4298 Main Street, Vancouver
Tel: (604) 620-0602
Twitter @ILoveChickpea
Instagram @ilovechickpea
Advice: Walkins welcome.
With it’s focus on Middle Eastern cuisine that is 100% plant based, owners Rotem Tal and Itamar Shani have created a great vibe at their Eastside eatery. Here they have a beautiful dining room with colourful wall murals, the ‘tree’, benches with toys for kids to play. I have dined a few times since they opened late summer with friends and with family, trying several of their dishes.
Loved the Hatzil Baladi, an eggplant dish sprinkled with olive oil then flame-charred, topped with tangy lemon-garlic sauce, classic tahini and garnished with tomatoes, parsley and chopped red onions; as well as their refreshing Limonana a minty lemonade.
The Falafel comes a few different ways as a plate, salad or in a pita which is the way that I usually have it, here their falafels are large and moist, over-filled in the pita with hummus and other fixins’; Shnizelonim with crispy battered smoked tofu with sliced yam and avocado is another good dish as is the Shawarma thinly sliced tempeh marinated in exotic spices, veggie version; and the Shakshuka tangy tomato sauce infused with Mediterranean spices with garlic, onions, carrots, peppers topped with Vegan sausage and chickpeas. Some of the other dishes that I like are the Latkes Gan Eden, Chickpea Fries and the Crispy Eggplant.
With a creative kids menu, fun menu books, as well as a complimentary tahini bar featuring a selection of tahini and other sauces to dash on your dishes; this a great eatery to visit when looking for plantbased eats or a night out with the family.
Review by: Richard Wolak
Vancouver, BC V5V 3P9, Canada