Meet Mad Radish
Hi. We’re Mad Radish.
At this point, you’ve got to be at least a little bit curious… What is this radish all about, and why is it so mad? In a nutshell: Mad Radish is a brand-new restaurant concept serving up seriously mind blowing salads.
What sets us apart from the other guys? For starters, our menu was designed by Nigel Finley, a rising star in Canada’s fine dining scene. So you know it’s gonna be tasty. Plus, we worked with a dietitian to make sure every meal we serve is satisfying, balanced and packed with nutrition.
Want to know more? Read on for the inside scoop on all things Mad Radish.
Our roots
David Segal has always loved eating his vegetables. Trying to eat healthy on the go, he grew frustrated by the monotony of uninspired “choose your own adventure” salad bars. From fad diets to “healthy” new ingredients, people seemed to be focusing on everything but flavour. Why couldn’t something good for you taste amazing too?
David dreamed of a salad restaurant that didn’t compromise on taste or the enjoyment of food. By creating nutritious, crave-worthy food, he hoped to significantly impact people’s diets and their lives for the better. So, in 2016, David left DAVIDsTEA with a single mission: to bring creativity to the salad world, and provide Canadians with access to salads that taste as good as they make you feel.
The first step? Hiring the right chef. Enter Nigel Finley, a super-talented chef with an intense culinary passion and a flair for making veggies sing. Using innovative cooking techniques and his unbounded creativity for new and exciting flavours, Nigel has created a menu of fresh, seasonal dishes that raise the bar on what a salad can be. Because we believe that eating well shouldn’t feel like taking your medicine. And eating delicious shouldn’t put you into a food coma.
One bite, and you’ll love eating your vegetables too.
A chef-driven concept
It’s not too difficult to find a “healthy” meal on the go, but it’s damn near impossible to find one that tastes amazing, too. We are dedicated to creating insanely nutritious, satisfying food the people can’t wait to eat. That’s why Chef Nigel Finley is at the heart (or should we say the stomach?) of Mad Radish.
With Nigel’s help, we have combined the creativity, seasonality and ingredient focus of the fine dining world with the speed and efficiency of a quick service restaurant. Crave-worthy is one of our brand values, and it’s something we aspire to with everything on our menu, from our super-flavourful salads to our ridiculously tasty focaccia.
By emphasizing flavour just as much as nutrition, we’re holding ourselves to a higher standard of excellence – and delivering on our mission with every dish. Who says healthy can’t taste great? At Mad Radish, eating right is a genuine delight.
Our stance on nutrition
At Mad Radish, we believe that eating well shouldn’t feel like taking your medicine. So we work hard to ensure our meals are totally satisfying in every way. Our salads and warm bowls are packed with protein-rich nuts, legumes, whole grains and hearty veggies. So unlike most “healthy” meals, you won’t be starving for a cupcake an hour later.
Most importantly, we want to make sure that we have truly exciting options available for everyone. For us, that means creating vegan and gluten-free options that don’t compromise on flavour – but including sustainably caught salmon and top-of- the-line chicken on our menu, too.
Our sourcing philosophy
Every amazing meal starts with great ingredients. And we take sourcing very seriously – looking for quality, consistency, sustainability and mindfulness in production in everything we buy.
Sourcing is all about building great relationships. When we choose a supplier, we don’t just look at their ingredients – we take the time to meet them face-to- face and visit their facilities, to ensure we can personally stand behind everything in your bowl. We love working with smaller farms. The love, care and passion they put into their product is contagious. Many of our key suppliers are small outfits, with a small-farm mentality of patience and care. But they are ready and excited to grow with us, so we can introduce more people to their amazing products.
And we don’t just apply this mindset to the food we serve. We’re committed to 100% plant based, compostable packaging. Which means everything from our takeout bowls to our cutlery can be composted – diverting thousands of pounds of waste from the landfill every year.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Love learning about food? Got questions about nutrition? Us too. Check back here often for recipes, kitchen tips and interviews with some of our favourite people – not to mention Ask Mad Radish, an advice column dedicated to all things food.
