Sweet Cherubim

Healthy options for lunch. All vegan. I like their desserts. Chocolate cake is really gooey and moist and perfect amount of sweetness. The ambience of this place is not that great but patio in summer is a plus.

I once got a thumbtack in my samosa here, but I brushed it off, until last summer, when I got a cockroach in my tofu rice salad. Yeah, not even joking.

About 20 years ago (*gasp* I’m dating myself here!) I was the volunteer coordinator for the Fringe Festival. One of the other (paid) staffers, who had me located across the street at our then offices, told me to go into Sweet Cherubim for their spinach feta samosas. I was instantly hooked, and had one every day of that year’s gig, where I was on the drive.
Two decades later (almost), I’m still in love with these samosas.
I’m not a huge fan of the restaurant side; the food takes longer than it should, staff are hit and miss, it’s pricey, the labeling of ingredients is partial at best depending on the day. The grocery side, I spend more time in, and usually grab my food from there to sit outside.
True gem: the herbs in the back, including the hand blended teas. Seriously, they’re amazing, and just like they were 20 years ago. While I’m not a huge fan of the lines they carry, can find them cheaper elsewhere, etc I still make a point of coming here for these teas, the samosas, and the Nanaimo bars. These are one of a kind, and must be tried if you’re in the area.

I can shop and get yummy take out organic, vegan gluten free treats! The pakora combo is the best thing ever. Zucchini tofu pakoras are so moist yet filling :)

Great varieties of healthy foods and products.
Luv especially the Tikkis and the cookies!
Good job!

I have eaten here many times. For some reason, I must have found milder dishes to order.
This time I took friends who were visiting and told them how great this place is! Unfortunately, the extreme hot seasoning of the curries, in almost everything including samosas, brought us to tears. The burning of our guts was extreme, and there were no warnings on any of the menu items. The salads saved us. The food is generally good here, so I don’t know why this day of extreme curries.
I spoke to one of the staff and asked, «Why is this food so very hot?» She said «well, the people who cook it are Indian and can’t taste the heat like we do.» She seemed as surprised as I that the samosa was over seasoned.
I think the cooks need a taster-​in-​residence and the signs need hot pepper warnings. What would have otherwise been lovely meals turned into an ordeal.
Their desserts are great, as are many of the drinks. I hope they will make some concession to people who cannot tolerate fire in the food. Signage would help as would some real choice in the amount of hotness from which one may choose.
Are you trying to weed out the faint of stomach? Or have you folks just not tasted your curries and samosas lately? Or did someone slip and season things twice? Tell us what you can do so we can go back and get some food that is both tasty and easy to eat.

Food is decent but pricey. I have only been here once but would not go back. I ordered some cold salad that was in display as well as some Veggie Pakoras and asked for the pakoras to be warmed up as they were also sitting in the display window. What should have taken 5? minutes at most, took 25 minutes. It’s just not worth it. I can go to many other locations on the drive, order fresh food and have it arrive to me in half the time.

TOO SPICY!!!
I only ever went here when other veggie places were closed or I needed to grab something quick but I doubt I will be going again even if I’m desperate. I gave up on ordering any curries a while ago as, even though they say everything is mild, almost everything I tried was super spicy which made eating it an ordeal rather than a pleasure. I used to love their samosas 50% of the time as they kept changing the spice level which was annoying but at least good for half the time. Now they are always spicy. I like a bit of spice but not to the extent that my nose runs and lips swell up! I wish they would make at least some dishes that weren’t spicy, labelled them as such and then stuck to the recipe. I don’t know how they can say everything is mild. Maybe they need to do some market research on spice levels because everyone I’ve been with whose ordered curries has either struggled or left a lot of their meal.
The only reason I’m not giving them 1 star is because of their baked goods which are good, though sometimes stale and in my opinion, overpriced.

CASUAL, SIMPLE, GOOD VARIETY
I go to yoga above this place so stop in quite often to grab a little nosh or sometimes a full meal. For people complaining about service, etc, GET REAL. This is a cafeteria style joint and the people who work here probably make minimum wage. Is everyone supposed to be a ray of sunshine to make your day? They try to do their job, get the food served up, that’s all. Take your five star expectations to a five star establishment where they are motivated by big TIPS. I find the service ok here and the selection of vegan offerings to be very acceptable. Miso salad, samosas, pakoras, gulasch, curries have all been decent, although the spicing is generally a little on the sweet side for me. I am happy for choices like this in our city, no frou frou, just decent, well priced food. For those complaining about this being expensive, have you checked out the price of a big mac lately? You should really eat toast at home if you can’t afford 2 bucks for a samosa. Keep up the good work Sweet C., I think you’re doing fine.

