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!