Lunch Bell Bistro

We were at a lunch yesterday that was catered by Lunch Bell Bistro and I thought it was awesome. Chef explained to us about their service and I think it's a fantastic concept. I had the meat lasagna and it was fantastic. Meaty and cheesy, great flavor. We would definitely use their services when we need catering or just pop in to pick up lunch. Love the menu choices.

Simple fare, but great concept for the community. I visited Lunch Bell Bistro with 4 coworkers. The space is long and narrow, but the white, modern decor makes it feel more spacious and airy than it really is. The food was very simple, with just sandwiches, soups, and salads offered. We ordered the combos with chicken soup, caesar salad, basil street roasted chicken sandwich, East India station tuna sandwich and the Hyde Park pulled pork sandwich, along with a few desserts. The soup was flavorful and homey and the half salad portions were big. The half sandwiches were small, but overall it was just enough food to be satiated, leaving room to try the homemade desserts. All our combos came with a small bowl of a nice, vinegary coleslaw. There were no big complaints about the food and the general manager, Josh, mostly attended to us. Occasionally, a student in the program would fill our waters, bring our food and clear our plates. I can't say that the food is my main reason to return, but more to support such a great venture for people in Changes organization.

The menu is fairly straight forward, it consists of soups, salads, sandwiches, and desserts, with one or two specials (today was lasagne). I opted for the soup and salad combo which is a very reasonable $8.00. I also had the half blue and green salad, and a slice of blueberry pie for dessert(yes, lunch was my main meal). The soup of the day was a Lentil soup that was nice and savoury and featured plenty of vegetables that were still a little firm. The soup was ready before the sandwich and my server came to ask if I would prefer it right away. I did, and this cut down the sense of waiting for my food. I later got a chance to look at the Chicken Noodle Soup which is a regular menu item, and I would highly recommend it as well. As I was finishing my soup, the salad and half-sandwich arrived. The first thing that stood out on this was the plating. Then I tried the food and it was even better. The pulled pork had a light BBQ tang, and the meat was very tender. Then bun, fresh from City Bread, was melt in the mouth. The salad also fresh, with a nice hint of sugar to the walnuts as well as being well, but not overly dressed. In the middle was a nice, zingy little dish of coles slaw. I decided to order a piece of the blueberry pie for dessert. While I was waiting to enjoy that I had the opportunity to chat with Chef Chris for a couple of minutes. One of the things he emphasized was that while he and his assistant chef(I may have the title wrong) Beverley did the majority of the line cooking, as much of the other items as possible were prepared by the students. We also talked a little bit about the challenges in training staff who are living with developmental and cognitive deficits. One of the things that struck me here was how Chris emphasized finding the strengths each student had and working to build those up. The focus of this program is very much on taking what is already good and making it better. Another thing I really appreciated is there doesn’t seem to be any lim