Vegan-friendly
Lacto
Western
Take-out
Canadian
Small vegetarian cafe. Food is gluten free, including soups, cold salads, a variety of crepes, juices, cookies, and more. Prices inexpensive to moderate. Reported closed Jan 2020.
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238 Augusta Avenue (at Kensington Market), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5T2L7
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- Outdoor seating
- Accepts credit cards
- Free Wi-Fi
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Last update on 24 Jan 2020 by Adeline82
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Added by eric on 01 Aug 2007
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31 Reviews
First Review by dkingdesigndotcom
harriettkp
Points +76
Fabulous! Favorite restaurant in Toronto - Edit
Favorite restaurant in Toronto
Read moreMy husband and I loved our lunch. 42 Ingredient Salad!! Vegan Lemon Cheesecake with Meyer lemon sauce OH MY!!! Great soup. Iced matcha.
Plenty of vegan options. Lovely service. Sit inside or outside and watch people in Kensington Market area.
Guest
vegan_cara
Points +301
tasty plant based crepes - Edit
a lovely vibe to this place, with a fantastic selection of hot drinks and both sweet and savoury crepes (the hazelnut and chocolate banana crepe is incredible!!). service is efficient and the it's a touch pricy but still amazing food!
Read morePros: lots of plant based options, great selection of hot drinks
Guest
Paulishko123
Points +78
Crepes!! - Edit
Nice location and super friendly staff
Read morePros: Crepes are interesting
Guest
gisaster25
Points +354
Remarkable salad - Edit
Hibiscus makes an elaborate signature salad with all kinds of unique and tasty ingredients. Someone else posted a photo of it. I order this every time. I also like the vegan ice creams. The ice cream flavours rotate but they've all been great. My favourites are the sea buckthorn and black sesame flavours.
Read moreGuest
Espressony
Points +143
Savory Crepes - Edit
Had the savory crepes w o the fake cheese option ( kind of makes me nauseous anything cheesy :/ ) anyway, very big portion, hard to finish but definitely doable just go hungry. I’ve heard pancakes are good too definitely will go back to try them next.
Read moreClean, minimalist interior, friendly staff.
Pros: Large Entree, Clean
Cons: Closes early
Guest
stam
Points +2188
Great vegan ice cream! Love their pancakes!! - Edit
I come here often with omni friends for their buckwheat pancakes. They are always blown away by how delicious and filling they are! I’m also a huge fan of their vegan ice cream - they have drool worthy flavours (my fav is black sesame).
Read morePros: Great value for delicious food, Vegan ice cream!, Generous portions
Guest
JeppoMAX
Points +685
Stellar crepe - Edit
I also had the soup of the day, which was plenty nice, but oh my god the crepe. I had the mozzarella tomato but what the photos don't show is the luscious cheese the thing is packed with... So unbelievably savoury. Shared a bit of dessert after; the ice cream was rather impressive as well. Very creamy. Cheesecake flavour wasn't exactly my favourite, but it was good. The prices seem to have gone up a bit from a few months ago but it was a pretty hefty portion at least.
Read morePros: MOZZARELLA, Good portions
Guest
XOXO
Points +1840
BEST CREPES - Edit
All GF, plenty of Vegan options.
Read moreEnjoy
Guest
Yasminesan
Points +1953
Healthy and delicious! - Edit
I love Hibiscus! It was reasonably priced, in a great location, and had a really nice atmosphere. The staff were really nice and there was free wifi. The food was absolutely amazing and a welcome break from all the vegan junk food I had been eating! I really recommend the bowl!
Read morePros: Healthy options, Price, Location and staff
Cons: Opens fairly late
Guest
LauraMu
Points +1312
Lovely crepes and salads - Edit
Great gluten-free vegan crepes (I had the vegan mozzarella tomato basil spinach mushroom) and salads. Good service and nice atmosphere.
Read morePros: Nice food, Gluten-free
Guest
Muuuuu
Points +3230
Amazing crepes - Edit
This place is unlike the average veg place in Toronto, offering either (not so) healthy "bowls" or super greasy food, so it was a nice suprise.
Read moreI had a crepe with pear and Daiya, which was fabulous, all the flavours perfectly balanced!
