Whether you’re a tourist or a local, being vegetarian or vegan in Toronto and the general Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is getting easier and easier and better and better. The title of this post is vegetarian or vegan in Toronto, Canada but the areas I am going to cover are:

Brampton and Mississauga
Toronto (city)
Niagara Falls

The good news is that there are more places, than I know about, to be able to cover in this post. The bad news is…I can’t cover everything.

About My Experience

I visit Toronto two times a year and have been doing so for the last 11 years (it’s currently 2023). I have been a vegetarian that entire time and over the last 5 years have veered more towards vegan, though when I travel am fine with vegetarian.

Vegetarian or Vegan in Brampton and Mississauga

Indian Food

Brampton is a suburb of Toronto and a city of immigrants. In fact about 80% of the population is a “visibly ethnic minority”. Within that about 65% is South Asian (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bangladesh).

Many of the foods from those countries, especially from India, are naturally vegetarian and vegan-friendly. There is no dearth of Indian food in Brampton. To be honest, the first time I visited Brampton, I was shocked (in a happy way) by how “Indian” it is. There are even billboards in Hindi and Gurumukhi.

Being vegetarian in Brampton is very easy.

Being vegan in Brampton is a bit more challenging.

Aside from Indian food there’s pizza, Mediterranean, Mexican, less southeast Asian cuisine such as Thai and Vietnamese but there are a handful of places.

With regards to Indian food, south Indian food is much more vegan-friendly than north Indian cuisine which uses a lot of cream and paneer.

Dosa, uttapam, idli and sambar, and vada are all vegan foods. Chaat can be vegan if you ask to have it without yogurt.

My favorite north Indian restaurant in Brampton is Doaba. It gets its name from the city of Doaba, which is a small city in the state of Punjab in northern India. The closest big city is Jalandhar. You know you’re in the right place when every time you go there’s a huge line. The line at Doaba is always long.

Doaba is a 100% vegetarian restaurant that has dine-in, takeout and catering. We always do takeout and love the food (especially the shahi paneer) so I imagine eating it there, right when it’s been freshly made, would be even better.

They are doing some major renovations right now (September 2023) and it looked like they’re really upgrading the dine-in area so it’ll probably be pretty nice when it’s complete.

I used to go to Brar’s but my relatives liked it less and less while their prices kept going up and up.

My favorite south Indian restaurant, in the area, is Saravana Bhavan. It’s actually in Mississauga, not Brampton. Mississauga is the next suburb over. This is the largest Indian restaurant in the world – meaning the most locations. 100 locations in 22 countries. I’v eaten at a few locations in the US and Canada and the restaurants themselves are nothing to write home about in terms of look nor location, but the food is good (though the sambar is spicy).

Vietnamese Food

I have eaten at Saigon House vegan Vietnamese restaurants in Brampton. It was pretty good. The ambiance is casual and the restaurant is in a strip mall so you’re not going there for ambiance.

Dai Bi Chay in Mississauga is also completely vegan. I have not been there but my relatives recommend it.

Vegan Donuts in Brampton

Bloomers is a 100% vegan donut shop in Brampton. They have a huge selection from apple fritters, stuffed donuts, chai flavor, Biscoff flavor to regular old glazed. And they are all delicious. The donuts are very big and make for an awesome tasting party with family and friends. You don’t need to place an order ahead of time – just go to the store. But once they run out of flavors they my not restock them.

We typically buy a half dozen and take them home. We cut them each into small pieces and have a tasting party with fresh homemade chai. Though they do have a small seating are to enjoy your coffee and goodies there as well.

In addition to donuts, they have vegan cakes, baked goods like bagels and coffee.

There’s also Rashmi’s Bakery in Brampton. They make vegan baked goods and cakes for special occasions. I have never been there but according to their website they can make vegan cakes when ordered.

Daddy O Doughnuts and British Baked Goods has vegan donuts at their East Mississauga location. I have never been, but it’s another option.

Vegan and Vegetarian at Square One Shopping Mall

Whenever I visit Toronto, I usually go to the Square One shopping mall. They have two big food areas: the food court and The Food District. The Food District has a more upscale feel.

Both have plenty of seating and both are pretty vegetarian-friendly and not very vegan-friendly. To be clear, I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to any of the restaurants nor eateries there. You know how some malls have restaurants that people go to just because they’re good restaurants that you’d wanna go to? Well (in my opinion) the restaurants at Square One are for people who get hungry…while shopping.

I am not accustomed to seeing any Indian food in the food court of a major mall, usually it’s Subway, Sbarros, Burger King etc. places like that. So the fact that there’s Amaya at Square One (as well as the Eaton Centre) is pretty awesome, in my opinion.

They have vegan and vegetarian food – it’s good fast Indian food. There are a couple more Indian restaurants at Square One as well. I liked the daal makhani and chai at Amaya. Those are both vegetarian dishes (not vegan). But beware the daal makhani is spicy!

