Turning over a New Leaf Vegetarian

Nashauna Drummond, Lifestyle Coordinator

Imagine grabbing a vegetarian take-out lunch that's, of course, super healthy and tastes amazing. No, it's not Chinese or a salad at any of the mainstream fast-food franchises. It could be some chilli sin carne, which is red and black beans in a juicy tomato sauce served with crispy garlic bread or roasted vegetable panini, which is flame-roasted sweet red pepper and zucchini topped with red onion, black olives and mushrooms, toasted to perfection on a wholewheat baguette.

No, it's not at a five-star restaurant (though the taste is close). It's the offering from the new vegetarian restaurant in town, New Leaf, located at Lane Plaza in Liguanea.

Ninety-nine per cent of the dishes offered there are vegan, but the taste is anything but bland. And as owner Paul Shoucair told Food, the key is how you prepare it.

He uses a variety of herbs, including a lot of mint. Being Lebanese and having worked in Greek and Italian restaurants in various capacities in Canada, his creations are marked by a fusion of flavours that makes all the dishes delicious.

For someone who loves food and loves eating, he ensures the experience is just as pleasurable for all his customers. But, most important, he insists on maintaining a consistent quality.

But New Leaf is also for non-vegetarians who want something quick and healthy and very reasonably priced. He notes that most of his customers, in fact, are not vegetarians.

He told Food that in his 40s, he began thinking about what he was eating.

"I had the space and there was no convenient take-out food that was healthy."

New Leaf is all about convenient healthy take-out.

"This is the future of convenient food. Vegetarian has the most potential in what you can do with them," he noted speaking of his extensive international menu created with a local touch.

His extensive menu comprises dishes from his background and adopting traditional Jamaican food with a vegetarian spin such as 'rundung'.

In the five months since the restaurant has been open, Shoucair has had a steady clientele. He tries to get the emails of as many of his customers as possible, and each day they receive an email of the day's special. He also uses it as a medium for feedback.

At New Leaf, the priorities are taste, convenience and health. And he tries to use as much bio-degradable packaging as possible.