Two locations in Gatineau.

Café Gaïa
Café Gaïa
Foods from Café Gaïa

Comments

2011 Jun 20
On the weekend I tried Cafe Gaia for the first time. I believe this vegetarian restaurant is affiliated with the “New Acropolis School of Philosophy”, which some consider to be a New Religious Movement or cult. That’s besides the point.. I just can’t help it, I’m a religious studies nut.

The restaurant is small (maybe 10 tables) and painted in an eclectic, new age style. The kitchen is open to the dining room. There was only one fellow working that night. Although he was kind of sleepy, he was friendly and attentive.

The menu seems pretty interesting. Cafe Gaia is not vegan or raw (like La belle Verte), so they use a lot of cheese. But to be honest, the menu is mostly sandwiches and salads.

I tried the veggie burger, a vegetarian classic. He first brought me a side salad to eat while he was assembling the burger. The salad was really nice, see picture. Vibrant colours, crisp lettuce, sprouts, cabbage, roasted sunflower seeds among other veggie staples dressed with a tamari based sauce. I would have preferred a better dressing, but I can’t complain.

2011 Jun 20
The burger was interesting. It was very tasty in that fried kind of way. I believe the patty itself is made of sunflowers, textured soy protein and maybe chickpeas. The server/cook did not know when I asked him. This tells me it wasn’t made to order. I’m not complaining about this, especially considering the fact that he was the only one working the restaurant. The burger patty was tasty in that fried kind of way. The lush, vegetarian toppings, pesto and mayonnaise provided a nice counter balance to the patty.

The burger was made with very good bread. This is pretty much the same bread La Belle Verte uses on their non-raw sandwiches. The Cafe Gaia menu says the bread is made in house.

I enjoyed the food, but not the price. This came to about $17.50. It wasn’t bad food, in fact it was pretty tasty, but I think La Belle Verte is far superior. It’s somehow, substantially cheaper too. Don’t think I’ll be back any time soon.

2011 Feb 2
Since I am now working on the Quebec side, I am in search of different places to eat for lunch. My co-worker brought me to Café Gaïa yesterday.

There were three specials, and I tried the sweet potato, cooked with onion confit and topped with melted brie. One potato with their house salad (which was very tasty, their dressing is awesome). With tax and tip, almost came to $20. It was a bit pricy, but there are cheaper options.

The service is quick and efficient, and the food is a great alternative to the traditional food court fare.

2010 Mar 2
I'm surprised that I haven't added an entry for this place yet. About 8 or 9 years ago, when I was working deep in Gatineau, I found the Montclair location and loved to pick up their salade exotique or L'assiette bio when I was too lazy to pack a lunch.

A friend discovered the new location near her office and has enticed me over to visit at lunch time twice now to try it out. The ambience is casual, and the service is friendly and helpful. The food is definitely healthy and filling, and they are handy with sauces to make you focus on the fantastic flavours. There are three specials each day, one of which is the lunch time express dish for those in a rush to get back to the office as well as salads, sandwiches, stirfry type dishes and soups. Today, I had one of the specials, steamed veg and tofu with a peanut/coconut milk sauce that came with a side salad. It was very colourful and tasty.

I haven't tried the desserts on either of my recent visits, so I can't comment on those.

My only complaint is that it's gotten rather expensive to eat there. My meal (didn't have anything extra) came to $15.75 with tax. Ouch. There are somewhat less expensive options (sandwiches, salads and soup) on the menu, so I think I'll opt for one of them next time.