YamChops

I came here the other day with a friend because she’s vegan. I’m personally not but I think if I were, I would definitely frequent this place!
For me, as a foodie, it’s not always about what the food is made of and how expensive the raw ingredients are. It’s more about the finished product, how palatable it is, and its overall presentation.
I ordered the daily special, which happened to be the Hickory BBQ Pulled Chicken wrap for a little under $ 9 and my friend ordered the Szechuan Beef wrap, to which she commented was the best tasting faux-​beef she’s had as of yet.
My sandwich was pretty good for what it was! I could definitely tell it wasn’t chicken, as the texture had slightly more of an elastic bounce, but the mouthfeel was acceptable and the flavours complemented it fairly well. I also very much enjoyed the cranberry coleslaw that came as a side. It was sweet, crunchy, refreshing, and really tied up the dish to make it feel like a complete meal.
Service was also great, the employee was friendly and allowed us to sample some of the products before choosing!

Quick lunch stop on my walk home. Friendly staff, sampled the Szechwan ‘beef’ and ordered the Dragon salad, both were yummy. I would go back when I felt like something veggie based and satisfying.

I’m not a vegetarian but by some reasons I have to do it today. The food is okay. Not so good but not bad. The staffs are super friendly and nice. That’s why I rate it 4 stars. The price is a bit expensive than I thought with a little wrap.

After an evening of vegetarian eating, the plan for day 2 was to make lunch at home after visiting this «vegetarian butcher shop». The store is comprised of a mix house made fresh food items, as well as freezers surrounding the back and side walls with a variety of other externally sourced frozen foods and YamChops own various sauces.
Their in house made «meats» can be bought and are priced based on weight, usually around $ 3 – 4 per 100mg, The Korean «Chick’n» and Cashew «Chick’n» are actually really good. A small container will cost about $ 6 and be enough for 1 meal over rice.
The freezer section also has lots of interesting vegetarian options. I went with the boneless meatless chicken wings for $ 6. They were interesting but weren’t as good as the in house made items.
If I actually were to commit to vegetarian eating (which frankly, I’m not), I could see myself coming here pretty frequently. It’s not cheap, but that’s typically the case for anywhere that stresses healthier eating… So 4 stars seem apropos.

I went to check them out after seeing then on Dragon’s Den and it’s a nice place. I bought the Szechuan Beef, No Crab Crab Cakes & another Chicken dish with cashew etc. I ordered it for a party and the Seechuan Beef was an absolute hit followed by the Chicken one. I felt the Crab Cakes lacked seasoning. The service was great and they were patient with us trying to figure out our likes and dislikes. The only thing that I have as a negative is the price. I understand these are unique speciality items but I cannot be a regular. These have to be one off luxuries that you enjoy once in a while. Nevertheless try them out!

I’m on mobile so I’ll keep it brief.
The food is delicious — really great flavor.
For a nearly 12 $ wrap, i expect something bigger than a McDonald’s snack wrap. I’m not exaggerating. The smallest wrap shell loosely wraps around meagre lettuce and carrot, and two very thin strips of Buffalo fried chicken. Delicious, but gone in a few mouthfuls. Since I’m very sure they don’t use exclusively organic, how is that OK?
Might be worth buying deli stuff as a test, but i would stay away from their stingy prepared foods.

great food great service clean store. the only problem i have with this place is that it hasn’t moved to Vancouver. i highly recommend the bean burgers and the ribs. next time i am in Toronto i will be back.

I desperately want to like this place. The service was so warm and friendly. The shop is immaculate. It has an excellent punny name. However: alkalizing water? Encouraging juice cleanses (I love fresh juice!)? Detoxifying (Your body does that itself!)? C’mon, I don’t need a side of snake oil with my beet burgers! The kale caesar salad was pretty tasty, but a little too salty which is forgivable since we all like different amounts of basic seasoning. The coconut bacon was really just kind of salty coconut (I’ve had really excellent coconut bacon in Montréal and I’ve made it at home so I know it’s possible). I also had a slice of the Indonesian tofu; but it was so pasty and the tofu itself had an overwhelming flavour of … well I don’t quite know, but it seemed like rancid oil. I’m sad and I wish I could write something better here about my experience but I will never accept sub par vegetarian food no matter how common it is.

