Tasty and Meatless | Restaurant Features

Café Flora is recommended as one of Seattle’s best vegetarian restaurants. The main dining room is airy and bright, decorated in modern style with gold walls and a slate floor. We chose to sit in the garden atrium, their enclosed patio, with three walls of windows that stretch from ceiling to floor, through which you can see a cluster of bamboo trees. The center of the patio has a huge bubbling fountain surrounded by green ficus plants, giving off a relaxing murmur to accompany our meal. Huge skylights let the natural light in until late in to the Northeast summer evening. We sipped on Rosemary Infused Lemonade and examined the completely vegetarian and very creative menu. The menu is populated with hints about the ingredients of each dish making it a safe haven for those with strict dining requirements.

We started with the Pate Platter ($8.75), an incredible and unique appetizer with little piles of interesting gourmet foods presented together. The pate has an earthy taste that comes from lentils with a backdrop flavor of meaty pecans. The rest of the platter is made up of gherkins (small, sweet gourmet pickles), chunks of tart green apple, marinated olives, caper buds (the part of the plant that holds all those little caper seeds), red onion confit, and croccantini crackers. The confit is made by slowly caramelizing the red onions and reduced with Balsamic Vinegar and port wine. One bite made us exclaim “Oh my!” The contrasting flavors on this platter are delightful and it became a game to balance each bite with the variety.

Following this we had the Smoked Mushroom and Spinach Salad ($9.50). The mushrooms are smoked in-house with alder wood that gives them a flavor that so resembles bacon that we called the server over to confirm that this was indeed a vegetarian dish! The spinach is perfectly wilted and velvety with a Dijon vinaigrette and everywhere the smoky taste of bacon. The salad is topped with sun-dried tomatoes and toasted pumpkin seeds. Our companion, who does not usually like mushrooms, proclaimed the salad “divine.”

We took the manager’s recommendation and ordered the Ocean Cakes ($16.00), which consist of mashed tofu, mixed with arame seaweed and formed into soft, mousse-like cakes, then deep-fried to form a crunchy coating. Despite the frying, the cakes feel light with little oil residue and are covered with a dollop of a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce. The cakes are accompanied by a sea bean salad and mashed potatoes. The sea beans have a salty flavor that is balanced nicely by fresh slivers of carrots and daikon radish, adding a crunch to the softer cakes. Absent from the mashed potatoes is the usual roasted garlic flavor which is replaced by a citrus brightness that perked up the mouth.

A popular entrée is the Portabella Wellington ($17.00) made from grilled portabella mushrooms, leeks and a mushroom-pecan pate in a puff pastry served with seasonal vegetables and mashed potatoes. The management dubs this dish as the menu selection for carnivores and it did bring smiles to the face of our meat-eating companion who said, “It’s got gravy!” with a satisfied grin.

Next we tried the cheeseless Thai Pizza ($12.00). The crust is perfect-- thin, crunchy, and light – skillfully highlighting the other flavors piled on top. The sauce is a single-toned and powerful cilantro jalapeno pistou that is dotted with spoonfuls of creamy cashew “cheese.” Next are layered juicy tomatoes, sweet grilled pineapples, and strips of baked tofu, making this pizza a hearty entree.

We saved room for desert, knowing that the selection here would be abundant, and sampled three choices. The Ice Cream Sandwich is a classic, with rich vanilla bean ice cream between two chocolate chip cookies loaded with tiny chips and covered in caramel sauce (the ice cream does have eggs). The Coconut Panna Cotta is an eggless treat, almost like a lighter version of Hawaii’s popular haupia, and served with candied macadamia nuts and a coconut wafers. Our favorite was the Chocolate Palet, a dairy-free medallion of heaven. The bottom crust is a layer of crunchy hazelnut praline that supports a vegan chocolate mousse covered with a raspberry coulis. The tartness of the sauce is perfect to tame the raging sweetness of the mousse.

Café Flora is usually packed with people who all look happy. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to become a repeat diner here!