We have been wanting to try Turf Bistro for some time, but they are only open during the day, and we usually aren’t in this neighborhood until the evening. Well today we were roaming through Kits in the afternoon in search of some lunch, and happened upon Turf Bistro. And we’re glad we did!
The interior was super cute with several tables as well as a retail store, a fitness studio, a takeout fridge. and their main bistro counter.
We were quite hungry and decided to try the Everything Salad with salmon, the Greens All Day with salmon, the ginger chilli broccoli, and the sweet potato wedges. Everything on the menu was clearly labelled when it was gluten and dairy free (vegan) which was so helpful and appreciated. Having to always ask staff can get frustrating and you aren’t always confident staff know for sure unless they check with the kitchen.
We were also interested in some of the burgers but unfortunately they don’t have gluten free buns and could offer to put the burger on a slice of sweet potato. Which isn’t as weird as it sounds, especially if you are paleo or keto, but a burger just isn’t a burger without a bun in my opinion, so we left those for the gluten lovers.
We took a seat on the outdoor patio and helped ourselves to the water bar. We waited about 15-20 mins for our food which we thought was reasonable given the quality.
When the food came out we were super impressed with the portion sizes and also the quality and uniqueness of all dishes. They really do focus on healthy, vegetable first dishes that you don’t see that often in Vancouver. GL loved everything about the meal and can’t wait to go back.
The chilli ginger broccoli is to die for. It’s definitely spicy so you need to love spice, but with the kick of fresh ginger and whatever else is in the sauce we were hooked. I could eat this over rice as a meal.
The sweet potato wedges were white sweet potatoes (my fave) which you don’t see too often and were served with a delicious aioli. They weren’t as crispy as regular fries, though I am guessing they were baked rather than fried as they tasted super light and not oily. The aioli made these and we would definitely get these again.
I had the Greens All Day salad which felt like more of an entree than a salad as each component was separated rather than mixed together. It was light and healthy though I do wish there was more dressing. The salmon was perfectly crispy and we wondered whether it was wild or not, and after checking the menu again I noticed it was in fact wild which is great. The salads served with wild salmon are a really good value for the quality and amount of food you get.
GL had the Everything Salad and he loved the depth of flavour (he could even taste anise!) and how unique the salad was. So often when you order a salad you get mixed greens with a couple additions but these were truly meal salads that were super creative.
There was so much food we both packed up about half of our salads for dinner later. They had great portion sizes and we got more food than we were anticipating.
Overall, we loved Turf Bistro and will be back many times. We saw gluten and dairy free ice cream sandwiches on offer but were too full for dessert. But next time we can’t wait to try those and more off the menu!
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If you enjoyed this article, you might also like to read about our other culinary adventures sharing our gluten-free and dairy-free experiences such as Dinner at Tasty Indian Bistro in Yaletown, Stanley Park Brewing Restaurant & Brewpub, and Dairy Free Summer Sorbet from Bella Napoli.
