Tag Archives: Brunch

Food

RICHMOND HILL: ELEPHANT GRIND COFFEE

Elephant Grind Coffee is a brunch spot located in Richmond Hill neighborhood. The restaurant is brightly lit with natural light. The interior is minimal with white walls and simple wooden furniture that creates a cozy ambiance. The menu features brunch classics with Asian flavours like char siu, lap cheong and go chu jang. On our weekday visit, we decided to stick with the classics and order the Egg Benedicts, Chicken & Waffles, and The Classic.

Egg Benedicts ($15 CAD)

There are many options for Egg Benedicts. All served on english muffin with house salad & home fries. If you want an alternative to the classic Egg Benedict, you can try the house char siu pulled pork with pickled veggies and kale or truffle cream, cremini mushrooms and spinach. We went for the Egg Benedict with smoked salmon and yuzu avocado spread. The egg was nicely poached and covered with a blanket of creamy hollandaise sauce. However, I wasn’t able to taste the yuzu flavour in the avocado spread as it was thinly layered on top of the english muffin underneath the smoked salmon.

  • Chicken & Waffles ($15 CAD)
  • Hojicha Latte

Next up is the boneless fried chicken with Belgian style waffle, house salad, house hot sauce and cheddar sauce. The portion size was quite large as there were three large pieces of boneless fried chicken on top of the Belgian style waffles. The fried chicken were lightly seasoned and had a light batter. The crispy skin and tender chicken meat complimented well with the sweetness of maple syrup and fluffy waffles. I especially liked the side serving of spicy aioli which you can mix with maple syrup for a sweet and spicy twist.

  • The Classic ($13 CAD)

Lastly, The Classic is a breakfast staple and consisted of two eggs any style, bacon/sausage, sourdough toast and baked beans.

There is nothing fancy here, just a cozy place to go for decent brunch in Richmond Hill area. Keep a note that this restaurant is cafeteria style ordering where you order and pay at the counter first and wait for the food to be served to your table.

Elephant Grind Coffee
Address: 10 East Wilmot St Unit 7, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 1G9
Website: https://www.elephantgrindcoffee.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elephantgrindcoffee/?hl=en

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Food

TORONTO: EGGSTATIC

Eggstatic is a fairly new brunch spot located in Leaside neighborhood. The menu has a Middle Eastern influence serving foods like Hummus, Shakshuka and Pita bread. We came on a weekday for brunch and ordered the Shrimp & Feta Cheese Omelette, Oven Baked Tenderloin, and Biscoff Lotus Pancake.

  • Shrimp & Feta Cheese Omelette ($16.49 CAD)

The Shrimp & Feta Cheese Omelette consisted of shrimps, scallion, diced tomatoes, eggs, and feta cheese. The eggs were a tad overdone and dry but it was flavor packed with chunky tomato sauce, fresh herbs, garlic and feta.

Oven Baked Tenderloin ($18.49 CAD)

The Oven Baked Tenderloin was an interesting dish with slow cooked beef tenderloin baked under a bread dome with tomato sauce and fire roasted veggies. This middle eastern influence dish was spicy and hearty. The smokiness and savory aromas of the spices add depth as they balance the flavor of tangy tomatoes. The dish is served with baked pita and veggies, providing the perfect carrier to soak up the sauce.

  • Biscoff Lotus Pancake ($15.79 CAD)

If you have a sweet tooth, try the Biscoff Lotus Pancake. Light and fluffy pancakes served with fruits, grounded lotus biscuits and vanilla ice cream topped with rich creamy peanut butter sauce. When there is ice cream on your pancakes, it’s like having a sundae for breakfast. The warm peanut butter sauce drizzled over ice cream was very good. The grounded lotus biscuits also adds caramel flavor and a little textural variation.

Overall, the food was good and our server was friendly. The food is a bit pricey though with a long wait time as it took close to 40 minutes for our food to be served. I would still recommend to check this place out at least once.

Eggstatic
Address: 1568 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON M4G 3B7
Website: https://eggstatic.ca/home
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eggstaticto/

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TORONTO: RH COURTYARD CAFE

RH Courtyard Cafe is a beautifully decorated cafe within an upscale furniture store inside Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The ambiance is the best part about dining here. The interior is stunning with natural lighting and elegant settings that makes you feel like you’re inside a Parisian cafe. The extravagant space with beautiful statement-making chandeliers and greenery is a treasure cove for an instagram photo.

RH Courtyard Cafe

The menu offers standard Canadian fare like lobster rolls, scrambled eggs, and burgers. The food is a bit pricey for what it is but you’re paying for the experience. We ordered the RH Scramble and lobster roll.

  • RH Scramble ($14 CAD)
  • Interior

The RH Scramble consisted of slow scrambled eggs topped with snipped chives, sourdough, and half a avocado. The scramble eggs were delicious and I loved how creamy and moist they were. The sourdough and avocado were nothing special.

Lobster roll ($31 CAD)

The lobster roll had some sizable chunks of lobster meat nestled inside a lightly toasted split-top bun. The bun was crispy on the sides but barely buttery. The lobster meat is slightly overcooked and lacked seasoning. Nothing to say about the fries but I did like the garlic aioli that came on the side.

The food won’t blow you away, but you wouldn’t expect it to be as it’s not a specialty restaurant. You’re mostly there to enjoy the ambience. Because the RH Courtyard Cafe doesn’t take reservations, if you go during meal time, be prepared to wait at least 45 mins.

RH Courtyard Cafe
Address: 3401 Dufferin St, Toronto, ON M6A 2T9
(Located in Yorkdale, Restoration Hardware)
Website: https://www.restorationhardware.com/content/category.jsp?context=TorontoCafe

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TORONTO: THE GREEN WOOD

The Green Wood is located in Leslieville neighborhood at Queen Street East and Greenwood Avenue. Tucked away in the well-lit lower level, the space has a clean, modern aesthetic with white exposed brick walls, coral pink tiles and succulents.

The Green Wood: Interior

Open everyday from 9am-4pm, The Green Wood focuses on serving scratch-made Canadian menu that prominently features local Ontario ingredients. We came on a weekday to try out their brunch and ordered the Salmon Rosti, Coziest French Toast, and the Green Wood Classic.

From top to bottom: Salmon Rosti, Coziest French Toast & The Green Wood Classic

The Salmon Rosti consisted of crispy potato pancake, two poached eggs, smoked salmon, fresh cucumber, and dill and sour cream. The dish was delightful and the potato rosti was much lighter and crisper than I was expected.

The Green Wood Classic is exactly what you would expect from a classic breakfast, two eggs, bacon or sausage, fresh greens, roasted potatoes and toast.

The Green Wood Classic

If you have a sweet tooth, make sure you don’t miss the French Toast. The cinnamon-swirled house brioche is a cross between challah bread and cinnamon roll, perfectly cooked with a crisp buttery exterior and soft custardy interior. The french toast is soaked in vanilla custard and covered in fresh berries and maple syrup.

The Green Wood hits all the right spots. The space is comfy and the food was good. Love the use of local ingredients as you can really taste the freshness in the produce.

The Green Wood
Address: 1402 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M4L 1C9
Website: https://eatgreenwood.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatgreenwood/

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