Although this is a pricey spot, they have some great gems and unique items.
I highly recommend stopping by their fresh counter, which has tons of delicious treats, but the real star is always the samosas. I feel like that’s what they’re known for and with good reason — they’re delicious! Yes, they’re quite pricey, as are most things in this store, but as a treat they’re worth it.
This is a great place to find lesser known items and good bits and pieces to keep you healthy! They have a whole cabinet of acidophilus, for example, and a wide selection of natural deodorants etc.
A good spot to come if you’re looking for something specific, or if you need something to boost your health!

Their Indian combo meals and baked blueberry square are quite good. I don’t eat here often, however, because the café is usually very busy and cramped, and the menu on the wall is complicated and confusing.

More like a 2.5. Awesome samosas, and pretty good desserts but do yourself a favour and buy on the store side. The restaurant is an absolute joke. Food is meh (from semi-​decent to godthatwasaweful). Prices are ok depending on what you get (8 bucks for a veggie roll that is basically a stale, mega-​samosa??).
You’ll get the slowest service on the drive for food that is already made and thats the deal breaker for me from now on. Waiting on average 20 minutes for a smoothie, a samosa and salad – even if you were the second in line is pretty frustrating when you are hoping for a casual meal. Mind you its not always the workers, for some reason every time I brave the restaurant I am behind the pickiest, most space-​aged person you can imagine – its unreal! Please people, don’t start ordering until you know what you want, don’t ask the person at the till if you have an insane number of questions about the food (they always seem to) and check the board/​labels to know if its vegan, organic, or god-​knows-​what!
The store is good, bulk is much better than anywhere else on the drive. Though check the freshness on certain things and question why something seems to be such a good deal (i.e flax and hemp oils – made that mistake a few times to many.)

I want to love this place but there are have been too many issues over the past couple years that don’t make me feel good about spending my money here.
I bought some hazelnuts from the bulk bin only to find caterpillars and eggs in them when I got home. I took them back and was given a refund but a few days later I went back to the bin to find they were still in there!
I used to love their baked goods and bliss balls but I would say 25% of the time, the stuff is inedible, stale or just downright mouldy. The last bliss ball I had tasted of onions! With so much stuff on offer, it’s impossible for them to sell fresh products daily so it’s really down to luck whether what you buy is a day or 10 days old.
Whenever I ask what is spicy, I’m always told everything is mild but that just isn’t true. Some stuff I can just about eat and the rest BURNS! There’s no consistency to this… one samosa will have no spice but on another day, it will be inedible so again, everything is down to luck. Fair enough, I’m sensitive but my chilli loving friends have found a few dishes which were meant to be mild, extremely spicy.
This place is almost always hiring and there are new employees every time I visit. I’ve seen how the boss speaks to his staff and it’s no wonder people don’t stick around.
One last thing… the new water glasses. Are they serious? They’re TINY! I spent my whole lunch walking back and forth to refill. I crossed paths on numerous occasions with a 5 year old doing the same thing and heard him saying they were tiny, even with his tiny 5 year old hands!
This place needs a revamp and the owner needs to take a course in running a good business, with quality fresh products which appreciates it’s employees and customers.

Y’know I’m never happy about the prices but they usually stock all the herbs and preferred shampoos, etc that I like. So that’s what makes it worth it, plus I know it’s pricey being a business on Commercial Drive.
BUT today is the day I am absolutely livid about their customer service. I spent $ 60 and this included the $ 3.33 samosa (last time I saw it was $ 2.95) and the obligatory (it tastes good) .50 cent sauce purchase. Famished, I got home and went to work on my favourite samosa, Tofu Rice. All it contained was rice and carrots — there was one single pea sized tofu.
I returned to the store and told them this. I even went as far as to bring the tiny speck of tofu with me in a container. He said they make them in big batches and I must not have got any other ingredients (obviously) in my scoop. It usually includes other vegetables as well as carrots.
He didn’t try to rectify it by giving me a refund or even a samosa (or whatever). All he said was sorry and made his pathetic excuse. I’m not one for excuses, and if you’re running a business excuses mean you’re incompetent.
I basically paid $ 4 for some fried rice and carrots. I know it’s not a huge amount of money, but if I bought a slice of cheese pizza and found there was no cheese on it I’d be choked and I’m sure the owner would handle the situation better.
In the end I told him it was b.s. to be paying that amount of money and not getting anything. Having nothing other than «Sorry» to say, I left in a huff and now I’m here.
«Sorry» doesn’t mean anything if you aren’t actually sorry.
Given the crazy turnover — I swear there’s a new employee at the cash register every time I go in there — I suppose his behaviour isn’t surprising. Now the problem I face is finding somewhere else to get my herbal supplies from. Thank you new car!