Pros: original, cosy place, nice neighbourhood
Cons: still a lot of ovo lacto options
Guest
SFRobbie
Points +1102
Great spot for outdoor dining - Edit
This casual cafe/restaurant is right in the middle of a very lively, exciting nieighborhood, and the best seats are right off the sidewalk where you can take it all in with great vegan fare. Great soup and crepe. We didnt get to try it, but they had about 10 different flavors of vegan ice cream, including some exotic flavors, so we may be going back!
Read morePros: Neighborhood, Outdoor dining
Cons: not a huge menu but all good!
Guest
veggiewoman
Points +374
Excellent crepes for vegans and non-vegans - Edit
I've been here twice. I am vegan and both times was accompanied by a non-vegan. The crepes are delicious. They offer both vegan and regular cheese. The vegan cheese melts really well. Service was good. Does not appear to be wheel-chair accessible unless you sit on the patio. We had to carry a stroller up the stairs. But they were friendly and did not give us dirty looks when our baby started to cry!
Read morePros: Delicious, Friendly, Reasonable price
Cons: Wheelchair accessibility
Guest
ThatHippieMom
Points +157
Great Ice Cream - Edit
Wasn’t a fan of the crepes but the ice cream was amazing!! Cute little place and great service!
Read morePros: ice cream, service, walrus
Guest
samantha84
Points +85
LOVE THIS PLACE - Edit
Their salad is amazing, and their crepes are equally delightful. I just keep coming back. I only wish they were open for dinner...
Read moreGuest
laurcg
Points +28
Lovely little place - Edit
I come here whenever I'm in Kensington Market and always get the soup/salad combo. Food here is so yummy and nourishing!
Read morePros: Delicious, soothing taste, Affordable
Cons: Limited seating
Guest
SP
Points +1411
wholesome buckwheat crepes - Edit
A small and busy place, great for a brunch or light meal. We had crepes which were so beautifully presented, and as tasty as they looked. They are happy to substitute fillings if you ask. They also do a great soup and salad deal which is reasonably priced.
Read moreGuest
laurac0bb
Points +32
Great brunch place! - Edit
This place is an awesome spot for a late breakfast or for lunch. There servers are pretty friendly, and they're always very helpful answering questions on a what's vegan and what's not without making you feel like a nuisance. The food has been delicious every time I've been. I would compare them taste wise to cafe crepe (which I have had in the past but do not believe it's vegan).
Read moreThe only downsides to this place is it is a bit small, but being in Kensington market, it's not that bad waiting because you can look around for a bit.
Pros: delicious food, easy vegan options , fair prices
Cons: limited seating, wait times
Guest
krissimi
Points +129
Tasty! - Edit
This place is tiny and sweet! I've enjoyed their salad bowls and soups and delicious crepes served with home-made vegan ice cream which is extra yum! They are very affordable and have let me in at closing time to order and eat in... Very kind of them... They also make home-made kombucha!
Read morePros: crepes, food and drink
Cons: not very much seating but that's ok
Guest
Richard Myers
Points +765
Not a lot of seating - Edit
Located in the middle of Kensington, this restaurant is well located for the walk by traffic. We made up part of the 25 customers in a place that could comfortably seat perhaps half that number. Anyway, the crepes and coffee were good. They did offer vegan cheese in the crepes which was a welcome addition.
Read morePros: Patient staff, Good food
Cons: Small restaurant
Guest
maulydaft
Points +649
Liked it but not vegan! - Edit
UPDATE: After so many years I finally went to Hibiscus and didn't have trouble ordering a VEGAN crepe (they use Diaya now). The menu is a LITTLE better now with labeling and the server was right on when I inquired about vegan stuff. The ice creem IS really really good. I went back a week later for take out ice creem but unfortunately they gave me two scoops of the same flavour instead of one and one. Language barrier again I think. But anyway the food IS good...
Read moreA year ago I went in and was excited because the crepes were listed as dairy and egg free - cool! But when I saw all the different options for the insides (savory) they all had cheese. When I inquired about getting one without there was a language barrier and trying to get across "no cheese" wasn't working. I was starving so I had to leave.
Much later I heard from others that this place was vegan. So I vowed to try again.