Basil Box has vegan and vegetarian Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. The food is so-so, but again, really cool to even have that option in the mall.

Boston Pizza is popular in Canada. They have vegetarian options but even many of the pizzas that are not vegetarian on the menu can be customized to be so. This place is not for vegans.

Earl’s Kitchen + Bar has a plant based section on the menu. The menus vary by location. The Square One location has 7-8 plant based items that range from Asian inspired, to pizza, a burger and salad.

Sweet Jesus makes beautiful over-the-top ice cream sundae style delicious goodness. It’s not clear from their website whether they have vegan options at Square One. I saw two vegan options at the Niagara Falls location. And the line was huge even though there are a lot of other places to get ice cream in Niagara.

In addition you’ll find the usual types of food you’d expect in a food court: french fries, pretzels, Cinnabon, Panera, Bubble Tea, juice places, Tim Horton’s and frozen yogurt. There are several Asian and burger places I didn’t mention because they aren’t vegetarian nor vegan-friendly.

Vegan and Vegetarian in Downtown Toronto

There are a lot more places for vegan and vegetarian food in downtown Toronto than I covered here. Below are places I have tried.

Planta Queen is a 100% plant based restaurant in downtown Toronto. While being a casual restaurant it definitely has an upper scale feel as you can see from the photo below. We went to celebrate our ten year anniversary.

Though it is a totally pant based restaurant non-vegetarians and non-vegans will enjoy it!

The Asian-inspired dishes at Planta Queen feature dumplings, salads, tasty broccoli and so much more. The dishes are served family style and come out as they are ready making it a great place to go with a group so you can try lots of items. My favorites dishes that I have ordered every time:

Bang Bang Broccoli
Chick’n fried mushrooms

On my most recent visit, earlier this week, we ordered the Chili Peanut Noodles. They were a little spicy but delicious. We also ordered the Peking Jackfruit salad, which was also very good. I’d order both again.

For dessert we had the matcha cheesecake and chocolate brownie. Both were amazing.

Don’t get confused. There is Planta and Planta Queen – they’re two different things with different menus. I have been to Planta in Yorkville. I love the ambiance there but the menu is more pizza and burgers (though they do have the Bang Bang Broccoli and Chik’n Mushroom dishes). I prefer Planta Queen in the Entertainment District in downtown Toronto.

Thai food. I ate Salad King on Yonge Street, in downtown Toronto once and liked the food as well as the ambiance. It had a lively, fun feel. I don’t remember what I ordered but they have a mango salad and a Veggie Lovers section on the menu with 7 items. A lot of Thai food is naturally vegan…so yay!

Indian food. When I went to see Harry Potter and The Cursed Child at the Murvish Theatre, I saw that next door is Khazana by Sanjeev Kapoor. Sanjeev Kapoor is a very famous Indian chef. I took a look at the menu and they had several vegan options. We didn’t eat there as we had already had a lot of Indian food during that trip. But it looked really good and like a good date place.

Khazana Indian restaurant is next door to the Murvish Theatre and has several vegan options.

Vegetarian and Vegan in Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls has more than pizza, pasta and french fries for vegans and vegetarians. Though we enjoyed the pizza at Antica in the Clifton Hill area – very close to the Sky Wheel. They have Al indoor and outdoor seating. It’s a nicer Italian restaurant and judging from the huge size of the restaurant and how packed it was, it was clear that we were in the right place.

We ordered a pizza and a salad for two and it was delicious. Sorry, I don’t have any photos. We were starving so as soon as the food arrived we dove right in and I didn’t have a chance to take a photo. It was also really nice to sit outside and enjoy the weather and vibrant scenery.

Every time we go to Niagara Falls we always eat at Paramount. It’s a Mediterranean restaurant in the Casino’s food court. They have so many vegan and vegetarian options. The food is delicious and the service is excellent. They have a nice outdoor seating area too. Unfortunately views of the Falls are obstructed by very dense, very tall trees but the trees are beautiful and even though there’s no view of the Falls, it’s still nice to sit outside. We got takeout this time but I’ve also been with a group and enjoyed it. By the way, this is a great place if you have a large group.

For dessert we got a cinnamon roll from Cinezo in the same food court as Paramount as well as an apple fritter from the Tim Horton’s also in the same food court but those items were not vegan. By the way, Paramount is open until 1am and Tim Horton’s is 24 hour.

The Sweet Jesus in Niagara Falls has two vegan ice creams. We didn’t try it but it was awesome to see that.

Summary

In this post we covered where to get good vegan and vegetarian food in the greater Toronto Area (GTA). Specifically there are recommendations in Brampton, Mississauga, downtown Toronto and Niagara Falls.

Thankfully I can’t cover everything that’s available. But I did review the places I have been. The good news is there are a lot of options and they seem to increase every year.