They say the restaurant business is a tough one… I wanted to share our experience at Hype Food Co. in Toronto to help support this family-owned, business. It is so rare to find a place I feel comfortable allowing Kate to eat at with her food allergies so when I do, I really want to support them. Families are flocking from out of the country to enjoy an allergy-safe meal at a restaurant with their families and my instagram followers were messaging me to recommend we try it too! So we did…. here’s my review:
Dinner and a Movie?
I asked Kate recently if she’d like to do dinner and a movie… as I told her about a new allergy-safe restaurant that I learned about in Toronto she jumped up and down for joy… “Yes Mom!!!” Something that so many others take for granted is a special occasion for our family – the opportunity to eat out together at a restaurant.
When we arrived at Hype Food Co., we were excited! We walked in and were immediately warmly greeted by owners Pauline Osena and her husband. The restaurant looks great inside – a chic eatery in Leslieville – and the best part of all; my daughter feeling like she is at a normal restaurant! She even exclaimed afterwards on the drive home that Hype Food Co. isn’t like an “allergy” restaurant but just a normal restaurant with good food that doesn’t happen to have top allergens on their menu. What she means by this is that they aren’t trying to fake cheese on pizza with a product that tastes “weird’ to the non-allergic of us out there for example.
The food is simply delicious and we pretty much ordered everything that we could and even brought stuff to take home! We were all stuffed by the end of it! Pure gluttony! The most exciting part for Kate? Getting to share food and not have to worry – again something so normal for others is a special treat for our allergy kid – being in a restaurant where EVERYONE is eating food that is safe for her. Only an allergy mom or dad can truly appreciate how special that is!
Step 1: Build Your Meal
To begin you build your fresh box – starting with a base of white steamed rice, brown noodles (gluten-free), zoodles (zucchini noodles), salad greens or a combination thereof. To this you can choose from a myriad of toppings -choose one or take them all… I think Vince and I took one of everything! They were all so fresh and delicious! I even added apple to mine which I wouldn’t have thought of adding but just loved! The choices are:
- Tomatoes
- Sliced mushrooms
- Broccoli
- Roasted Chick peas
- Shredded carrots
- Jalapeno
- Olives
- Apples
- Red onion
- Parsley
- Cilantro
- Green onions
- Spinach
One of each please!
To this you then add your protein – choices include beef brisket, chicken, 2 choices of organic beans (kidney or black beans), sunflower seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, and chia seeds. If you are a carnivore, the meat is absolutely delicious! Succulent and juicy! Writing this is making me want to go back today!!! To top it off you choose from their absolutely delicious homemade sauces and/or dressings – choices include:
- Mushroom and Black Pepper gravy
- Marinara Sauce
- Coconut Green Curry
- Sunflower Satay sauce
- Chimichurri (cold)
- Thai sweet chili sauce (cold)
- Maple balsamic vinaigrette (cold)
- Lime cilantro jalapeno vinaigrette (cold)
- Olive oil + Plain balsamic vinegar
Vince’s Hype Food Co. box with Chicken and Coconut Green Curry Sauce
My favourite was the Coconut Green Curry… I asked Pauline if she can please bottle it for sale! I had the Sunflower Satay Sauce combined with Lime cilantro jalapeno vinaigrette on my meal and Kate had the Mushroom and Black Pepper Gravy.
Mine…all mine! Beef with Sunflower Satay sauce and Lime cilantro jalapeno vinaigrette
Kate’s with mushroom and black pepper gravy…it was so delicious like a homemade stew and not too spicy for kids!
All three were absolutely delicious! So flavourful and fresh. We also tasted the Thai sweet chili sauce which was delicious too! I am literally drooling as I write this just thinking about it!
Yummmmmmm
Did you know your stomach has 2 halves?
My kids tell me all the time! The first half is the meal half and the second half is the dessert half. So even when the meal half is completely full you always have room for dessert because that half is still empty! Who knew?! So…. on that note we had to choose desserts! All three of us went for the soft serve Dole Whip in Strawberry and Pineapple Twist. I believe they also have Mango now for summer!
Dairy-free Soft Serve?! Yes, please!
How could we not? It’s very rare to get ice cream that is safe for Kate with a dairy and nut allergy so we had to indulge in this! We got almost all of the toppings too of course – Allergy-safe chocolate chips, Homemade Salted Coconut Caramel Sauce (I drank this out of the little cup – we ordered it on the side and I couldn’t resist – don’t judge me!!! It was soooo good!) and homemade chocolate syrup. They also have sunflower seeds that are allergy safe!
After all of this we were absolutely stuffed and in our happy place of purely satisfied contentment! But….there were all these amazing baked goods that we wanted to try so we just had to order some to go!
Cookies, brownies, cupcakes, donuts…
All baked goods are peanut-free, tree-nut-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free and sesame-free.
- Breakfast cookies
- Chocolate Chip cookies
- Red Kidney bean brownies
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Vanilla Cupcakes
- Strawberry shortcake Cupcakes
- Mocha Cupcakes
- …and more!
Allergy-safe cookies, donuts, brownies and more! Heaven!!!
We bought a brownie and chocolate cupcake to take with us for later…but truth be told we ate it right after we left! We just couldn’t wait to try it!
Allergy-safe Cupcake to go! This was my favourite dessert!
We also purchased some Plentil chips (Enjoy LIfe Brand) to take to the movies so that Kate would have a safe dairy-free, nut-free alternative to popcorn while we sang along to Mamma Mia 2! Yes, Vince is a good sport!
Enjoy Life Brand Plentils
They also have a beast of a cappucino/espresso machine which I was really tempted to indulge in but honestly both stomach halves were full to the brim at this point! I will definitely be back for a coffee and hopefully more chatting with owner and fellow allergy mom Pauline again soon!
Saying Goodbye for now but promising to be back soon!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Hype Food Co. for one of our best experiences this summer! We will be back often!
Melissa
Do you want to try Hype Food Co.? Guess what?! Pauline has generously offered a $50 gift certificate to one of my lucky followers for Hype Food Co.! How awesome is that?!!! Simply comment below and tell us why you want to win and your name will be entered in a draw to win! I will also be sharing this giveaway on social media so head on over to my instagram, twitter and facebook feeds and you can enter there too! You will receive one entry for each comment you leave! Share with a friend who might like to win too! Maybe they will take you with them if they win! 😉 Win-win!
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