What kind of food blogger am I if I told you I am not crazy about going out for brunch? One that’d make you stop reading this blog? 😉 Anyways, I do enjoy going for brunch once in awhile and eating something that isn’t easily cooked at home. For example, eggs, toast, sausage, pancakes, waffles etc are so easy to make at home.

But after hearing that OEB served duck fat fried potatoes from Cola, I knew we had to try it out as it’s not easily replicated at home!

I was actually invited here last summer when they first opened as a media guest, but turned it down because my stomach problems were absolutely horrible last year. Fast forward to now, I can finally try it as a paying customer!

Chasing chickens: Cola recommended the breakfast poutines, which I had my eyes on already. My poutine came with poached eggs, duck fat fried herb potatoes, Saint Cyrille curds, smoked pulled chicken, and brown butter hollandaise.

This was heaven in a bite. The duck fat fried potatoes did not disappoint, they had a nice flavour and aroma to it that was different than other potatoes I’ve had.

In addition, the smoked pulled chicken was juicy with some grilled flavour to it. The poached eggs were disappointing though, the egg whites were kinda rubbery and tasteless.

However, the star of the show was the hollandaise sauce! I am usually just okay with hollandaise, but this one was just spectacular. It was better than the duck fat fried potatoes imo. The hollandaise was very buttery and lemony. I’d come back just for the hollandaise sauce.

Gold digga: The fiance ordered a breakfast poutine as well, but with a different meat. The gold digga came with poached eggs, duck fat fried herb potatoes, Saint Cyrille curds, Berkshire roast pork, black truffles, and brown butter hollandaise.

Most of our poutine was the same and equally as delicious. The Berkshire roast pork was tender and seasoned with rosemary, my favourite herb! It was absolutely lovely.

The fiance is a huge hollandaise fan, and often bases brunch ratings according to their hollandaise. He was really impressed with OEB’s hollandaise too, and it was one of the best he’s had!

All in all, we were very impressed with OEB. The main item I wanted to try was the duck fat fried potatoes, and they did not disappoint. We were also very blown away with their amazing hollandaise! The price point is a tad high compared to other places, but the quality and taste is there.  

Disclaimer: In light of COVID-19, I just wanted to say that I am doing my part as a responsible person and social distancing. Luckily, I have some drafts saved up before this whole craziness began so please don’t attack me for posting.

I know that you may want to go out and have fun, but it is crucial that we distance ourselves to slow the spread of the virus and flatten the curve before it gets worse. Yes, you may feel fine but you could be passing on the virus to someone who is immunocompromised or elderly that may not survive this virus.

I have not gone out to a restaurant/done non-essential activities outside, since public health officials have urged social distancing. I am taking COVID-19/coronavirus very seriously as should you.

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Back in January, some of my coworkers and I found ourselves at Ricky’s at Brentwood SOLO. Many years have passed since I’ve been to Ricky’s. If we are talking about chain breakfast diners, I much prefer IHOP but Ricky’s was more convenient for us.

This Ricky’s location was relatively new, and clean. I remember the Ricky’s I went to a long time ago was quite dark, dingy and in need of a face lift but was relieved to see this was not the case.

I actually found out through writing this post that there are three restaurant’s owned by The Ricky’s Group: Ricky’s All Day Grill, Ricky’s Country Restaurant, Ricky’s Cafe.

Strawberry lemonade: The strawberry lemonade was delicious. You were allowed to get one extra refill. I like my lemonade quite sweet, so this hit the spot perfectly.

The Works Omelette: After being very indecisive, I picked The Works omelette which came with ham, mushroom, cheese, peppers, and onions. The omelette was ginormous and very filling.

Taste wise, it was meh… nothing special. I appreciated that it was stuffed full with ingredients though.The pancakes were a bit bland but was quickly saved by syrup.

Chicken and avocado omelette: My coworker went with an omelette as well, but the chicken and avocado one. Instead of pancakes, he went with toast and stuffed hashbrowns. The hashbrowns was stuffed with sour cream, cheese, and bacon. Very hearty and filling!

Mediterranean omelette: Seems like omelettes were quite popular that morning! My other coworker ordered the Mediterranean omelette, which came with feta cheese, spinach, and tomato.

Overall, I found Ricky’s to be meh. Definitely not a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd choice… if we are talking chain breakfast restaurants, I would pick IHOP, DeDutch, White Spot before Ricky’s.

Another day, another IHOP location! After not having IHOP for 5+ years, the fiance and I went twice in a month. In case you missed it, I wrote a review recently on IHOP Broadway. This time, we went to the IHOP in Richmond since we were running some errands there.

Sadly with most IHOPs, they are quite old. No one wants to build a new or renovate an IHOP these days which is sad to me. The age was quite evident with the Richmond location. This location was quite dingy, small and run down. It had high, pointy ceilings but somehow still managed to feel cramped in here.

We were not expecting the restaurant to be so packed. From the outside, it looks tired, old and quiet… but it was actually bustling inside.

The waiting area was awkward because it directly faced the kitchen (which was tiny and probably the size of my own kitchen). Because there were so many people in line, waiting customers blocked the way of waitresses trying to get food to the tables.

After waiting about 20 minutes, we sat down and ordered. Since we saw how tiny the kitchen was compared to how busy it was, I braced myself for a long wait but was pleasantly surprised when it came at a reasonable time.

Chicken strips and waffles: Folks, I really wanted to try something new for the sake of my blog. No one wants to read chicken strips reviews all the time. But I really love their chicken strips so y’all will just have to read about them again!

The chicken strips here were smaller and skinnier, which was a bit disappointing. You can also see the last chicken strip at the bottom was smaller than the rest. In addition, the outside was a bit over fried, as you can tell with the darker color.

Despite all this, I was relieved that the inside was piping hot and juicy. I definitely preferred the Broadway location chicken strips more since they were bigger and not over fried.

The waffles were delicious and I have no complaints about them!

Colorado omlette: I’m glad that the fiance ordered something different from our previous visit so I have something new to write about!

The Colorado omlette would be perfect for meat lovers. Bursting with ingredients, this omlette came with bacon, sausage, beef, and ham. It was a very filling, calorie dense and hearty omlette.

As if that wasn’t enough to fill you up, the omlette came with a side of pancakes as well! Were we in the states? Because the omlette sure felt like American portions.

Although we left full and satisfied, we wouldn’t come back to this location due to the atmosphere. It was dingy and cramped. Service was also hard to waive down. They didn’t have assigned waiters/waitresses for each section so it was just a free for all. One of them forgot to refill our water too.

I do want to give a shout out to the one hostess/waitress who was really nice though! Her hardwork did not go unnoticed.