Capital Brunches Vol. 2

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Brunch is one of our favourite meals and a great way to celebrate the weekend and try new restaurants around town. This occasional series, Capital Brunches, will feature some of our favourite hidden gems and surprise brunch spots around the National Capital Region.

Dessert First
350 Bay Street
1071 Bank Street

For those who prefer dessert for breakfast, or a little dessert after breakfast, Dessert First is sure to be the brunch spot of your dreams. Fans of Bay Street’s incredible breakfast sandwiches will be elated to learn that their new spot on Bank Street in Old Ottawa South offers not only breakfast sandwiches, but a new (and delicious) sit down brunch menu.

Bank Street serves up brunch seven days a week – and has a 9$ weekday brunch special – both of which are pretty much unheard of in Ottawa. While their Bay Street location is remarkably tiny, this Bank Street brunch spot is quite the opposite. The decor is super cute, with plenty of seating, spacious bathrooms, and a sprawling counter of delicious looking desserts. They don’t take reservations, but if you go during the week you are likely to get a seat without a wait. On the weekends, if the space is full, you can put your name on their waiting list and pop over to Black Squirrel Books while you await their call. Always on the hunt for a good brunch spot, we went to check out Dessert First’s new Bank Street location. I got the eggs Benedict, because I’m a sucker for a good hollandaise – and Dessert First’s did not disappoint. With accompaniments like ham, double smoked bacon, and avocado, it is hard to go wrong. Their English muffins are also made from scratch, like most everything else!

Dessert First. Photos: Amanda Armstrong

A friend of mine had the croque madame, complete with a perfectly poached egg (which is difficult to come by when dining out). They enjoyed it so much they then took their partner, who reported back that their home fries were some of the best in the city. I’ve not yet tried them, but you can bet I will be back for their fluffy buttermilk pancakes with blueberry compote, maple syrup, and your choice of matcha or vanilla bean mascarpone cream. The Instagram reels look dreamy.

Accessibility Notes: the restaurant is wheelchair accessible, single person washrooms on same level as the restaurant.

Drip House
340 Parkdale
692 Somerset W
121 Parkdale

Drip House is my go-to place for a relaxed, delicious and satisfying brunch when I want to be guaranteed amazing coffee, and don’t want to make a reservation. All three locations have slightly different vibes, but they all serve the same menu, and you can get brunch all day, any day of the week. The Vegan Oat Bowl is a massive bowl of creamy oats that can come warm or cold, topped with coconut, fresh fruit, seeds, granola and almond butter. It’s refreshing and filling, and a bonus to get something so creamy and decadent that is also dairy free. I’ve only ever had it warm, but I can imagine it cold on a warm summer day on one of their patios perfectly. The breakfast sandwich is a casual, tasty treat that comes wrapped in foil, ready to go. The egggs are scrambled, with crunchy fried onions, cheddar cheese and spicy mayo on a soft sweet brioche bun. I add bacon to this sandwich for a bit of an extra treat. The scrambled eggs are soft and make for a juicy breakfast sandwich unlike anything I’ve ever had. It’s perfect with a cortado, and travels well, if you’re looking for an easy meal on the go.

Sometimes when I’m home alone in my sweatpants and too lazy to cook, I dream about their Breakfast Bowl. If there is a more perfect meal in town, I’d like to try it. The cheesy eggs are soft scrambled, with avocado and cherry tomatoes generously topped with Everything seasoning. The onion rings have a crispy crunch, while the spicy mayo gives it a bit of a kick, and more creaminess to mix it all together with. The seeded bread is crusty and hearty, perfect to scoop up the breakfast. I always add bacon, because it’s bacon. Like all of the breakfasts, it goes really well with either a cortado, an iced latté or a rich drip coffee. The Oat Bowl and sandwich are both $11.99, and the Breakfast Bowl is $13.99.

The Breakfast Sandwich

Accesibility Notes: 340 Parkdale is accessed by a short set of stairs, and 692 Somerset has a small step into the restaurant, but an accessible patio at street level. Neither have fully accessible washrooms. 121 Parkdale is fully accessible. 

GongFu Bao / Gongfu Café
365 Bank Street

From Wednesday to Saturday 9-3pm GongFu Bao turns into GongFu Café, a Hong Kong style café serving baked goods, coffee, tea, and brunch. Anyone who loves Gongfu Bao has got to check it out, so I finally did recently and it did not disappoint. Their Hong Kong french toast has become somewhat of a viral sensation, so that was naturally top of our list. I wanted to try the Corned Beef and Egg Bolobao (sandwich) as well, but when we went the kitchen was so busy with take out orders that they’d run out, so I ordered the Spicy Fried Chicken Bun. Since their fried chicken bao is one of my favourite foods, I knew it would be delicious and I was so, so right. The fried chicken is perfectly cripsy without being greasy, and the bright slaw is the perfect balance to the hot sauce.

I was dying to try their Yuenyeung, which is a Hong Kong Milk Tea mixed with coffee, but was surprised when I found out that they don’t normally have a dairy free option of the milk tea for brunch. Luckily, there was a batch of iced Yuenyeung made for their Vegan night, so I was able to partake. It was creamy and sweet, and tasted more like tea than coffee, which was a delicious surprise. The Honk Kong french toast is crispy and golden on the outside, but smooth and moist on the inside, with a rich creamy custard in the middle. It comes with maple syrup, which is just icing on the cake. We added a side of their Peppersalt Chicken to share, which was a great savoury crunch to balance the french toast,

Clearly, Gongfu Café isn’t a secret, but it is great to be able to experience a legendary Ottawa hot spot at all times of the day now. You can also leave with some tasty baked goods like egg tarts and buttery bolobao to get you through the rest of the day. Or, if you have to wait for a table, get a treat to enjoy on the sidewalk.

Accesibility notes: There is a small step into the restaurant, and it has some seating that is accessible. 

Photo: Kiersten Vuorimaki

Tami’s Café
374 Bank St

Tami’s has been quietly putting out great Filipino food and goodies for years, but I hadn’t been there for brunch yet, so this seemed like the perfect reason to round up some friends and give it a shot. If you can get past the amazing glass case full of decadent baked goods, the restaurant is cozy with funky local art throughout. Brunch is served starting at 11:30am on Satuday and 11am Sunday, and the menu is a great mix of Filipino favourites and breakfast classics. On top of the bottomless drip coffee, I tried the Calamansi juice, which is a tangy tiny citrus that makes for a yummy, refreshing juice for breakfast. The Longanisa Omelette features Filipino longanisa sausages, which are sweet pork breakfast sausages with a hint of heat. The omelette was fluffy and tasty, and the home fries were perfectly crispy and salty. My friend was delighted with his Tap-si-log – fried eggs with garlic friend rice and tender, saucy and sweet steak strips. The show stopper Pandan pancakes were also everything that we’d hoped they we be. Tami’s offers both Pandan and Ube pancakes, the Pandan are a bright green and the Ube are a glorious purple.  Pandan flavour is difficult to describe, but the pancakes had a delightful herbacious- vanilla- coconut vibe that was sweet without being cloying. The whipped cream is decadant, and of course, the maple syrup rounded them out perfectly.

Over all, all of the dishes were delicious and flavourful without being heavy or greasy, which is the perfect balance to strike at brunch. Our meals were all priced between $17-$22 plus coffee, tea and the Calamansi juice that I’m still thinking about. This is a great hidden gem for all foodies.

Accesibility notes: The restaurant is fully accessible.