Went in for the first time today. Great place, with incredibly friendly service. Food is clean, fresh, and delicious.
Yes, it’s pricier than what you’re going to pay for in a grocery store. But at the same time, this is a pretty specialized place and these people need to make a living in a high rent area. I couldn’t afford to shop here every week, but I’ll do what I can to keep them in business. So I’ll definitely be returning.
Also, they’re the only place I know of in Toronto that carries Field Roast veggie sausages, aka the God of Veggie Sausage.

Some of the best vegan food I have ever had. Highly recommend you stopping in and trying this. The variety is huge and the quality, texture and flavors are great.

I have been a huge fan of Yam Chops since they first opened last year.
From the excellent cold pressed juices to the wonderful lunch time snacks–
this place really has everything you need when you have no idea what you want.
My Food Favs:
Tunaless Tuna Salad (Super Yum)
Black Bean Brownies (Guilt Free Fix)
Veggie n Herb Samosas (OMG)
My Juice Favs:
BBQ Apple Pie (Black beauty)
HotC TotC (Tangy, Sour, Yummy)
At the end of the day, the prices reflect the wholeness of the ingredients. I know they try to keep it as Organic as possible and I can appreciate paying more for better quality and less preservatives.
I will return to Yam Chops as often as possible, the staff are friendly and passionate about what they do and it shows!

I had a good experience at Yam Chops. I came first thing when they opened on a Sunday. They were very friendly and explained the different options I had and how they were made. I ended up purchasing one beet burger, one yam burger, a «chicken» cutlet and some coconut bacon. The pricing was a tad on the pricey end but its pretty average for «specialty» items. I eager to try out all the goodies I purchased.

I was so impressed by the sincere, warm service. After being invited to sample several of the delicious deli options, we opted for a Korean BBQ Chick*n Wrap and Chick*n Shawarma Wrap. The Korean BBQ Chick*n Wrap was particularly spicy and flavourful.
I really appreciate that YamChops prepares its own seitan. Now that Field Roast sausages are no longer available in Canada, I gather that YamChops plans to offer its own vegan seitan sausages soon, which is exciting. It would be great to see YamChops offer reusable or compostable cutlery and containers (e.g. the Tiffin Project).
YamChops’ prices are what one would expect for an independent local business offering high-​quality niche products. Its foods would likely be a special treat rather a regular staple for most folks (me included). It offers fun, delicious and inventive foods for those who are plant-​based or veg-​curious in Toronto.

Awesome place! I loved the huge selection of vegan foods, the service was super friendly and I ended up buying much more than I had budgeted for. But that’s totally fine, the black bean brownies are to die for.
The only disadvantage I can see is that they close at 7 on weekdays and I can hardly make it there in time after work. Hope they will open a new branch more in the East of Toronto.

We had YamChops cater an event for us and we couldn’t have been happier with the service. Michael and Jess are so professional, competent, and experienced with catering that it was an absolute pleasure to work with them. The meat-​free appetizers we ordered included an Indonesian spiced tofu with mango salsa, Cashew-​chickpea hummus wrap with carrot, lettuce and mango tamarind chutney, Fiesta Potato Coins w Cashew Cream, Chipotle Salsa and Walnut Taco «Meat» and the most delicious Cayenne and Chocolate cookies for dessert! Absolutely Delicious! I also had the BBQ Apple Juice — which tasted amazing despite containing charcoal (an extremely effective detoxify-​er!). Definitely recommend YamChops as a meat free catering option!

Everything I tried here was delicious! I went on a vegan bakery crawl with some friends this summer, and we dropped in here for some savoury snacks in between all of our cupcake-​eating. It really hit the spot, I would recommend the kale salad. The only reason I didn’t give it a 5^th star was that the selection seemed a bit small — maybe they’ll expand the selection over time.

