brunch Archives - Page 3 of 3

Chez Meme Baguette Bistro, N. Burnaby

April 24, 2014

I have came here a few times already, but haven’t had the chance to blog about it since I only started my site three months ago! Chez Meme is a cute little locally owned French cafe along Hastings Street.

Once in awhile, they will open on weekends, which you can check on their menu board in store but otherwise, they are only open weekday morning & afternoons.
We got there at 11am, where there were still a few seats open. I figured that because it was a rainy day, it wasn’t as busy as I expected it to be, but I’m glad that we made the reservation anyways.

After 15 minutes, a line started to form, so now I know what time is the best to go if I want to avoid the line up. As you can tell, the place is pretty small but it is also owned by a husband and wife team.

Here is one side of the menu, with all their delicious baguettes! They are well known for the baguettes, so it was obvious what my choice was. Being a French cafe, they also have an extensive wine and espresso drink menu which is posted on their wall.
After coming here many times, I had my heart set on the nordique baquette! The nordique baguette consisted of smoked salmon, cream cheese, dill, and onion. It was the perfect combination.

Their baguettes were light and chewy, which complimented the heaviness of the cream cheese. Even then, there was a perfect amount of cream cheese to go with the smoked salmon. The dill and onion accentuated the flavours of the salmon and cream cheese, making everything in the baguette flourish.

For my choice of sides, I chose their soup because they always have really good soup. Today was the zucchini and basil soup, which tasted really flavourful. It had a puree texture to it. I enjoyed my dish very much, and have no complaints about it.
The boyfriend chose the cordon bleu baguette, which consisted of black forest ham, chicken, emmenthal (type of cheese), and a dijon mustard sauce for dipping. The chicken was wrapped inside the ham, which was slightly grilled making some parts of the ham crispy and delicious. We both agreed that the dijon mustard was very overpowering. It almost tasted like wasabi!

There was a generous amount of fries, but they didn’t taste that great and were really oily. He regretted not ordering the soup, because mine was delicious. We both agreed that we are getting soup as a side next time we come here.

The only thing disappointing was the fries but that is easily overlooked when you take into account their other items. Even though there was only one server (the co-owner), she was very attentive and friendly.

She also speaks to you in French at times, which adds to the overall experience of a French bistro. Looking over at other table’s dishes also looked very delicious as well, I would love to try another item on their menu when I come back here!

-Carmen

Acme Cafe

April 10, 2014

I love brunch. I even eat brunch for dinner sometimes.! Maybe it’s just me, but having brunch is one of the best starts to a day. This visit was from awhile ago, but I had a lovely time at Acme Cafe.

Acme Cafe is undeniably one of the more popular places to have brunch in Vancouver. It is located in the DTES (Picture taken from www.flavourhunter.com).
I love the interior of Acme Cafe. It is very welcoming, clean, and simple. Acme cafe also offers a huge pastry selection as you can see! I don’t have that much of a sweet tooth, but it still looks very appetizing! Yum!
Baked eggs benny- $10.75. This is their signature dish, and it did not definitely did not disappoint! We were a bit surprised when it came out because we’ve never seen eggs benny done like this before.
Eggs sunny side up- $10.75. Read my blurb on their kitchen grill story below, it will relate to this dish! The eggs were cooked perfectly sunny side up. I love how there were onions on top since I am a huge fan of green onions.

My friend doesn’t like bacon so I was lucky enough to have it! The bacon was cooked well too, it wasn’t super oily or greasy. Underneath was the bed of hash browns which was perfectly seasoned as well. The side of fruit tasted really fresh too.
European breakfast – $9.50. This normally comes with proscuitto, but you were able to substitute it for smoked salmon at no charge. When I first saw this on the menu, I was sold because it had smoked salmon. My friend was going to order this too, but instead ordered the plate above because it sounded more filling and worth the price, which I agree.

The cantaloupe tasted pretty fresh, as did everything else. Overall, I thought that this plate was average. The smoked salmon, of course, was delicious, but I don’t think that it was worth $9.50. Maybe I should try it with the standard prosciutto next time…

One thing I found interesting about Acme is that they do not have a grill. The waitress pointed out their stove, which looked like the one from my own kitchen! I was quite impressed that they were able to run such a successful restaurant without a restaurant-stove top, but hey, they make it work so props to them!

All in all, I enjoyed our visit to Acme Cafe and would definitely come back here. I probably wouldn’t order the European breakfast again, but order the baked eggs benny which is their specialty.

-Carmen

Yolk’s Breakfast Restaurant and Commissary

March 25, 2014

After hearing all the hype about Yolks, I decided it was time to give it a visit. I went with two friends to their restaurant location on Hastings & Clarke. We all enjoyed our experience and left with happy stomachs. Service was also really friendly, and personable.

The place is a bit small, but it’s really cozy and they work with what they have. We noticed that there was fake sriracha (we are avid sriracha lovers!) and that kinda became a laughing stock throughout our visit 🙂
Menu. I thought their menu was unconventionally designed, and it was pretty cool. You start at the top and go down depending on which choices you want for the poached egg sandwiches. Although the original price is decent, it can get pricier as you include the “addons” listed such as goat cheese, or hash browns. There were some items on the menu that we were confused about, and the server happily and patiently answered our questions.
After much contemplation, I settled on ordering their daily special. Tall stack of berry pancakes with a choice of ham, bacon, or bangers for $13.50.

I enjoyed every bite. The pancakes were extremely fluffy and soft, and tasted really buttery and rich. Peeeeerrrrffeeeccttttt. There was also a generous amount of berries inside the pancakes! So. good.

I also really loved the ham, which tasted even better with their dijon mustard.

My friend’s customized breakfast plate! I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I believe he chose the hand carved honey ham, with the two eggs & double everything option, under a bed of truffle lemon hashbrowns, fresh spinach, and dijon.

This again, was SO GOOD. I really enjoyed the hashbrowns- savoury and perfectly cooked.
My friend’s iced Callebaut chocolate milk. Callebaut is a Belgium choclatier The quality of the chocolate was definitely a lot better and fancier than regular chocolate milk. It was rich, indulgent, and smooth.
My other friend’s dish, she got the customized breakfast plate as well. I really enjoyed their hashbrowns, it was flavoured differently than usual breakfast joints and tasted really unique. Delicious! The spinach bed on the bottom was delicious as well.

All in all, we loved our visit to Yolks. Their breakfast dishes were savoury, filling, and fresh while the service was really friendly and attentive.