Seattle eats: Cafe Flora - a long, raving review

In Vancouver, if you use the Naam as your measuring stick for vegetarian restaurants, then you would expect every animal friendly establishment to be full of mediocre food and hipsters (and sometimes David Suzuki). So naturally, I was a little dubious when my sister (the vegetarian in the family) added Cafe Flora to the dining docket on our Seattle trip. (It's the first hit on Google if you search "vegetarian restaurant Seattle").

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I was happy to discover that Cafe Flora puts the Naam to shame ten times over. You can consider this review as two giant thumbs up + a jaunty celebratory dance. First, it has a gorgeous, open airy design with huge windows that they keep open in the summer and despite the fact that it is on a busy street with said windows wide open, it isn't noisy inside (the only noise being the Blue Angels flying over every twenty minutes). There was a giant wall of bamboo growing right outside the window beside our table.

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And what of the food you ask? After being seated by our mellow/borderline high server and a look up and down our menus, I was elated to discover that the menu at Cafe Flora has some of the most innovative and delicious flavour combinations I've seen on a vegetarian menu. That's usually my beef (or tofu I guess? Shut up, I'm hilarious) with vegetarian food: many times it is uncreative and bland. Not at Cafe Flora! I would have ordered one of everything if I could have. Take for example, the salad we started with. Nectarines, lemon cucumbers, nasturtiums and greens with a pistachio dressing. Goo-ood.

This was my lunch: a chipotle black bean burger with yam fries. De-lish.
Look at that bun. That is quality, people!

And of course we couldn't not get dessert. This vegan coconut cake was so dense and beyond delicious. I would go there just for this cake.

Bottom line? GO TO CAFE FLORA. A delicious and beautiful restaurant for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.

After our meal, we walked up and down the main street and my dad noticed that Cafe Flora happens to be situated right next to Bill the Butcher, which we thought was hilarious.

Cafe Flora
2901 E. Madison St.
Seattle, WA 98112