Fontenelle Restaurant

We've been at the Font for the last few weeks so nothing new to report.... maybe soon......there is a new restaurant in town that we plan to visit for brunch very soon; Town here we come!

Fontenelle; can this place get any better?

Back at Fontenelle after our deep fried frenzy last Sunday, otherwise called Dim Sum!

This place feels so comfortable and 'right' and this week they had the eggs benedict on the menu (last time I ordered it it was off, probably due to a muffin disaster).

I ordered a 3 egg Benedict with fries (not home, but French)! Can a breakfast get any better? Rhetorical! NO IT CAN"T!!

Short post this week, it's Easter Sunday and I'm going to grab a nap!

Dim Sum at the Yangtze

When the core of one's club swells with a couple of out of town guests there is no better place to go for a big table than a dim sum breakfast, if you remember to reserve a big round table that is!!

The 'out-of-towners' were up for a new experience having not had dim sum for brekkie before but it's not for everyone and with the addition of the most senior of our group (NK) we were a very lucky '8'.


The Yangtze is one of the largest Chinese restaurants in Chinatown and is well know for good dim sum.

It is good, but there are highlights depending on your taste. The consensus is that the pork and shrimp 'shui my' is the best around as well as the BBQ pork bun. I usually can't eat eggplant but the braised eggplant that they serve here is so yummy I could eat JUST that for the whole meal, unfortunately it only made one 'stop' at our table until after we were too full to eat anything else!


Dim sum is one of the easiest foods to order. The food makes the way to your table from the kitchen on many trolleys that cruise around the tables and you either pass or accept a plate, steamer or dish of whatever takes your fancy. As you accept the food your bill is stamped and at the end of the meal they are added up and you pay your bill.

The only bad thing about dim sum is that when you've had your fill it seems as if the better stuff then makes its way from the kitchen. It seems the lunch dim sum menu is a bit different to the earlier food that comes out and it all looks so good you really wish you could start all over again.

Dim sum is one of the best breakfasts and it's good vale too. Waistline watchers beware though it is NOT diet food!


Next week: back to our default; Fontenelle! hey do actually have the best 'chips' (read french fries) in Ottawa.

CW

Resto Chez Mo-Nik

The suggestion was to venture into QB this Sunday to sample some "petit-dejeuner"!!

So off we drove to the other side of the river and found a little place on St.Joseph called Resto Chez Mo-Nik. As the 6 of us entered it was a bit "Slaughtered Lambesque"!! If you've seen American Werewolf in London you'll know what I mean!

The place was` packed and sitting at the bar we were served coffee and within 10 mins a couple of 2 tops were slammed together for the 6 of us! We didn't really fit around these two tables and we were really in the way for servers and other customers but that's what we were given and that's what we had to endure.

The wait staff were efficient and spoke enough English to serve us well. We all ordered the usual, nothing exotic, eggs benny, western sandwiches and combos.

Coffee was free flowing and free (an important rule) and our food arrived in a few minutes; some incorrect orders regarding type of toast and onions with the hash etc. The food here is ok, nothing special. The place is just too busy and crowded and makes you feel as if you are just 'in the way'.

Will we revisit? NO!

Next week = back to Fontenelle to have more of the best fries/chips in the world!

Resto Chez Mo-Nik gets a poor 4/10

CW

Baker Street, FAIL

About a year ago we attempted a brunch at Baker Street (385 Richmond Road), we parked, entered and were faced with a 45 minute wait for a table. We decided to abort and eneded up at one of our usual places instead. This last Sunday we attempted again as we keep hearing good things about the place.

We tried to go a little earlier but as we entered we were, again, faced with a wait but being 2nd in line wasn't so bad, so we stood waiting for 15 minutes.

Not once did one of the wait staff  acknowledge us in any way. Then we noticed that no one was close to finishing. As we said this a waitress heard us and said, "Yeah, they are all just getting their food, it'll be a while - probably 30 minutes."

This place is a disaster for brunch as far as we are concerned. One thing that puzzles us is that they seem to close a section off that could seat about 12 more customers, maybe they are under-staffed but we'll never know.

One of our top rules of OBC is that we don't line up, so sorry Stoneface Dolly, you'll NEVER see our club at your cafe and nor will Baker Street ever again! There are plenty of other places that can cook an egg.

Anyway we fell back on Cozy's and had a great brunch!

Fontenelle Restaurant

We tried a new place for brunch last Sunday (21st Feb) which was a suggestion from GJ (aka JJ). The Fontenelle Restaurant/Diner is an unassuming place from the outside of it's location on Montreal Road, Vanier but as you enter you get the feeling that you've been here before.

The usual mix of booths, tables and bar stools exist but it all seems homely and inviting and without any pretension or aspiration.

We tried a booth but the 'seat to table' girth was a bit too restrictive, we moved to a long table at the back, were served with coffee and awaited the rest of the OBC crew.

Our waitress took our orders from the extensive and very reasonably priced menu (no fancy eggs benny here!) and memorized every order without flinching even when changes were made by a few. I always feel admiration for this waitresses 'trick' but at the same time a bit of anxiety as there always seems to be something wrong with the order.

Well, the food came amazingly quickly and apart from a couple of baked beans mix-ups the food was all delivered as ordered. The food is good and wholesome but nothing special, at these prices you get what you pay for. $6.85 for a full on 'Hungry Man #2' with toast and coffee is just ridiculously cheap and you feel a bit stupid complaining about anything.

Apparently the beans are the highlight of he meal; for me though it was the 4 types of meat on the plate; ham, sausage, bacon and bologna!!!

While we were there 3 separate groups of law enforcement ate here so it really has a range of approval 'stamps'!!

Fontenelle is akin to Cozy's with more of a diner 'feel' and slightly better prices. This place is def on our 'revisit list'.

This week we are going to retry 'Bakers Street' unless the line-up is crazy and then we'll abort.

RULES FOR OBC VENUE:

1)No Line-ups.

2)Not too expensive.

3)Good food.

4)Good service.

5)Room for 6-10 in a group

6)Don't talk about OBC!! 

.......back to Cozy's.

Just a quicky for this week's post as we decided to balance the 'books' after last week's expensive brekky at the Empire Grill.

The thing about Cozy's is that you know what to expect; it's the MacDonald's of the 'greasy spoon' establishments.

Our waitress was 'frazzled' and her perfume was stronger than it should be and the orders were a little messed up but nothing was too much trouble to get fixed, missing beans,missing onions, extra coffee, wrong toast etc. no big shakes.

They mess up the eggs too but at under $15 for 2 breakfasts which includes coffee and a refill (the coffee is very good too) you can't really complain.

The star of any breakfast here is their bacon; now I'm a ham/pea-meal bacon guy really but this streaky bacon they serve here is great. The biggest let down is the beans.

The breakfast steak is also a bit thin but at under $10 for steak and eggs it's still a detail.

Talk of where to go next Sunday seemed to be moot, it seems we are back at Cozy's a while!

CW