CLOSED - Glow Fresh Grill and Wine Bar (Western)

Update 2021-Aug.28: Unfortunately Glow Fresh is permanently closed; didn't catch this for a while due the lockdown. As this article indicates, it closed in Dec. 2019, even just before the pandemic hit. Google Maps confirms it.

Glow Fresh Grill and Wine Bar is located at 7 Marie Labatte Rd., southwest of Don Mills and Lawrence in the CF Shops at Don Mills outdoor plaza. Glow Fresh offers Sunday brunch. It was very full of patrons, so I ended up sitting on the outdoor patio. Beverages are not included, not even coffee.

Vegetable pasta was okay but needed a little more flavor. Scrambled eggs were good. Smoked salmon AKA lox was excellent and wonderful, and has never been anything but. Roast potatoes were okay, but had an odd burnt flavor that I could not place. Waffles were dried out to the point of crunchiness, but made more interesting with the addition of nearby chocolate sauce which was very welcome, rich and not too sweet. Sausages were good, not not exemplary but no complaints. Basa filet was quite good, lightly seasoned and not breaded. Unfortunately there was no real bacon, but only peameal, which was okay but it's not my favorite outside of an Eggs Benedict.

Chicken curry was good, of course not as much so as at the Indian places, but was still worthwhile. Chickpea salad was good with a nice flavor balance, including shredded beets. Tuna salad was excellent, with the good flavor balance, nicely spiced and was mostly tuna with hardly any filler. Quinoa salad was nice with hints of cumin and other spices, but needed a little more savour. Greek salad was good especially with the nearby oregano vinaigrette dressing.

For my custom omelette I chose mushrooms, shredded cheese, cubed peameal bacon, red bell peppers and onions. One ingredient not at the omelette station that I added as well was smoked salmon. They worked very well together and the result was delicious.

For dessert, lemon tart was very good. Apple crumble was a little too much apple into too little crumble, and I would have recommended more allspice and cinnamon, but it was still good. There was a very nice assorted fruit selection, with mixed berries including some very large blackberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, and pineapple. However beware the topping that looks like whipped cream as it is actually unsweetened yogurt. Brunch was $22.99. It did fill me up for the day and was enjoyable, but I've had better brunches that included coffee, juices, real bacon and Eggs Benedict for less… thank goodness for the lox. There were a lot of breads here, for example, that I skipped. All in all it was still alright though.

Rating: 6.5-7/10