Mela Cafe.

WRITTEN and EATEN by Hu-Yan Leung & Marron Law

Italian… Mela is an Italian, vegetarian/vegan restaurant located on 7 Yorkville Road, a 5 minute walk from the Bloor-Yonge station. The eatery is literally in a garage and the garage door is often left open. Little round stone tables fill the small dining area. Mela serves some delicious dishes, not the stereotypical vegetarian stuff. They place the food on display, freshly pre-made and then heat it up to serve. Everything is topped off with their famous tomato sauce, which is so good, they sell it for $7.99/litre. Made with organic and fresh ingredients, their menu changes seasonally, but has some staple items such as fair-trade organic coffee and some desserts. Often times you see the chef returning with some fresh groceries when you’re sitting there enjoying your meal. The owner and chef here is the former chef of the Four Seasons and Il Fornello, and the food here at Mela reflects his impressive résumé.Previously, we’ve ordered the spaghetti frittata (spaghetti pie), potato & mushroom pie (bottom right) and butternut squash pasta (bottom left). All of these dishes were very authentic, perfectly flavoured and tasted great. Filled with lots of veggies and herbs, eating here made us feel very healthy.However, out of all the dishes, our favourite was the potato & mushroom pie. The earthiness of the mushrooms complimented the starchy flavour of the potatoes amazingly. As we dug deeper into the pie, we discovered bits of cheddar cheese which added just enough saltiness. For a cheese lover, the cheese may not have seemed enough, but it was actually the perfect amount. It was such a change from the overwhelming oiliness of Italian-American restaurants. This time, we ordered the potato & mushroom pie again along with lasagna with spinach and ricotta (bottom right). The lasagna was not your traditional heavy, cheesy and meaty lasagna. It was light, healthy and made me feel good about eating it. As mentioned above, they top everything off with their famous tomato sauce. This tomato is sweet and sour, with chunks of tomato found throughout the sauce. Although they put it in everything, it is not overwhelming as it is so light. You could seriously drink it like a soup! Mela also has some amazing desserts. Previously, we’ve ordered the cannelloni (cylindrical shell filled with cream and dried fruits) and their famous butter tart. The butter tart was seriously the best I’ve ever had. It was the perfect amount of sweet and sticky all in a buttery and flaky tart shell. As tempting as it was to order it again this time, we decided to order the pumpkin pie (bottom left) since it is a seasonal item. The pie was definitely not your traditional pumpkin pie. As usual, it was very light. It tasted of a blend of spices such as nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon and was the texture of a cheesecake combined with a mousse. Like the butter tart, the pie crust was perfect.The price for each dish is around $6-$8 and the desserts range from $3-$5. The prices may seem expensive for the portion size, but it is definitely worth it for the quality and taste of the food. Next time, we will definitely be trying their famous panini.

Mela Cafe
7 Yorkville Avenue
Toronto, ON
M4W 1L1
(416) 916-0619‎

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Hu-Yan Leung and Marron Law are both Guest Stars/ Guest Writers for Good Food Toronto. They are both students who live and enjoy all types of food in Toronto. Marron is a student at York Mills CI, while Hu-Yan (who is my bro) goes to York University and shares my love for deals (especially free ones!).