Farmhouse fare: Restaurant beefs up its look

Toronto – Head chef Carl Heinrich works next to the butcher Ryan Donovan in the newly re-opened Marben restaurant in Toronto.

Exposed bricks, reclaimed wood and chalkboards add to the restaurant’s farmhouse look. This continues on its website, where information such as opening hours and menus are presented as a traditional local newspaper.

The restaurant is probably as close as you can get to a real farm in the city. Most of the menu items, including John’s Burger and Denise’s Pork Belly, are named after the farmers with whom they work so closely. The Persall family from Waterford in Ontario, for example, is just one of the farmer’s names on a big blackboard in the restaurant. Guests are also offered the option to buy a share of the produce. ‘A side of beef from our farms directly to your freezer,’ explains the Marben website.

For more on how consumers increasingly expect locally grown food, read our Rurban Revolution report.