Le Commmensal (Vegetarian Buffet Experience)

For a committed vegetarian, there is a certain joy in eating at a restaurant where all menu items are vegetarian.

Especially so when it is a buffet spread.

More so when you are in a French speaking province when you do not know the language.

What a joy when vegetarianism as a way of life is actually appreciated and even celebrated!

Le Commensal is just that.

An elaborate spread of vegetarian dishes.

All with a clever catch.

You pay by the kilo  .

Aha.

That makes you present to what you eat. You dont waste anything.

Especially when the price is steep.

This restaurant was nestled in the busy shopping are of St. Jean – Quebec City where parking was a feat. We were lucky to find parking nearby. The street was a tourists paradise.

There was a fair amount of seating in the restaurant. The owners and the waiters very cordial.

The spread, needless to say was delectable.

What do you choose when there is so much to choose from?

The ‘gourmet pizza’ or the lasagna?

Or the ratatouile or the vegetable pie?

The madras curried tofu vegetable mix or the mushrooms sauteed with zuchini?

The brown rice or the coriander rice?

The array of salads with exotic vegetables.

Soups.

You are careful what you choose. You dont want to waste anything.

This is how a buffet should be. I wince as I think of how much food gets wasted in buffets that I have had elsewhere.

The dessert buffet is equally attractive.

Cheesecake where the cheese actually looks different. More of home made feel as opposed to the slick smooth cheese of the commercially available cheesecakes.

A nice raspberry sauce to go with the cheesecake.

An array of chocolate based dessert.

And for the connoiseur of unprocessed food, fruits from everywhere.

What you pay at the end of the meal is close to what you would pay in a full service restaurant in the area. The difference is that the vegetarian in you is wholly satisfied.

you leave the restaurant actually wanting to go back there again.