The Clever Rabbit - New Vegan Restaurant in Edmonton

Not too long ago, a new vegan / vegan friendly restaurant opened up in Edmonton. I don't know how it took me so long to get there, but I finally went this past weekend. I dragged my ass out of my apartment before noon and headed out for one of the first vegan brunches at restaurant.. possibly ever.



Clever rabbit is on 124th Street and just north of 107th Avenue. It is only open for breakfast and lunch which for me means that I will only be able to get there on the weekends. Walking in at noon on a Saturday, I was welcomed by a display of vegan baked goods. For vegan people in this city... you know that this is a big deal.

The menu was pretty simple, but had a number of good options. As someone that has no friends that are vegan, what I was most impressed with was that they default all items on the menu to vegan, but will sub in non-vegan on request. What a nice change! I never really thought that I minded that every time I go out to eat, I have to ask for things to be substituted or taken out of dishes... It is really nice to have things vegan by default and people can add when they want something more... carcass-y. Why can't all restaurants be that way?

Vegan donair - and yes, it is good! No meat necessary here

 So my thoughts on Clever Rabbit? I love the name and the casual atmosphere inside. They don't seat many in there, so I really hope that they promote the vegan baking and get some take-away traffic in addition to sit down. I was a little worried when I walked in as the place was pretty empty, but it seems that everyone was just sleeping in and within 30 minutes of getting there, the tables were full. The staff was friendly and prompt. I had a coffee which was really good. I normally wouldn't even comment on the coffee, but it was just a good brew. The kind where you don't need milk and sugar. They also have smoothies there, which I did not try, but may next weekend. One drawback for me was they had juices, but they were all canned and carbonated. Since they are doing the breakfast thing and the smoothie thing, it would have been really great to have fresh juice... but pretty minor I think. The carbonated raspberry lemonade was awesome.

This is what a garden salad SHOULD look like!

My sister, who came out with me, had tofu scramble and it looked and smelled really good. For the $9.00 price tag, you got a lot. She barely got through half of it. I decided to try the vegan donair. First time I had seen one of these and it was so good. Good enough that I wish these guys were open at 3:00 am for post bar munchies. Since they're not, I can wait patiently for the next morning. I had a salad with my donair and though just a garden salad, it was more like the salads I make at home. Lots of seeds, nuts, fruit and veggies. So much better than most restaurants where a garden salad is romaine/iceberg and some carrots and onion.

Why we went here in the first place - Vegan breakfast!
Behold scrambled tofu.. even better than non-vegan scramble

After brunch, we got some homemade vegan donuts and they were so, so good! A little on the heavy side (often happens I find in vegan baking), but the flavour was bang on and it cured a two year craving for donuts. I really wanted a cinnamon bun, but the last one was taken while I was there. Another reason why I need to go back. I have really struggled to find good decent vegan baking in this city. There are some fabulous cupcakes and muffins out there (Pure muffins, so good!), but beyond that, I have to make my own. Sometimes, I just want someone else to do the cooking and cleaning.

In short, vegan or not... Go give Clever Rabbit a try. I think you will be impressed!