Hawthorne Food & Drink -Serves up good things

Do you ever go to a restaurant and wonder what eating your meal is doing for your community and the planet?  Well, I had the opportunity to try Hawthorne Food & Drink's NEW MENU that serves up food sourced from local producers and sustainable and produced with little waste all while training future chefs to gain employment in the culinary industry in their efficient kitchen.  

It really does come full circle to helping the local community.  It helps local vendors know the people that purchase their products and vice versa and in training young chefs to know how to cook everything they receive in terms of products used to generate less waste it will in turn make them better chefs and more employable in the culinary world.  And the ripple effect on the planet will thank them in the future if other restaurants adopt this same model.  Imagine if every food service industry operated this way.  There might be food for all for generations to come.

Not only does this operation #DOGOOD it also Tastes Good.  

I was so impressed with everything about this restaurant.  I have never been to the restaurant before but I have tried small bites of their food at festivals and events so I knew it would be good but I was blown away at how perfectly seasoned and thoughtful everything was.  The plating was gorgeous to say the least but the flavours weren't bland or overpowering.  I prefer things to be less salt and more natural flavour and this is how these dishes were prepared.  If you have a salt addiction you may want to add salt but I think this really is the better way to do it.  Add your own to taste because you can't take it out if it's too much.
.I had a fantastic meal that had many of my favourite vegetables as the main ingredient.

The Menu included:

• Bar Snack - Pickled eggs, tumeric and grape juice.  I loved them.
• Cauliflower 3 ways with deep fried crunchy florets that just crunched in your mouth.
• Roasted bone marrow with lardons and mini caramelized brussel sprouts
• Roasted butternut squash topped with fried shallots
• Schmaltz Carbonara with Chicken
• 3 potatoes, red, purple and fingerling with radish
• Cereal coated fried chicken and slaw (not pictured)
• Panna cotta with chocolate and pumpkin sauce (not pictured)

My only thing that I wished was that the lighting which is gorgeous for people and really interesting
but it's not great for instagramming pics of their fantastically plated dishes.  I didn't post the chicken and the dessert because they lights went down even more so I couldn't get a good enough photo to post.

I returned to Hawthorne once again and tried a few other things like their Burger and spiced fries and this fish dish and fantastic potato croquettes.

This restaurant concept is similar to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant in the UK but really is more about the local community and helping young chefs that need a break.

Location:  Hawthorne Food and Drink
                 60 Richmond Street West
                 Toronto, ON
Website:  http://www.hawthorneto.ca
Closed Sat & Sunday.