Israel lands in Toronto in a serious way.Parallel has one of the best collection of middle eastern food.To begin you must have one of the two salads. They are both massive and full of flavor.No meal is complete without the hummus and the selection is perfect from the traditional to the adventurous with a truffle hummus.When it comes to falafel you have hit the jackpot with one of the best falafel I have had in years. The crunch and the amount of parsley is off the hook.Finishing off the meal you must try the Babka. The cinnamon and nuts a burst of wow.By the time you finish this meal you will need to enjoy a Turkish coffee or mint tea and talk how amazing this meal hit home.
Very solid middle eastern restaurant with exceptional hummus, pitas, and lots of goodies to go (in their store). Bit out of the way but worth the drive.Not usually a salad guy (and most places highly overrate their salad) but this place’s “parallel salad” has to be one of the best salads in the city. Really well balanced and well seasoned with kale, green onions, lentils, feta, sweet potatoes, etc. They also have some of the best pitas and hummus around- you can purchase these to take home at their store inside (pitas both fresh and frozen) and stockpile these for late night munchies. Their shakshuka is quite good but I would say not quite as solid as Cafe Landwer- bit watery and bit oily but flavours are there. Phenomenal falafels- exactly how falafels should taste- too many bad falafels exist in the city, this place corrects that.I like how you can order off the main menu (with the exception of the mains) for their weekend brunch, and unlike many places- it’s not limited to just the brunch menu. It’s a bit out of the way but it’s right by Blood Brothers, Good Behaviour, Dark Horse, and some really nice little shops (and Famiglia on the weekdays). Well worth a visit
Amazing vegetarian-friendly find! Two of us shared the lemon pesto walnut dip, (several to choose from) delicious mushroom mix pita, and super-tasty parallel salad (enough to take some home). Everything fresh. I had a chai latte which was yummy (but not hot enough). Lots of drink options. Friendly service. Casual trendy industrial setting inside (open kitchen) and covered patio out front. They take reservations. They do take out - and lots of treats available to take home from quiche to cookies, spices, and their tahini of course! Some recipes on their web site. Mostly accessible. Parking in the area might be a bit tricky. Will be back to try more.
Not your typical restaurant but nor should it be! I feel terrible BUT I had good intentions to take some pics of the delicious food BUT the great company we were with totally distracted me so I neglected to take them - Oops. (I’ll take them next time.) The food in a word is DELICIOUS! We all shared a bunch of dishes, which is their idea/concept of the restaurant. Their signature “Parallel Salad” lives up to it’s reputation as damn good food. We shared the Truffle Hummus and the Chicken Schnitzel as well. With NO stomach room left we struggled and managed to wrestle down bite size portions of Baklava which were awesome too! Definitely a restaurant we will be back to! This place is noooo secret so book in advance would be my recommendation.
Would give it a 4.5 if I could. We came here for lunch and were greeted with a warm welcome. The place has a great industrial vibe and an open concept kitchen so you can see everything being prepared fresh.We decided to sit on the patio as it was a beautiful day. We ordered the 6 pc falafel, savoury knafeh, and the mezze with hummus, truffle hummus, lebneh and baba ganoush.All the dips were amazing. The hummus was creamy and smooth and went well with the pillowy pitas. The baba ganoush had a great smoky flavour but did lack a bit of salt. The lebnah was refreshing and light. I would recommend all 4.The falafels were amazing. They had an extremely crispy exterior with a soft interior. The falafels were by the far the best I have had as they flavour was well balanced with fresh herbs and spices. The portion of the falafels are also massive and each of them were the size of a clementine.The savoury knafeh was the weakest dish. The flavours did not come together as I hoped. There was too much goat cheese on the bottom and it lacked salt as well.For dessert we got a slice of cardamom almond halva and it was delicious.Overall, this place is great as everything tastes super fresh and the service was also great. They were training a new staff member with our table and both our servers did an amazing job. The value was also great as we left super full for about $70.
Highly recommended. We love the food and the environment.
Such a gorgeous brunch on the patio! Loved the food and flavours and it tastes even better than it looks. We had the chicken shawarma hummus, falafel, and savoury knafeh and enjoyed every bite. Loved the patio and summer vibes! We'll definitely be back
Such a positive experience! Greeted by such kind wait staff who were very accommodating of my request for a quieter table further from the speakers. The heated patio is divine! Of note, it does have plastic walls so it is not truly open open for those being extra covid cautious. The four dips were amazing!! The walnut pesto is a must try. The knafeh and shakshuka were both delicious and cooked to perfection. The pita served with are so soft. The Turkish coffee comes with halva! The cookie was delish and the date molasses give a fun acid flavor. Highly recommend
Vibe was nice, server was excellent but the portions and respective prices were over the top. $14 for each of the (tiny) dips and something gave 2 people in our group a stomachs ache right after and all night. Prices beyond unreasonable. Unfair to tourists. Canned small beer you pour yourself, into a diner-style glass- no beer glass. Felt bad for the person who paid. Can’t understand the ‘following’.
Delicious food, great service and fun atmosphere