Raw Lunch @ Belmonte Raw

After finishing work today, I checked my cell phone to see a message from my friend Mo asking me if I wanted to check out this raw food spot downtown called Belmonte Raw. Mo and I had discussed this a few days earlier.  I expressed my interest in perhaps going on a raw diet/cleanse for a few days (3-5 days or so). Luckily we were both available, so we headed down there.

After successfully navigating the streets downtown, we were able to find the spot. Mo was luckily enough to find a great parking spot on the street right in front of the restaurant.

When we got in, we took a look at the two menus.  One had the two entrees of the day, and the other had a list of the different raw beverage offerings.

Feeling unsure, Mo and I asked our our lovely and warm server, Saidah. She recommended that we go for the raw burrito.

Man was I ever nervous! This is the first time that I’ve ever tried something like this and I was pretty anxious.  I was pretty hungry and was just hoping that it would not only taste good…but would be filling and satisfying as well.

After a few minutes, our meals arrived. I liked what I saw.

Our delicious meal came out and it was presented beautifully. The burrito is wrapped in a collard leaf with chips on the side.  I forget what is in the chips, but what I do know is that they were created with the help of a food dehydrator.

 Our sides included a raw guacamole (left), “sour cream” which I believe was actually comprised of cashews (centre), and tomatoes (right).

Yum, let’s dig in!

Mo and I gave each other “the countdown” before we took our first bites. Ok…three…two…one…*chomp*!”

After our first bites, Mo and I both went “…mmm!” in an almost “I’m shocked at how good this tastes!” kind of way.  It was quite delicious. I’m so used to pretty much eating meat in most of my meals, but in this case, the meat was not missed.  The meat was replaced with spiced sunflower.  The jicama was just delicious with an apple-y taste. It was just great. The rest of the ingredients are shown above in the photo I took of the menu.  There was plenty of filtered water with lemon which was also delicious.

Mo liked her raw burrito too 🙂

Now, the question is…did we finish our meals?

 We sure did! 🙂

We both definitely had a preference when it came to the dips/toppings.  We both enjoyed the cashew sour cream (interesting..as I love sour cream with tortilla chips in real life). I’ve never really been a fan of tomatoes. In fact, I requested that my burrito be made without tomatoes, which it was.

After we had finished eating, Saidah asked us if we wanted to try some dessert.  Sure, why not?  Mo got the peanut butter chocolate while I got the raspberry chocolate.

This is my chocolate raspberry dessert.

Mo’s dessert is at the top of the pic.  The desserts look pretty much the same from the outside.  It was also delicious.  My dessert looked wonderful on the inside!

Did we enjoy our desserts?

LOL.

Mo also got a few drinks to go as well as a salad.  I should have taken pictures of them…but I didn’t. Next time! 🙂

Eating at Belmonte Raw was a new, but positive experience. I cannot remember how much the dessert costs, but the burritos cost $14.95 each. A little pricey, but at the same time, when we go to restaurants and order chicken strips with fries or over-sized pasta dishes…we never complain about prices for THOSE dishes…

Saidah really helped us decide on our meals. She was great! I look forward to coming back sometime soon.

Florence: