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!

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