Parallel – 217 Geary Ave, Toronto, ON M6H 2C1
Country: Israel
Men’s must-try dish: Truffle Hummus
Women’s must-try dish: Parallel Salad
Dinner guests(virtual): Mad Max, No Spice Emma, Pornstar Sam & Young Matt
The high: Tahini lovers unite, this place creates sesame magic.
The low: This isn’t the ideal spot for someone with a nut allergy, however they can accommodate. 

There’s no better restaurant for a tahini lover then one that doubles as a tahini factory. Parallel is an Israeli inspired restaurant located at Dupont and Dufferin, and is most known for their in-house production of tahini butter. If you don’t know, tahini is toasted ground sesame seeds that takes on the consistency of smooth peanut butter. Although there are varying levels of quality, we can assure you that Parallel is up there as one of the best in the game.

Parallel has a condensed menu during the pandemic, but it continues to revolve around tahini. Also on account of COVID-19, Mandrea Bike has pivoted to doing virtual dinners in order to include friends at the meals. This evening’s group was an equal number of men and women, and was split 50/50 for the top dishes of the night with all the males favouring the Truffle Hummus and the females preferring the Parallel Salad.

Truffle Hummus
With four different options of hummus available, the Truffle Hummus was the chosen one as it came highly recommended. Plus, how can you go wrong with truffles?

Be advised: The portion size was larger than expected, so a couple extra orders of pita is wise. It goes without saying that finishing the entire bowl in one go was strongly considered, but some stomach space was required for the rest of the meal. 

Every bite offered a different and exciting flavour from either the soy button mushrooms, lemon, parsley, truffle oil, tahini butter and shug. The hummus was topped with shug, which is a green hot sauce originating from Yemeni cuisine. The sauce wasn’t overpowering, but could be considered too spicy for those like our friend No Spice Emma. 

Herb Falafels
Parallel’s herb falafels are moist on the inside with a crisp exterior – just the way we like them! They even held up the next day without compromise upon being reheated for lunch. Last but not least, all that’s needed for dipping is tahini. 

Parallel Salad
Even for salad skeptics, the Parallel Salad is a winner. It comes fully loaded hitting all of the major tasting notes that go into a perfect salad. The fresh kale was accompanied by crunchy walnuts, there was creaminess from the goat cheese, scallions to hit the spicy notes, fresh mint for fresh flavour,and  lentils and sweet potato for protein. To top it all off, the vinaigrette was both acidic and sweet from the lemon and honey and paired well with the beet tahini. 

Arais
The final dish was the Arais, which is lamb and beef stuffed pita quarters served with, surprise surprise, tahini! It was accompanied by half a roasted yam and a spicy tomato salad. The Arais was reminiscent of an Isreali burger, but better.

Pistachio Halva
We were convinced to get dessert, and it was totally worth it!

Halva is a dense puck-like treat made with tahini that takes on rich, nutty and creamy notes. It comes in a number of flavours, but Pistachio was the chosen one. Even for sugar feins, a small piece satisfies any sweet cravings, and this dessert is still amazing as a leftover. 

While this post was being penned, an order was placed to Parallel for a mix pack of tahini butter including pure sesame, smokey sesame, and beet sesame flavours. Stay tuned for some recipes!

Please support local small businesses and restaurants during these tough times. Be safe out there. 

We’re excited to eat with you all soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)