan restaurant, so it's nice to know that I can go twenty minutes on the highway and get some fab fresh food.  For raw individuals, it has such a wonderful and varied selection too...much better than Fresh on Spadina. 

What I ate:  The raw choices varied from salads, rawlasgna, pizza (this was sold out), and noodles.  I picked the raw special of the day.  A raw burger on an onion "bun" topped with sauerkraut, micro greens, carrots and various sauces.  The look, appealing.  The taste, different.  Definitely not like something I've had before.  Everything was raw friendly, and because of that, the texture was different.  A good different.  The bread was dehydrated but the onions were still moist.  The "bun" was actually flavoured nicely, not as oniony as one would expect.  The burger itself: I don't know exactly what was used to make it, but it was surprisingly nice.  The texture was like a falafel, the taste was nutty.  The sauerkraut was fresh and yummy, like the other veges on the burger.  The sauces were a great accompaniment as well - I wish I knew what they were.  A mix between thousand island dressing and sour cream.  I tried to eat it like a burger, but that proved difficult and messy, so out came the knife and fork.  The burger wasn't big, but it was filling (I was even able to bring a tiny portion home). 
 
Raw burger
Up close and personal










If only the slice was larger
Then it was time for my favourite part of a meal, dessert.  When it comes to dessert, you can't do wrong with a cheesecake.  To get to my heart, make me a cheesecake.  Although I like most of them, my all time favourite would have to be strawberry cheesecake.  Yum yum yum!!!  For the past few days, or at least since Lent began, my dessert has been fruit - good and healthy but sometimes you just need something sinfully delicious.  The Naked Sprout has four raw desserts, two of which are cheesecake.  It was definitely a hard choice between the two, but because they ran out of one, the choice got easier.  So I had the vanilla cheesecake with berry coulis.  It had a nut/seed crust with cashew cheese filling flavoured with lemon juice, agave, coconut oil, coconut butter and vanilla.  The texture was not like regular cheesecakes; instead of being a smooth filling, the cashew cheese crumbled in your mouth.  The lemon juice was strong, so if you don't like lemon, I'd stay away.  The berry coulis (sauce) was as if they just smashed some berries in the back and put it on the plate, which was lovely as it didn't seem processed and it wasn't overly sweet.  The cheesecake and the coulis made a delightful partnership, and this was the best part of the meal bar none.  Although the piece of cake was over priced ($8 for a slice that could have been bigger) it is the one thing that would make me want to go back to the restaurant.  Next time I do go, I hope the pumpkin cheesecake is there.  My mouth is watering right now as I'm thinking about it...

To get more information about the restaurant, visit their site at: http://www.thenakedsprout.com

Until tomorrow, be well!
No surprises here. Behind the scenes,
you can see what's being done with your food

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