Hungry Heart Café

A couple of friends and I hit up the Hungry Heart Café on a lovely Saturday morning for their brunch. For those of you who do not know, the Hungry Heart Café is a social enterprise and connected with non-profit organization, Stella's Circle. The Hungry Heart Café's profits go toward employment and training programs for Stella's Circle participants. So, not only do you get a gourmet meal, but you are also giving back to the community - which should be reason enough to go. What's the only thing that sucks? They're not open on Sunday's, and you often need a reservation for Saturday brunch - so you better call ahead!

Back to brunch - I can hardly describe how amazing it was. I had reserved a window seat, so we sat at our table, with blue linen cloths and fresh flowers and ordered our coffee. I naturally ordered my eggs benny, and a couple of friends ordered the special (which happened to be the most delicious French toast). Our servers were so fabulous, they topped up our coffee, and when the food came out, I actually said, "this looks amazing." I was not disappointed.

The eggs Benedict, as most of the Hungry Heart Café's menu, had its own twist. Instead of an English muffin, I was served on a crispy and delicious potato latke (almost like a shredded potato pancake), with thick slices of ham, perfectly soft poached eggs, and house-made hollandaise. If that's wasn't amazing enough, the hashbrowns were probably the best I'd ever had in St. John's. They were white and sweet potato chunks, fried with peppers, onion and seasoned to absolute perfection. I honestly felt like I had gone to hashbrown heaven! Not only that, but they weren't deep fried, so you didn't feel heavy after you had finished your meal. I've had a few 'plays on eggs Benedict' during the course of this experience, does anyone remember the cheese sauce fiasco? Well, these changes were embraced and welcomed - sooooo good (yes, that's five o's).

My friends and I enjoyed our experience so much, that we didn't want to leave, we refilled our coffees and ordered cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing (also made in-house). At the end of my meal, I can honestly say, the Hungry Heart Café has become the front runner of my quest for the best eggs Benedict.

Was the Hungry Heart. Café eggs benny worth $16.00? DEFINITELY! While you may think it's pricy, you have to remember that this was not your traditional ham steak on top of English muffin with deep fried hashbrowns - this was all made fresh, to order, and seasoned perfectly. On top of all that, a great cause! Hungry Heart Café - hats off to the chef - you've scored 5/5!

Greensleeves

It's summer, so naturally, on a hot summer day, it makes sense to look for a brunch option that has an outdoor patio. That's exactly what I did one Saturday afternoon. After applying sunblock and wearing a fedora, I sat at the Greensleeves outdoor patio on George Street and ordered eggs benny (and a mimosa, I am on George Street after all). The drinks came out, and when I placed my order, it was hardly 10 minutes before the eggs benny were placed in front of me. Seriously, I hardly had two sips of my mimosa! The timing in all this, was just not right to me, that's hardly enough time to poach my eggs, but I dove right in.

Eggs Benedict at Greensleeves come with hasbrowns and a side of baked beans. That was a welcome treat, and I actually liked the smoky flavor and bacon. The hashbrowns reminded me of my days at dining hall during my undergrad - frozen seasoned hashbrowns that were deep fried. They definitely weren't the best hashbrowns I've ever had, but I was a bit nostalgic while eating them.

Of course, the true test was the eggs benny. The hollandaise was a bit light but thick, so at first glance, I thought it may be homemade. I forgot to order a side of extra hollandaise (for dipping hashbrowns), but there was quite a bit on the plate, and that's when I tasted the hollandaise - I was disappointed. The hollandaise may have been homemade, but I know why my food was served so quickly - it was not a traditional hollandaise, but what I suspected was a yogurt hollandaise. The consistency was more like mayonnaise, but it had a bland taste. After another bite, there was no doubt in my mind - butter had been replaced with yogurt. Hence why it could be spooned on a plate so quickly. The ham was okay (it was just ham steak) and it's hard to screw up an English muffin - but, I will admit, I was disappointed (so was my brunch companion).

So, at the end of the meal, was it worth $10.99? I'd have to say, not really. While the beans were yummy, and my hashbrowns reminded me of days past, the hollandaise didn't do it for me. Actually, when I think about it, the hashbrowns weren't good if they were like dining hall! Best part of Greensleeves brunch - the outdoor patio and the mimosa!

Greensleeves, I love your patio, your servers were sooo nice, the mimosa was spot on, but the hollandaise - yuck - you're getting a 2/5.

Humphrys

Humphry's is a small sports bar in downtown-west. It's usually packed during a Montreal Canadians game, but it's nice and quaint for a Sunday brunch. I headed to Humphry's to try their eggs benny, and I must say, I did enjoy the atmosphere. The server was really nice, and brought our drink order pretty quickly. Then, we waited, and we waited. Eventually our server came over to say that they ran out of hollandaise, so we could wait 15 minutes for them to make more or reorder something else, so we waited, and waited some more. Finally, it arrived. Bonus, I definitely know they make their hollandaise in house!

The hashbrowns were nicely flavoured, but they were a bit too crispy, which was sad, because the flavour was great (when I say crispy, I mean I sent a few flying off my plate when I tried to spear them with my fork). The eggs were poached soft, and ham was good, but as you can see from the photo, the hollandaise wasn't as creamy as I prefer, but it was made fresh! Humphry's uses quite a bit of pepper though, the hollandaise and hashbrowns had a very black pepper-esque flavouring. You can even see specks of black pepper in the hollandaise. 

Due to wait time, a runny hollandaise and super crispy hashbrowns, I'm not sure if I would pay $12.95 for this meal again, but it definitely wasn't the worst eggs benny I've had. I'm going to give Humphry's a 2.5/5.  Oh and Humphry's, I'll see you for a few hockey games in the fall!