MerryBerry Cafe+Bistro

MerryBerry Cafe+Bistro A whimsical cafe and bistro in the heart of Cabbagetown, serving guilt-free comfort food.

09/20/2018

Let’s start with the Buddha Bowl for this Friday and Saturday.
As mentioned a few days ago, this one is inspired by West Africa ($15).
- Greens and veggies: baby spinach, sweet potatoes roasted with thyme and cinnamon, avocado, lime-pickled onions, chickpeas
- Grain: couscous – you can also choose quinoa (add $1.00)
- Dressing: ginger-peanut-cayenne
- Protein: your choice of chicken or tempeh

Next Saturday’s soup is a Hungarian mushroom soup. What makes it Hungarian? The addition of dill and paprika. I’ve seen it made with any kind of milk, cream or milk substitute. This one will be vegan, using coconut milk.

And now for the “pièce de résistance”, release #9 covering the next 3 weeks:
- Tuesday, Sep. 25: butternut squash – pear
- Saturday, Sep. 29: velvety Turkish lentil
- Tuesday, Oct. 2: sweet potato – cauliflower
- Saturday, October 6: caramelized onion and roasted garlic
- Tuesday, October 9: pumpkin, carrot and orange
- Saturday, October 13: broccoli – white bean

I think you will agree they all sound Fall-appropriate, won’t you?

09/16/2018

This coming Tuesday’s chili is for those who long for winter. When I scheduled it about 3 weeks ago, I obviously looked at the weather forecast and the announced temperatures were 10 degrees below what they actually are. So much for mid-range forecasts.

I have been asked a lot what a white chili was; well, it simply is a chili made with white beans. To achieve the desired colour, tomatoes are often omitted and the ground beef is usually replaced by shredded chicken.
This one will be vegetarian (actually vegan) and will feature a few tomatoes, celery, green peppers, carrot, corn and chickpeas. The white beans will bring creaminess… and heartiness. Since it is a chili, there will also be quite a few spices, some mild, some hot.
You can serve it on its own or with your preferred starch.
Feel free to add shredded chicken. But the usual suspects (sour cream, shredded cheddar, green onions, cilantro and tortilla chips) work just as well.

The Buddha Bowl for the end of the week will be inspired by West Africa.
Next Saturday’s soup will be a Hungarian mushroom soup and it will conclude the current release.

I will announce the following 3-week batch this coming Wednesday, and I won’t even look at October’s weather forecast.
I will definitely add stews, chowders and chilis to my delivery schedule, but I will wait for the temperatures to really drop to a level where you will actually crave them.

Have a great week.

09/12/2018

Hello everyone,

A- BUDDHA BOWL
This week’s Buddha Bowl is a Japanese Buddha Bowl (think of sushi prepared by a lazy cook).
- Grain: sushi (sticky) rice
- Vegetables: avocado, cucumber, green onion, shredded carrot, edamame and some fixings like sesame seeds or nori…
- Protein: flaked grilled salmon (the vegan version will be less conventional, with tofu, shiitake mushroom and sweet potato)
- Dressing: so many choices… a) classic sushi combo: soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger (all separate) – b) spicy sushi dressing (Sriracha mayo) – c) soy, miso, ginger dressing
The Bowl version includes the grain, the vegetables, either protein option and 1 dressing of your choice ($15).
The “salad” version is the same without the protein ($11).
Extra protein is $5 and extra dressing is $1.
Thursday not being a popular delivery night apparently, the Bowls will now only be available on Friday and Saturday.

B- SATURDAY’S SOUP
Saturday’s soup will be rich and wintery… even though temperatures are going up again: Potato-Chorizo (not available in a vegetarian or vegan version).
It will be made with milk; if you are dairy intolerant, you can ask for a coconut milk version. Please keep in mind that since this soup contains both potatoes and dairy, it is unlikely to freeze well.

C- SPECIAL ORDER
As mentioned last week, I have received a few special orders for another batch of the spinach-zucchini-coconut milk soup and I will prepare it for delivery this Saturday. If you want to piggy-back on this batch let me know.
I have also received a special order request for a repeat of yesterday’s cocoa black bean soup and I will make that batch within the next couple of weeks. I will let you know when it is scheduled.