I’m not a person who craves Vegetarian food. The dish almost always feels incomplete to me. A salad? Let’s slice some grilled chicken on that rabbit food. Baked potato? Let’s sprinkle some bacon on it. However, I can make room for Sweet Cherubim from time to time.
Sweet Cherubim is a casual eatery, which shares the space with a grocery store. Staring at their menu, it took me the full 5 minutes to make a decision since I kept changing my mind. They have samosas, moussakas, lasagnas, burgers, sandwiches, rolls, subjis, rice bowls, soups, salads and many desserts. (All of which are vegetarian)
I finally decided on the ‘Soup Special’, which came with a cup of soup, salad and rice. This way, I can try a little bit of everything. I chose the kale soup, quinoa salad and rice. The 3 items looked tiny, but make no mistake, it is filling. The food was tasty and healthy without being too greasy to weigh me down. Next time, I’m going to try their subji, which I learned is a term that means ‘vegetable dish’. Subjis can be dry, wet or in curry form and the ones at Sweet Cherubim looked delicious.

For the restaurant (not the grocery store /​Ayurvedic pharmacy), is a great place to grab vegetarian and vegan food for lunch.
In the summer, the back patio is a great spot to grab some sun and socialize with friends. I’ve done it many times, and it’s relatively quiet (except for garbage days). There’s even a small lot in the back alley if you need to park your car. Make sure to register it at the cash register so it doesn’t get towed.
That being said, they don’t do table service here, so make sure to wait until your name is called before heading out back, otherwise an exasperated server/​cook will bring it out to you late.
The food itself is pretty good! I enjoy the big healthy salads they make and the samosas are REALLY GOOD! Perfectly flavored, not too spicy, and the mint chutney helps cool everything down.
One day the Bombay plate was on special… I don’t know what it was but it was DAMN GOOD! Basically the amazing insides of a samosa smothered in a chana masala (chickpea curry). Never seen it on the menu, but it was on the handwritten chalkboard for daily specials… I’m going to try and order it every time!
A stronghold for a quick healthy lunch on the Drive, and especially important site for vegetarians and vegans.

The food here is awesome. Trying to get your food is a different story. The staff seem nice, just slow and disorganized. If you’re patient, it’s well worth the wait. My favourite items are the baked Zucchini/​Potato/​Pea Samosas and Veggie Pakoras with Green Salsa. I’m so addicted I can’t even try anything else!
They’ve got a huge selection of other vegetarian dishes too, plus lots of desserts to choose from.
If you can’t find a seat inside or in front of the restaurant, sneak out to the back patio! Its a little oasis I never even knew existed.

Two words: Spinach Samosa!
The Chickpea ‘n’ Rice Samosa ain’t bad either! If it’s a nice day and I’m looking for a light lunch, I usually order one samosa to go and munch away while I window shop up and down The Drive.
The other week I tried eating in and the experience wasn’t so bad. It’s more like a café (pay first, help yourself to your own cutlery, etc.). I ordered the rice special and it was tasty but there wasn’t anything to rave about. Their Indian Chai Latte was also a bit watered down for my taste buds. I haven’t tried any of their sweets/​desserts yet but for now… I’d say… just stick to the samosas and you’ll be happy.

This place has been around forever. The curries on the restaurant side were kind of watery and bland the many time I ate them. But hey are healthy and many and they cater to vegetarians and people with dietary restrictions. My favorite items are definitely the chickpea and rice, and spinach and feta samosas. The samosa’s and the fabulous tamarind and or mint chutneys can be had on the health food store side as well. For a quick walk about snack grab a couple of them. There is the park right next door, which is all family friendly and cleaned up. Commercial drive has become gentrified. Or you can reheat them in the oven. I crave these and wish I could find somewhere to get them in the USA. These were a College staple the years I lived on the drive. When I went back a couple years ago they were just as fabulous as ever. Unlike the sad state of Deserts Falafel.
The cookies are darn tasty too the Kamut dipped in chocolate is earthy and wonderful as well as the coconut dipped in chocolate. They also have candied ginger dipped in chocolate super tasty and spicy. The restaurant side has a juice bar as well.

Service takes forever here. If I have to go to a self serve restaurant and wait for the food as long as I do a proper sit-​down restaurant, at comparable prices mind you, why would I go to the self serve place?
And much of this food is already cooked and sitting there in the trays ready to serve. The waiting time was absolutely RIDICULOUS! My payment receipt was time stamped 2:17. It was 2:34 when I got my order. That’s unacceptable for a place where you practically have to eat standing up.
The cutlery was dirty. See a picture I have posted of a stained spoon! And they decided to put the «clean» cutlery right underneath where people are using their debit machine. Inconvenient and unsanitary.