Gluten Free Fast Food is Talking SMAK!
SMAK in Coal Harbour’s financial district is a 100% gluten-free restaurant that is changing the way we think of fast food — everything the fast food industry destroyed over the last 60 years is everything SMAK is rectifying now.
Brendan Ladner of Smak Healthy Fast Food said: “We started out with one concept only, Real Food From Scratch, then we realized how easy it was to go gluten free.”
In a light and airy restaurant with a compost program that is holy, add take out and online ordering for pickup and you have just been introduced to the slow-cooked fast food of the future. Of course the Real Food From Scratch is sourced locally.
What else could one expect from the son of Peter Ladner, former mayor of Vancouver who wrote the book Urban Food Revolution.
“Our reliance on industrial agriculture has resulted in a food supply riddled with hidden environmental, economic and health care costs and beset by rising prices. Producing food locally makes people healthier, alleviates poverty, creates jobs, and makes cities safer and more beautiful.”
SMAK is a people based business with a united love for food, the cornerstones of their concept are: TASTE. LOCAL. COMPOST. HAPPY DINERS. Here’s a business that embraces strong values and social change and is managed by a team of truly committed people. SMAK!
Food should nourish and energize us. Food should make us feel good about ourselves. Food must always taste good.
Breakfast is served until 11 a.m. and whether you opt for fruits and grains, hot cereals, a full breakfast or a hot breakfast sandwich, you will leave feeling satisfied and healthy. Two of my favourites are the Avo Egg Breakfast Sandwich and the Sausage Breakfast Sandwich.
Lunch is served from 11 a.m. and the selection is mouthwatering. The menu features full-sized salads with or without proteins, smoothies, BBQ pork, chills and curries. Smak’s curries are infused with lemongrass, kefir lime and roasted spices. The slow-cooked tradition of making a good homemade curry is respected and carried out here.
Rossdown Farms supplies the all natural chickens for Smak’s unique Butterless Chicken Curry — almonds combined with coconut milk, which makes it rich and velvety. The Downtown Dahl Curry is thick with lentils and warms up the tummy nicely. Gelderman’s Farm pork is slow roasted and pulled, served on fragrant rice and topped with Thai ‘slaw for their BBQ Pork dish. The Chilli, Red Veg Curry Bowl, and Green Curry Bowl are loaded with fresh roots and vegetables.
The prices are reasonable and far below what one would expect to pay for all-natural, local and gluten-free fare here in Vancouver or anywhere else for that matter.
SMAK has a zero-waste system at their location. Every bowl, bag, cup, spoon and napkin is compostable. At the end of the day they have a tiny square of garbage that is not going to leave any impact on the environment.
Zero Waste is a philosophy and a design principle for the 21st century. Zero waste maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace.
Brendan Ladner said: “Our customers, they’re the fuel that drives us. We have learnt a lot since we opened!”
It takes a lot of work to ensure diners have a good time but the SMAK team will sure make you feel good about doing your part for the environment. They make it real easy to be a good citizen.
SMAK is changing the world one order at a time.
All pictures were provided by Jer Baum, Photographer, and Blogger at Kits Connect,
Samantha McLeod