A group of friends and I decided to do a vegan bakery crawl in August, not long after Yamchops opened, and we decided that even though technically not a bakery, we all wanted to stop in here. None of us had ever been and we were very happy with what we found. They had what we were expecting in terms of options for food: the beet burgers, un-​tuna salad, coconut ba-​con, etc. but what made the experience special was the service and friendly staff. They insisted on giving us samples of almost all their prepared foods and then when we sat down to eat the lunches we purchased they came over with a gift of a chocolate cream pie in a mason jar and 5 tiny spoons. We will definitely be back. Thanks, Yamchops!

YamChops is a one of a kind vegetarian butcher — the first in Canada! After being open for two months, I finally went to check it out last weekend. The staff are very welcoming and offer samples and their knowledge of the product.
I was offered a sample of their Tuna-​less Tuna, Kale Caesar salad, Coconut Ba-​con, and faux chicken. All wonderful stuff! A true vegetarian dream (and I believe most of their products are vegan, too!).
For the product I believe the pricing is fair. It’s all made with fresh, real ingredients from scratch. A lovely treat! For example, I ended up buying 200g of the tuna-​less tuna for around $ 5.50 — enough to fill 3 sandwich buns at home for work lunches. Awesome!
I also went home with the Kale Caesar and Moroccan Quinoa Salad. And the next time I’m invited to a BBQ, I know where I’ll be getting my meatless burgers and dogs!
I hope YamChops grows big enough to become available in other Canadian cities :)

I would have rated this place 5 stars, if only it weren’t for the steep prices for the deli items. Had the Mongolian ‘beef’, Korean BBQ ‘chicken’, butter ‘chicken’ and tuna-​less salad. They were all very yummy, but my tiny container of the butter chicken cost over $ 6! Guess this should be a treat…
Their freezer section has the fish-​less filets by Gardein (hard to find in Toronto). They also carry tea popsicles, which I do want to try at some point.
The staff is very friendly. I’ll be coming back… on payday!

Don’t lie, you knew I’d be FTR on the only veggie butcher shop in town. They just opened their doors Monday, so they’re still trying to find their flow.
The deli counter was not as well stocked as I was hoping but I’m sure it will fill up with time. I tried to tuna-​less salad which is made with chickpeas and vegan mayo (assuming, since it said vegan) and dill. Pretty tasty, but I did have sticker shock at the $ 7 price tag for the small container. It’s heavy but not filled with expensive ingredients so I’m kind of blown away that it cost almost as much as a sandwich (or as much as a cheap sandwich) but was only about ½ cup of food.
When I make this at home I do it in bucket sized portions and I’m sure it’s still doesn’t cost $ 7. Dry chickpeas are really cheap! I know the prepared foods racket (especially by weight) skews expensive, but things should not cost as much as an actual butcher shop here. That would kind of defeat being the better alternative to a real butcher. It should be win on all fronts and still make YamChops owners a healthy profit.
There were very few prepared meats. They only had one vegan beet burger, which was disappointing. The sausages and other burger were all vegetarian, which probably means egg.
They are also selling Sol cuisine meatless products which I like but really hope they make their own artisanal stuff. Then you could actually charge the big bucks and not have me feel like I’m paying for sauce on marked up processed foods that are sold at any grocery store.
A lot of the other things that caught my eye below the counter turned out to be vegetarian, like the carrot lox, but sadly the tags don’t offer any information on ingredients so you have to ask why things are vegetarian and not vegan. Since there’s no visible dairy, eggs is turning out to be the main culprit.
Overall, needs more time to develop but I certainly hope to see them lower the prices on simple things like chickpea salad and offer more unique vegan options that cannot be found anywhere else. They’d sell more and put people off with the prices less. Repeat customers and stealing customers away from the meat-​y butcher shops in town should be their goal.