Zend Conscious Lounge is part of the Taste of Yaletown happening October 13th to 27th. The two-week dining event showcases unique dishes from 31 restaurants in the Yaletown neighbourhood. Restaurants offer exclusive featured menus, special tastings and innovative pairing combinations at set prices of $25, $35, $45.
I had a chance to dine at Zend Conscious Lounge to try a few items off their set menus. Zend Conscious Lounge are an organic plant-based eatery. That means no gluten, no dairy, and they only use the healthiest of ingredients. They are also Canada’s first kava kava bar. Did you know they donate 100% of their profits?
Taste of Yaletown 2016 Menu
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- 2 Mini Burgers
- Taco
- Trio of Salads Sampler
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- Signature Elixers Sampler
- 2 Mini Burgers with yam fries
- Taco
- Kale Caesar Salad
- Homemade Plant-based Cheese Sampler with Raw Seed Crackers
- Dessert Sampler plate ( triple chocolate torte with seasonal dessert)
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- Signature Elixers Sampler
- 2 Mini Burgers with yam fries
- Taco
- Trio of Salad Sampler
- Callelloni Roll
- Two Homemade Plant-based Cheese Sampler with Raw Seed Crackers
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Interior
Their interior is simple, but with a lot of natural wood colours on the table and walls. They have small to large tables, so make sure you make reservations to ensure your group gets a good spot.
Kava Kava
Zend isn’t on the Taste of Yaletown menu, but it was something that we had to try when we were here. Zend is a non-alcoholic beverage that is a blend of Rhodiola, Yerba Mate, Kava, Holy Basil and Ashwaganda. It is traditionally used to relieve stress, depression and anxiety. It makes people more calm and works in 20 minutes or less.
We drank a shot of Zend and it definitely had an earthy taste to it. A few minutes after, you started to feel a numb tingly sensation on our tongue and cheeks. Completely normal apparently.
Signature Elixers Sampler
The elixer samplers come in small mason jars. we got to try 2 and both were good and full of fresh pressed juice and Zend.
Caesar Kale Salad
The salad has oat cheese parmesan crisps, gluten-free amaranth croutons, & prebiotic garlicky avocado dressing. I like this salad, it was simple but it had a good amount of flavour that reminded me of a caesar salad. A nice light item to start off the meal.
Housemade plant-based cheese board
On the cheeseboard, you will find their featured spreads, house-spiced heart-healthy nuts, probiotic veg. with Raw Seed Crackers. The cheeses were very creamy and the seed crackers added needed texture.
Tacos
There’s aren’t any regular tacos, it has dehydrated beans, fresh guacamole, heart-healthy cashew queso, & organic fresh-cut salsa. It’s a nice item to share as 3 come in one order. I love the salsa and it adds a nice freshness to the dish.
The Mini Raw Burger
Their burger is mad of bio-available sprouted grains and served on a seared portobello cap. Very nice bite sized burger. It also has a side of yam fries and a spicy sauce.
Dessert Sampler plate
You will find their triple chocolate torte with cocoa and coconut crust, fudge, and chocolate avocado mousse. Their other seasonal dessert was my favourite.
The Raw Pumpkin Cheesecake has a creamy cashew base, walnut and medjool date crust, pumpkin & pumpkin spices. This was my favourite of the night.
Final Thoughts
For the longest time, I thought Zend was a Japanese restaurant and clearly I was far from wrong. I was glad I was able to have the opportunity to dine at this plant-based eatery. I would really enjoyed seeing the transformation of these raw ingredients into the dishes that were presented on the menu. It’s definitely not a restaurant thats for everyone, but I thought it was an experience that was different than some other restaurants out there. If you wanted to be taken out of your comfort zone, this would be it.
We Rate Zend Conscious Lounge: 
Address:
1130 Mainland Street, Vancouver
Website:
http://zendlounge.com/
