Graceful Vegetarian Restaurant 法海素食軒 — Restaurant in Toronto

Graceful's assorted gluten platter ($10 for small) doesn't look impressive but is the best I've tasted in the city. Some elements are supposed to represent mock versions of barbeque platters, such as barbeque pork or fried intestines. Generally, each has a chewy soft texture and some sort of intense flavour: sweet, savoury, curry, or a combination of a couple of tastes. Thankfully, they are not too saucy so despite being piled beside each other on the dish, they all retain their own flavour. I particularly liked where certain elements of the dish are served warm.

The pan fried bean curd sheet rolls ($8.50) appeared deep fried rather than prepared in a pan, which helps to keep the bean curd sheet softer but doesn't give it that lovely golden sheen. Graceful doesn’t overdo it with the number of layers so the roll tastes delicate, especially with the saucy filling mixed with vermicelli, which helps soak up the sauce. If they added some more bamboo shoot or black fungus for crunch, these would be even better.

Surprisingly, the deep fried taro fish with sweet and sour sauce ($16.99) was available – many places require advanced notice for the dish. Graceful takes silky thick taro filling, shapes it into a fish, and encapsulates it in a thin fried crispy layer. To balance out the heavier dish, they add ginger slivers to the sweet and sour sauce and thin it out so that you can have more of it with the taro. Reserve this dish for at least six people as it can be quite filling.

While a lot of options at Graceful are fried or stir-fried, they show restraint with its oiliness. The fried rice in the Fu-kin chopped mock meat and seafood dish ($18.99) was fairly dry and the sauce provided just enough flavour without becoming too salty. I just missed the pieces of Chinese broccoli (gai lan) normally incorporated in the dish, which not only adds a nice shot of colour but also a bit of texture.

Out of all the dishes were ordered, the Law Han crispy egg noodles ($17.99) was the sole one that wasn’t a “mock” item. Combining crunchy black fungus, baby corn, chestnuts, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and other vegetables in a savoury brown sauce, it’s all topped on thin egg noodles. It’s a dish you want to tuck into right away if you like the noodles crispy (go for the edges) or you can wait a bit for the centre section if you enjoy them tender and...

Dim sum is very bland tasting except for a few items which is too salty in comparison. Small portion and high price. Was told by guy Manager at the end that is what the restaurant aims for - healthy to the point of forgetting salt and pepper in some dish. The English description in the dim sum menu is better at describing the dishes, the Chinese description include ingredient that are missing. Atmosphere is cozy and spacious but AC lack circulation so felt hot and can smell everyone else's food. The waitress is very good with table service and she made our meal much better otherwise we would have left early. If you come here for table service and more personal space it is great otherwise I would recommend the other two Chinese vegetarian food place to the south or to the north for food quality and price. Great if you value personal space and pay lots for it since food is mediocre and no improvement since the old location. Also beware that they include tips onto the final bill. They also never show the full calculation so I have to add up the dishes myself to verify amount. There was little customer so I paid the full 15% because I appreciated the waitress service. The male manager was rude and care less about everything. Even if the restaurant have great dishes, he never made any attempt to recommend them. I will definitely turn around and leave if I see him again...

Whether it'd be dining in or getting take-out from this place, I've been a longtime customer with my parents for this restaurant and I felt upset when they moved locations because the old location had to be taken down, but I'm happy I found them again and that they didn't move too far from where I lived! Although the brothers didn't recognize us, it's okay! I loved that they still kept up the great hospitality and customer service even 20+ years later! They truly work remarkably well together as a team and keep customers satisfied with everything! They still had some of my classic favourites such as the deep fried wonton crisps and taro fish! Some of them are no longer served as they changed the menu, but that's okay! The fact that this family-owned business can be maintained for this long just proves how successful they are! The only thing I disliked was the atmosphere I was in. The environment was a bit too loud to my liking, but that's only because I went during dinner time, so it's to be expected. If I went during lunch time or earlier in the morning, it might have not been so overwhelming in noise. Otherwise, exceptional customer service, super attentive and observant, consistently refilling teapots and cleaning tables upon immediately leaving and serving food in a timely manner! How can they be so perfect?! Love it! Always a classic choice for vegetarians...