Enough said. Enjoy the rest of your week.

09/09/2018

No, I am not talking about this weekend’s Fall-like temperatures. I am referring to what Tuesday’s soup will do to you.

It will be a fairly traditional Tex-Mex recipe: a cocoa black bean soup (stew? – goes great with rice by the way, if you want to make it a full meal).
It will be spiced with cumin, coriander and chili… and obviously cocoa powder. It won’t have the complexity of a Mexican mole, but it will still be pretty tasty.
And since I will be using cocoa powder and not chocolate, it will be dairy-free and sugar-free.

After that, the next Buddha Bowl will take us back to Asia, Japan more specifically. Details on Wednesday.

Now, bundle up and enjoy the rest of the Festival!

08/29/2018

Last night, after my deliveries, I just had to have some frozen yogurt. Because I had been sweating in the car, I did exactly what I told everyone not to do: I had it straight out of the freezer. After 2 spoonfuls (enough to cool me down), I had to stop and just let my treat warm up for a bit. What a difference those patient 10 minutes made, in terms of both texture taste. Lesson learned! Well, maybe.

Back to business. Saturday’s soup is an apple and yam soup (technically granny smith and sweet potato). Obviously, the whole point is to balance the sweetness of one with the tartness of the other. The other magic components will be ginger and curry powder.

As for the Buddha Bowl, I have a craving for one of good old MerryBerry’s dinner dishes, so I am resurrecting The Levant (yes, Marie, this one’s also for you…).
- Greens: baby spinach, packed separately, so that you can easily warm up everything else
- Grains: quinoa with roasted butternut squash, roasted red pepper, chickpeas and almonds
- Dressing: orange juice, ras-el-hanout, harissa (it will be rather mild – for an extra kick, just add some chili flakes)
- Protein: this is where you will have a choice this time – shredded chicken, shrimp, or marinated tofu
As usual, the salad version is smaller and without protein ($11), the full bowl version is $15. Available Thursday through Saturday. Orders have to be placed the day before.

And now for the new soup release ( #8), starting next Tuesday:
- Tuesday , Sep. 4: spinach, coconut, zucchini
- Saturday, Sep.8: sweet potato, chickpea, red lentil
- Tuesday, Sep. 11: black bean with cocoa
- Saturday, Sep. 15: potato chorizo (the only non-vegan in this release)
- Tuesday, Sep. 18: meatless white chili
- Saturday, Sep. 22: Hungarian mushroom

I’ll keep adding other dishes here and there (treats, casseroles, stews, etc.) based on my inspiration and cravings.

If I don’t see you or hear from you by then, enjoy the long weekend.

08/22/2018

I am literally taking you all over the map this week…

The Buddha Bowl (available Thursday, Friday and Saturday) will be inspired by Argentina. I must say it is one of my go-to dishes at home. It will feature:
- For fresh vegetables: mixed greens, avocado, tomatoes and red onion (pickled)
- For grain: quinoa with roasted corn and green onion
- For protein: grilled marinated chicken and halloumi or grilled marinated tempeh for the vegan version
- For the dressing: a bright, herby and a little spicy Chimichurri-inspired sauce

The Buddha Bowl version is $15 and includes all of the above. The salad version ($11) is smaller and only includes halloumi as a protein. However, I must say one of those dishes where I would recommend going all the way.

Apparently, flying from Buenos Aires to Bangkok takes more than a day. In any case, Saturday’s soup will be ready on time. It is a butternut squash soup, flavoured with red curry and coconut milk.
Should you want to top it off for visual effect when serving it, I recommend crushed peanuts, cilantro and maybe a few drops of Sriracha.

Bon Appétit !

08/20/2018

September is almost upon us so Tuesday’s soup is likely to be the last cold soup. It is a creamy cucumber-tahini-avocado-herbs gazpacho that was quite popular back in the MerryBerry days.
Do bear in mind the presence of the avocado: that means it is best consumed the day it is made, or the day after. If you wait any longer, it will still be good but it will start turning an unappetizing shade of grey-brown.

And on Wednesday, I will announce the details of the next Buddha Bowl. Sunday teaser: your taste buds will enjoy the bold flavours of Argentinean cuisine.