But deja vu. The menu hadn't changed at all and when I asked for a crepe without cheese I had the same problem as before. But I stuck with it and got a vegan one made and it was very yummy.
They are very nice there and I liked what I ordered. Just too bad that the place really isn't vegan... and they didn't seem to offer vegan cheese either.
Updated from previous review on Tuesday January 05, 2010
Pros: nice crepe!, amazing ice creem
Cons: not vegan, might be some communication errors
Guest
HannahP96
Points +497
Cute, Tasty - Edit
We went there for the ice cream and tried three flavors: almond chocolate, pistachio, and coffee. I liked them all, but it wasn't the best vegan ice cream I've had. I would have preferred more coffee flavor in the coffee ice cream. The place is cute and the staff were friendly, though.
Read morePros: Good location, Friendly staff, Good value
Guest
Ohkamp
Points +140
What food is supposed to taste like - Edit
Simple in preparation but not in flavour, their bowls make for one of the best lunches you can find for under $10. Comes with one of the best soups in the city. It's a deal that can't be beat for food that isn't fried or processed.
Read morePros: Excellent Food, Kind staff, Fresh and refreshing
Cons: None
Guest
fatguts
Points +24
Yummy but RIDICULOUSLY long wait - Edit
I feel bad to say anything negative about this place because the staff were so sweet but good gravy! Four of us went here on a Saturday and all ordered crepes at the same time. One crepe came and the server explained that they only had one crepe grill so our meals would all come out separately. Sure. Fine. More than half an hour later, no one else had their food! They were very apologetic but the wait was ridiculous. Why would a crepe place only have one grill? People all around us were also asking about the whereabouts of their food. I'm not sure they kept the bills in order because food seemed to come out randomly. Food was good...but not good enough to make this worthwhile. I'd go there again by myself or on a weekday but not if I had anywhere to be in a hurry. Everything was fresh and yummy as was everything else we saw others eating. Again, the staff was lovely.
Read morePros: yummy food, fresh food, friendly staff
Cons: long wait for food
Guest
jedzen
Points +108
Good vegan crepes! - Edit
I tried this place just for the vegan crepes. And was not disappointed. I chose a classic crepe, with lemon and vanilla, and 2 flavors of soy ice cream. It came nicely presented with fruits all around. They were out of the ginger ice cream so the girl asked me if i would mind to replace it by chai tea ice cream. Rather than just saying we dont have it, she offered me an alternative, and i really appreciated that. The service was simple, but helpful, and i would totally come back to try more of what they have.
Read moreGuest
Ken4057
Points +1200
Top 3 brunch places in the city - Edit
Oh how I love Hibiscus, and wish it were twice the size.
Read moreIt can get pretty cramped in there. It's as small as a living room.
The soup and salad may seem ho-hum on paper, but it is one of the most heavenly things around. It comes with a thick, homemade, blended hot soup (usually beet or squash based) that will cure any hangover instantly. The salad is actually 7 or 8 items nestled in a pretty bowl. They are all made from veggies, legumes and beans, but they are set apart by their flavours, which are are Japanese-y, and by that I mean unique and subtle: some sweet, some salty, all fantastic.
Their crepes are lovely too, as detailed by other reviewers. The pesto mushroom crepe is yummers.
They also serve gluten-free cookies which are actually edible.
Pros: friendly, great value, tas-TEE
Cons: crowded, cramped, washroom through the kitchen
Guest
VeganJo
Points +209
Sooo delicious - Edit
I love Hibiscus, everything I've eaten there is delicious, they'll make any combination of sweet or savoury crepe and they all taste delicious. At 1st appearance the menu may look like it's not so vegan friendly but they will make any type of vegan crepe you want using fruit, veggies, vegan cheese, pesto, chutney, chocolate, nuts or all of the above! Smoothies, ice cream, coffee all very good and cheap too. Only $5.50 for a crepe which is enough for my lunch, esp with nearly a pint of smoothie for $3.50. Add on another $3 if you want some of the best tasting ice cream in the world (all vegan of course). Best cafe for vegans in Toronto.
Read morePros: Everything delicious, Cheap, Very vegan friendly
Cons: You might have to wait a little while
Guest
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