Move over Todrics, we love you but...........

Todrics was our favourite 'non-greasy-spoon' brunch venue up until just recently when we discovered the delights of the brunch menu at the Courtyard Restaurant in the Byward Market. We have breakfasted here twice in 3 weeks, the first was for my birthday and then again just this last Sunday.

Firstly, I follow the foodie scene a bit in Ottawa from the comfort of my Twitter feed so I know that the Chef, Michael Hay, is an avid tweeter who even asks for suggestions about his menu and food etc. - I really like that attitude to food - it says, "the food I cook is for you, how can I make it better".

Anyway, back to the food.....no, stop....there is something else here before we even ate a morsel that we all liked - the staff here seem to actually enjoy working here - bloody hell! That is so rare nowadays, they were all lovely, attentive without bugging us, requests were met with swift service even though they may have been serving a table of 8 at the time. Top marks for the wait staff.

My birthday brunch was the first time we'd been here so I always have to have the one dish that allows me to 'judge' for myself the standards (a bit like ordering a chicken madras at an indian restaurant), so I had the benny!

Really good! With a great rosti/hash and lovely compressed (is this dehydrated?) fruit. The coffee is endless and good and we all also got a brunch 'amuse buche' which consisted of a small scone and a compote or preserve. I'm english so I'm afraid the scone didn't do it for me, a little too dry. I liked the idea and the thought though.

We had a vegetarian with us the first time and she ordered the dish with the chorizo in it which she gave away and wow - what do they do to that chorizo? It was the BEST chorizo I've ever tasted - and I lived in Spain for 4 years!

The portions are not huge, if you want a 'truckers' don't come here - but it's enough. Brunch fine dining at it's best and at a very reasonable price.

This last Sunday we returned to sample more from the imaginative menu and 2 dishes topped even the 'benny' and the lovely 'ranchero'; the french toast is a 'step' of bread with fruit chutney and smoked bacon and was enthusiastically devoured even though it was thought it may not fit in said stomach!

I had the southern fried steak but as it doesn't come with egg I ordered a couple poached eggs with it. Someone else had this in it's sans egg form and said it would be better with an egg or two. I have to say that I'm no fan of 'steak and eggs' but this steak was cooked to perfection and had the best coating, a lovely adobe (?) hot sauce and stacked on some greens. With the 2 poached eggs this is the best breakfast I've had in a very long time.

I'm/we're a fan of the Courtyard; Mr Hay and staff - well done!

Zola's (Bells Corners)

Happy New Year dear reader!

My company gave me a selection of vouchers and gift cards for Christmas which was nice and appreciated. One of them was a barter voucher for $50 for Zola's Italian restaurant in Bells Corners. So we all went to brunch there this past Sunday to help mop up the over exuberance of manhattans drunk on NYE!

I put the $50 in the 'pot' and we all had a great 'limited' choice breakfast. I say limited as their full brunch menu wasn't on; they had a limited 'holiday' menu at $12 an item which consisted of a plate of eggs and choice of meat with the home fries and fruit etc.; pancakes; club; pasta and a salmon pizza.

I was disappointed but everyone found something to settle on. The pancakes, even though undercooked in a couple of places, were packed with blueberries and the egg plates were helped along my some very peppery home fries and a slice of rosemary tomato. A nice touch was the mint that mingled amongst the small bowl of fruit.

It was a pleasant morning and nothing went wrong with the food....oh and they serve Art-Is-In bread!! Another bonus.

All in all a solid 6/10

Toscano's

Today we had our second breakfast at a grill called Toscano's on St. Joseph Blvd. in Gatineau (yes, across the river!).

The first time I was mildly OK with the place; parking was hard (it's busy), you have to line up to get a table (which I hate), service is hit and miss and the food was ok for the money. I wasn't bowled over.

The food was well presented though and that led to an encore visit today; still had a hard time parking but the line up was very quick. The food took a long time to come this time but when it did it was very good.

Here are the pics:

To me this place is a QB version of a Dennys or Coras so it's all ok but just a bit unimpressive. It could be excellent, but it doesn't quite make that, it's 'good'.

I don't need a 'buzzy' place to enjoy a breakfast; for me Cozy's wins out.

next week (12th Dec) it will be Cozy's as we will be attending the Shanghai Craft Sale.

McDonalds!!!

It had to happen didn't it?

A couple of us decided to 'slum' it and try a fast food breakfast for a change 'down'. McDonalds on Merivale was chosen as it's one of the newer locations.

We found seats by the TV and the fire that was almost like a VIP 'club' area with nice tub chairs.

The rule wrt ordering more than one breakfast was suspended this week and therefore we could sample the range of the menu.

Breakfast burritos, sausage and egg McMuffins 'Big Breakfasts' were all sampled and enjoyed.

I like McDonalds' breakfasts but I'm not keen on their burgers. However, their coffee is outstanding and to my mind is the best 'drip' coffee out there. Burger King could learn a thing or two from the golden arches on that front!

Not everyone saw the reasoning behind doing MaccyD's but I have to say it was a great success and I'd do it again anytime.

Zen Kitchen

Ok, so it's been a while; we spent a lot of time just doing Cozy's and the Fontenelle so it seemed crazy to just blog about the same places. However, a couple weeks ago we had a change and breakfasted at Zen Kitchen.

The food here is amazing and fast becoming a local sensation. Some may have seen the TV show that charted the road that the owners took to make the restaurant happen; "The restaurant Adventures of Caroline and Dave".

The food is 'fine dining vegan' and they recently started Sunday brunch.

Here are some pics of the food we ate:

I had the burger with the most amazing fries and home-made ketchup. The apple fritters were good, as were the pancakes.

A couple of us had deserts but my bread pudding wasn't moist enough and to be fair I really missed some real cream on it (but that is not ZK fault).

All in all we like Zen Kitchen as a once in a while breakfast haunt.

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!