08/16/2018

Saturday’s soup, as announced, is Peaches and Tomato. I am very fond of this soup, although I should not. Yes, the flavours are wonderful (tomato, peaches, thyme), the texture is impossibly smooth… but it is so labour-intensive! Straining all those bits of tomato and peach skin is quite something. It really is a once a year deal, and now is the time.
I will love you if you order it but I will also love you if you don’t…

As for the Buddha Bowl, we are travelling to Lebanon. Lebanese cuisine is real Mediterranean cuisine, with an abundance of grains, vegetables, pulses (chickpeas) and herbs. It uses animal meat and fat sparingly and the spices are complex and fragrant, but seldom contain much heat. This bowl will be a bit reminiscent of a mezze, with many different flavours to sample.
It will feature:
• a classic tabbouleh (bulgur wheat, cucumber, tomato, green onions and loads of lemon and tomato)
• roasted carrot and cauliflower with za’atar
• a deconstructed Lebanese fattoush salad (romaine, cucumber, tomato, green pepper, pita bread)
• Kalamata olives
• a fat falafel
• 3 different kinds of hummus: sun-dried tomato and smoked paprika, cucumber and dill, sumac-lemon-mint (the flavours of a fattoush dressing, turned into a hummus… how clever! Ok, don’t mind me, it’s a bit late…)

We’ll do things a little differently this time. This bowl is quite filling and I do not believe it requires extra protein so there will still be 2 versions of it, but mostly based on volume.
The $11 salad will have all of the above, including one (sizeable) falafel.
The $15 bowl version will have more of the same, 2 falafels and 2 slices of grilled halloumi cheese (or 4 falafels for vegans).
Extra hummus is still $1, although I doubt you would need it.

Order deadline for Thursday evening delivery is Thursday noon; for Friday and Saturday evening delivery, it is the day before by 6:00 pm.

And that is all for tonight. Thanks for reading,

08/05/2018

I am sure you will agree the strawberry tomato gazpacho was very much weather-appropriate this weekend. Some of you even opted to eat the lemon lentil soup cold.
Tuesday looks much more bearable though, just in time for the zucchini and yellow squash soup. They are both in season so it is a good time to enjoy them.
This soup will be flavoured with thyme and rosemary and I encourage you to sprinkle it with some Parmesan when serving it.
I may change my mind by then but right now I am leaning towards not blending it, or just minimally. I want chunks! I may even throw in some white beans into it for even more texture.
Now that I have written that, I am picturing it blended and it sounds very tempting.
Decisions, decisions…

On Wednesday, I will announce the next 3-week release, starting Tuesday 14th and I will also give you more information about the upcoming Buddha Bowl. I am in a generous mood, so here is a bit of a teaser: it will take us to Asia and the base won’t be a grain but soba noodles. Enough said!

P.S. I just found out that I am outdated. Apparently, Buddha Bowls are now called “Nourish Bowls”. Oh well, they’ve also been called Hippie Bowls, Power Bowls, Bliss Bowls or Bounty Bowls not so long ago. Wasn’t that Shakespeare who wrote: “What’s in a name? that which we call a bowl by any other name would taste as sweet…”

08/02/2018

Hello everyone,
What’s coming for the end of this week? Let’s do that in reverse order.
SATURDAY: strawberry-tomato gazpacho. It does contain most of the usual gazpacho ingredients (tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, onion, oil, vinegar) but then it also has an almost equal of strawberries and it is definitely a game changer. I usually throw in some almonds in there so, if you have a nut allergy, please let me know. Feel free to finish it off with some goat or feta cheese and a small leaf of basil.
FRIDAY: the comeback of the lemon, lentils and corn soup. It’s a special request and you can piggyback on it. I will deliver the orders on Saturday during my usual Cabbagetown run, but if you can’t wait and would like it on Friday evening instead, just let me know.
THURSDAY-FRIDAY-SATURDAY: a Mexican-inspired Buddha Bowl.
I must say –proudly– that the feedback I received on last week’s Niçoise bowl has been really, really, overwhelmingly positive… to the extent that I wonder if I should stop the soups and do just bowls.
Just kidding!
What I do wonder is whether I’ll be able to wow you again. In any case, I am going a different route: where the last Buddha Bowl was rather bold and unusual, this one is more of a classic (I am talking ingredients here, not dressings).
Once again, I’ll offer 2 options: a lighter salad and a full bowl.
- SALAD: chopped lettuce, cabbage, carrot and jicama, seasoned roasted corn and red pepper, marinated red onion, jalapeño, avocado, a small amount of coconut quinoa with black beans and a topping of baked tortilla strips.
(Optional and not provided: shredded cheddar and sour cream)
- BOWL: same as above with an additional scoop of coconut quinoa with black beans and chipotle shrimp (vegan version: chipotle tofu and more corn and red pepper).
- DRESSINGS: again, multiple options. The first 2 are thick and creamy, the third is more conventional.
• Yellow: mango, lime, jalapeño
• Green: tomatillo, avocado, lime and jalapeño (no oil in this one)
• Classic: cilantro, lime, cumin, coriander
PRICING (taxes and delivery included):
- Salad + 1 dressing: $11
- Bowl + 1 dressing: $15
- Double the amount of grain, bean and protein: $5 extra
- Additional dressing: $1
Questions, suggestions, orders… you know where to find me.

