Big Brunches at Aphrodite's Organic Café and Pie Shop

Aphrodite's Organic Café and Pie Shop does not take reservations for brunch, but if, like us, you drop by on a Saturday morning before noon, chances are a small group of four can be seated quickly if not right away.

The brunch menu, including fresh sheets, is pretty extensive. Prices look steep but portions are substantial for their brunch plates. Pie prices are also steep if you're used to picking up whole Farmer's Market pies at Superstore. What gets you a whole pie at Superstore gets you just a slice here.

At about $7 per slice, Aphrodite's is more or less on par with other hand-made-pie places such as The Pie Shoppe (also an organic-conscious, special flour, and small-waste-footprint operation).
Pie slices are actually pretty wide, maybe 1/6th of a pie. Vegan and gluten free versions are $2 more per slice (ouch, right?).
Plates of pies are decorated with cute cinnamon dust (?) hearts. Aww...

Goddess Bowl ($17, gluten free) warm orange scented quinoa tossed with blueberries and coconut, served with house-made almond granola, chilled yogurt OR whipped silken tofu,
coconut cardamom raisin chia pudding, fresh fruit, mint and raspberry coulis (picture)

• My friend's order. I got a nibble at the quinoa and chia, though.
  One of the more interesting brunch items available, and quite a large plate of stuff for $17. If you are hoping to fit in a slice of pie, you might plan to share this with a friend.
• "Fresh fruit" was apple slices on the Saturday we visited.
• The quinoa didn't smell very orang-y but there definitely was a hint of orange flavour.
• The chia pudding was basically done up like an Indian rice pudding. Interesting but not that tasty sadly. I think it could have used more coconut.
• Aphrodite's Organic Café and Pie Shop participates in Mealshare.ca -- at no extra cost to patrons, if a menu item marked as "Mealshare" is purchased, the restaurant will provide a meal to someone in need through a registered charity. The Goddess Bowl was marked as the Mealshare item.

Wheat and Gluten Free and Vegan Apple Pie ($9.25 for 1 slice) with vegan Coconut Ice Cream ($2 for one scoop)

• Possibly because of the gluten-free nature of the crust, the pie crust was kind of crumbly and basically disintegrates in the mouth.
• Sadly, nothing really "wow" here. I had rather hoped for an exceptional experience at $9.25. Or maybe my expectations were nudged up by the perennial rave reviews for Aphrodite's.
• Good strong flavour with the coconut ice cream. Probably made in-house. But $2 for one scoop? Ouch.

Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Almond Ganache Torte ($9.25) (picture)

• Despite the words "chocolate" and ganache, and a block of deep chocolatey colour, the taste isn't deeply chocolatey. Maybe it's more almond than chocolate in there.
• Flavour not helped by the strong, tart berry sauce. Don't get too much of the red sauce on it before you try the torte on its own.

My pie, torte, (I was sharing, I swear!) and one big cup of specialty tea ($3.50) came to $24.00 before tax and tip.

UPDATE: J of Vanbrosia has some gorgeous food pictures from our outing!