Tag: fake meat

A Tasty Wrap at Fresh

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

A Tasty Wrap at Fresh
Location: 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke (inside Sherway Gardens)
Website: https://www.freshkitchens.ca/

I’ve been to Fresh a couple of times, and thought it wasn’t much better than fine on either visit.  So I can’t say my expectations were particularly high on this visit, but you know what?  I thoroughly enjoyed my wrap.

A Tasty Wrap at Fresh

I ordered the broccoli Caesar wrap (“Roasted broccoli, heritage blend lettuce, chick’n tenders, Caesar dressing, grilled whole wheat tortilla,”) and when it came, I thought: uh oh.  That’s too much green.  That is an impenetrable-looking wall of green.  That can’t be good.

But the broccoli was nicely roasted and liberally dressed with a zippy, garlicky Caesar dressing, and yeah, it worked.  The “chick’n” tenders were crispy and warm from the fryer, and the fake chicken inside was close enough to the real deal that, with all the veggies and dressing, it was quite passable.

I got a salad on the side with the house dressing, which was maybe the oiliest salad dressing I’ve ever tasted?  The pool of oil eventually made its way to the wrap and made it slick with grease and hard to eat.  But aside from that?  A surprisingly tasty meal.

Beyond Burger at Tim Hortons

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Beyond Burger at Tim HortonsLocation: 4100 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/index.php

The Beyond Burger at Tim Hortons is way better than it has any right to be.  Is it particularly good?  No, not really.  Would I order it again?  Absolutely not.  But it’s perfectly acceptable.  It’s not gross.

Maybe that’s a low bar.  But Tim Hortons isn’t exactly known for having an appetizing lunch selection.  And their last foray into the fake meat game — the Beyond Sausage breakfast sandwich — featured an impressive emulation of actual meat, but was otherwise pretty lousy.

Beyond Burger at Tim Hortons

Beyond Meat has clearly been evolving their product since I tried the Beyond burger at A&W last summer.  I found that one to be off-puttingly mushy.  The texture of the burger I just had at Tim’s was much, much better.

If you compare it to a good quality burger, it’s pretty much garbage.  But!  It actually compares quite favourably to the frozen burgers that are served all over the city.  If I had eaten it blind, that’s what I would have assumed it was.  It’s impressive.

Beyond Burger at Tim Hortons

In fact, I think I might have liked this a bit better than that type of frozen burger; those ones sometimes have a gamy, off meat flavour that’s a bit off-putting.  This one, on the other hand, has a generic meaty flavour that’s not unpleasant.  Again, it’s not particularly good, but it’s not bad either.  It’s fine.

They top it with cheese (which isn’t melted, of course), lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mustard, which successfully covers up the patty’s lack of a beefy flavour.   Between the assertive condiments and the impressively accurate cheap burger texture, you’d never know that you’re not eating a lousy (but real!) hamburger.  I know that’s not exactly high praise, but I’m actually really impressed.