07/19/2018

Hello everyone,

I have quite a few things to tell you today. Let’s get started.

ONE
Saturday’s soup, as previously announced, will be a lemon, lentil (red) and corn soup, flavoured with lemon zest, a pinch od mild curry and a few threads of saffron.

TWO
Time to announce the next release, starting next week.
- Tue, July 24: Pistou (Provence’s response to Italy’s Minestrone)
- Sat, July 28: a classic gazpacho from Southern Spain
- Tue, July 31: corn and bacon chowder (NOT vegan)
- Sat, August 4: a tomato, basil and strawberry gazpacho (so good!)
- Tue, August 7: zucchini and squash soup
- Sat, August 11: Vichyssoise (French cold leek and potato soup). This one is based on Anthony Bourdain’s recipe.

THREE
Pricing update. I will keep on releasing updates with 6 soups at a time. If you order 4 or more soups (4 or of the same, or 4 different ones… or any combination) within that release, the cost will be $8 per 24 oz container. If you order 3 or less, the price will be $9 per container. Most of you order in one go at the beginning of the release so it should be pretty straightforward. For those of you who order one day at a time, don’t worry, I’ll figure out the math.

FOUR
Beyond soups…
I know you have been wanting more food options, beyond the current soups. Well, it is summer for a few more weeks and I think we should start with big yummy salads and Buddha bowls. We’ll reserve the stews and casseroles for the fall.
I am going to start slow (or cautious) with those. The logistics will be a little trickier (I will not agree to leaving a beautiful salad on your porch for an hour or so).
At this stage, I will add to the release a salad or a Buddha bowl once a week, to be delivered on Thursdays. You can probably gently twist my arm if you’d rather receive it on Tuesday or Saturday…
I will announce this weekend next Thursday’s dish, with all the relevant details and pricing. I may even add a picture of it!

And that’s a wrap! Have a wonderful evening!

07/15/2018

Yes indeed, France won the World Cup.
Not bragging, just saying, you know, like, stating a fact. After all, when I deliver soups, I seldom go beyond the front door. So, I don’t know if you live in some kind of cave with no cable access…
I thought you might wanna know. And you’re welcome.
Oh, the score? 4-2… Now maybe I am bragging a little but I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

Ok, how is that related to Tuesday’s soup? Clearly, it is not. I just had to get it out of my system.
Let’s move on.

It is sweltering hot again today so I am sure you will welcome Tuesday’s gazpacho. Again, it won’t be tomato-based. Instead, I will use mango and cucumber with some cilantro and jalapeño for added flavour, and with a splash of rice vinegar to cut the sweetness of the mango. It’s actually a very nice and refreshing combination.

Again, we are close to the end of the current release (time flies!) so I will announce on Wednesday what’s on the menu for the next batch. In the meantime, stay cool.

Address

559 Parliament Street
Toronto, ON
M4X1P7

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 4pm
Tuesday 11am - 4pm
Wednesday 11am - 11pm
Thursday 11am - 6pm
Friday 11am - 6pm
Saturday 11am - 6pm
Sunday 11am - 4pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when MerryBerry Cafe+Bistro posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category