i spent the may-long weekend in victoria, the capital of this lovely province. my sister and a couple of our friends took the ferry over on friday and crashed at my friends' place for the weekend. i ate a lot of good food, and had brunch 3 times.
the first place we brunched at, we came across by accident. a divine accident. we were looking in the neighbourhood for a restaurant we'd just read about in a magazine and couldn't find it. turns out it had folded and was now a sushi restaurant. we were all starving, so we didn't want to bus downtown, so when we happened upon a coffee shop that had breakfasty things, we decided to risk it. i skimmed the menu and decided to be adventurous and try 'the mammoth,' a monstrosity consisting of 2 pieces of french toast engulfing an omelet, bacon, cream cheese and tomatoes, with maple syrup on top. turns out everyone else wanted to be adventurous too because all 4 of us ordered the same thing. it was already past the 'breakfast time,' but the kind and super friendly owner made them for us anyways. they were amazing. next time i have a craving for pancakes and eggs at the same time, i'll just sandwich them together! brilliant! so our first breakfast turned out to be one of the best ones, and one of the cheapest ones. if you go to victoria, one of a grind bistro and cappuccino bar is located in the oak bay area, at 1841 oak bay avenue.
the mammoth
3 and 1/2 mammoths
the second brunch we went to floyd's diner. we happened upon this place a couple years ago during a visit to victoria with our family, so my sister and i decided to try it again. after giving our name to the host, we didn't have to wait as long as we've had to wait before (only about 20 minutes compared to about 40 one of our last visits). floyd's has that greasy spoon diner atmosphere, where all the trendy alternative people flock, but the menu's got crazy all-day breakfast food combinations, and is priced more like a middle-class restaurant than a greasy diner. the average breakfast was around $10-15. one item on the menu we've never yet tried but are always curious about, is 'the mahoney:' you get whatever the kitchen makes you, and you can pay the regular price or you can flip them for it - double or nothing. one of our table neighbors flipped and lost, but her meal looked like a tower - it was massive. most of floyd's menu has crazy pop culture names. like 'the american idol benny' or the 'the seinfeld' omelet or ' the ben hur' etc. the pan fried potatoes that came with each breakfast were pretty good. some of the larger slices were a bit undercooked, but edible enough. i got the american idol benny, and it consisted of bacon, avocado and brie cheese with pesto hollandaise sauce. it was decent, but the moldy taste of the brie ruined it for me. also one of the poached eggs had runny whites (i hate runny whites), and the other poached egg had overcooked yolk. my theory is that the kitchen didn't know how i would like my eggs, so they did one of each so that it balanced out. :)
floyd's diner is at 866 yates street, on the edge of downtown in a bright pink building. can't miss it.
the third brunch i had was with my friends who live in victoria. we went to the blue fox cafe, just a couple blocks away from floyd's diner. we had a really long wait here: a good 30 minutes, if not more. but it was worth it. the coffee was great, served in cute turqoise mugs, which gave the restaurant plus points in my book. i can't do eggs benedict's 2 days in a row, so i opted for a build-my-own omelet with spinach, cheddar and jack. but the bennys looked amazing. my friend got one called 'eggs in hell' with chorizo, avocado, and chipotle with hollandaise sauce. the tables inside were spaced pretty well and they could fit lots of customers at one time for such a small space, without making me as a customer feel over-crowded. the atmosphere was nice and bright, with a huge window letting in lots of light. service was great, really attentive. and the tables, under the glass cover, had random customer-drawn napkins of various foxes. great idea!
blue fox cafe is located at 919 fort street. no need to give your name at the door, just stand in line.
my omelet came with apple honey raisin toast with home-made preserves.yummy.
the brunch i had this morning, however, was here in vancouver, so i will save that for a separate post.
2 comments:
your making me want breakfast all the time. Eggs benny hmmm.. have you tried the whip's? i heard slickity jims is opening up again (the one that burnt down) they had amazing feta, spinach, garlic bennies
oh i'm so glad slickety jim's is opening up again! i've been to the whip, but i haven't had their bennys. i like it there, though. we should go someday!
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