For lovers of Asian food who would also like to eat healthy, why not venture out of Chinatown or Korea town and visit Café 668? A favourite spot for vegetarians with a taste for pan-Asian cuisine, Café 668 impresses with its pleasing décor, its large menu, and its rich flavours.
Getting over the hurdle
Décor
interior
Picture courtesy of cafe 668
The restaurant is one and a half storey tall, with the ground level containing the main dining area and the raised level further back housing the kitchen, a smaller dining area and a saltwater aquarium. The interior design is clean, open concept, and modern, with white patterned-stone walls, beige booths, and dark brown wooden tables, chairs, and flooring. Lighting comes from small chandeliers and wall lamps. Two of the walls feature floor-to-ceiling windows, which are attractive and let in ample sunlight, but also expose the interior to the winter cold. There is also a patio for outdoor dining during the warmer months.
Menu selection
Café 668 boasts a large menu with many spicy items and deep fried delicacies to savour. For those who prefer to avoid the spice and the calories, the menu offers many other choices, including the veggie wonton soup and the lemongrass veggie chicken with pineapple that I sampled.
Lemongrass Veggie Chicken
For appetizers, Café 668 teases health-conscious eaters with a variety of fried goods, like spring rolls, fried tofu, fried mushrooms, and a tempura veggie platter. Luckily, there are also healthier salads and soups, including the Café 668 salad (Julienne cucumber, celery, and carrots tossed with in-house dressing, all topped with tofu, wheat gluten, and nuts) and two different hot and sour soups.
Wonton Soup
When it comes to the main course, there is a wide selection of Asian delights to enjoy. Like many Asian restaurants, you can order dishes based on rice and noodles or dishes based on meats…in this case vegetables. The rice and noodle dishes include fried rice done house special style, or with satay or curry sauce, and noodles with a plethora of 10 vegetables, pad thai, or vermicelli. You may also be interested in other main dishes like noodle soups, greens such as bak choy and snow peas, veggie fish and duck (both made of bean curd), veggie curry, veggie beef with black bean sauce, and sweet and sour veggie chicken.
With the assortment of dishes available for appetizers and main course, it is rather surprising that the menu does not offer desserts.
Service
Service was prompt and polite at Café 668. I noticed that take-out orders were also very popular.
Portion size
The dishes I sampled were both ample for my appetite, with the veggie wonton soup being remarkably large.
Price
Prices at Café 668 are in the low- to mid-range, with appetizers from $4.50 to $8.99, and main dishes from $8.50 to $14.99.
Location
885 Dundas St. W., at Claremont St., west of Bathurst St.
By TTC: take the 505 Dundas streetcar and get off at Claremont St.
By car: there are plenty of street parking spots on Dundas.
Hours
Monday-Thursday: 5:30p.m.-9:00p.m.
Friday: 1:30p.m.-10:00p.m.
Saturday: 1:30p.m.-10:00p.m.
Sunday: 1:30p.m.-9:00p.m.
Contact info
416 703 0668
Official website
