Cora

I've been on holidays - so between camping, fishing, some outdoor swimming and general shenanigans, there hasn't been much time for eggs benny (I know, that's absolutely shocking)! However, on the first day of summer vacation, I headed to Cora. One of the nicest things about going to Cora in downtown St. John's, is the beautiful balcony overlooking St. John's harbor. One thing that sort of sucks about the Cora chain is the inability to make reservations (maybe this is just in St. John's, I've never eaten at any other Cora restaurant), but I lucked out on my visit to Cora and only had to wait 10 minutes before we were seated outside.

I must say, just sitting outside with a coffee, watching boats come in and out of the harbor was a great experience in itself, but I had a job to do! I ordered my eggs benny or Eggs Ben et Dictine as they are called at Cora's, and a side of hollandaise because, hey, I'm on vacation! I opted for the traditional ham eggs benny, however, for those of you who like to mix it up a bit, Cora's offers eggs benny with other yummy options, including asparagus!

We didn't have to wait long for our food to arrive at the table (remember folks, this is a chain), and the amount of fruit on the plate alone was worth the $12.50! Let's start with the sides before critiquing the actual eggs benny. The roasted potatoes are always yummy at Cora's. I tend to dip my hashbrowns/potato side in hollandaise, so when I received a bowlful of hollandaise, my only critique about the roasted potatoes was that I wish there were more on the plate! As anyone who's been to Cora's knows, most plates come with banana, cantaloupe, kiwi, strawberry, and apples, sliced and beautifully plated - so here's to Cora's for the yummy sides. The eggs benny was about the same in appearance as anywhere else, however you could see a slight crack in the hollandaise, and the it was a full slice of ham steak, which just made the eggs benny look clumsy and gigantic on the plate! I cut into the eggs (perfectly poached soft), and took a bite - something's not right here. The hollandaise is good (definitely not from scratch), the eggs are poached, the ham's not overly salty, a bit, but not a lot, what is wrong? It's the bread. The English muffin was stale. I was pretty disgusted with that, how do you mess up bread that isn't made in house? At this point, I was reallypretty I had that large bowl of hollandaise, as I lifted my entire eggs benny and placed some hollandaise underneath in an effort to add some moisture to the bread.

At the end of the experience, I couldn't eat another bite! The fruit and the roasted potatoes were great, but my stale bread, combined with a two huge slices of salty ham steak, really threw me at the end. That being said, if you're looking for brunch on a weekday morning or sunny afternoon, Cora is definitely worth it! I've had worse Eggs Ben et Dictine at Cora's, and I have gone back and had it again - so it's not the worst, but it isn't the best. I'm giving Cora a 3/5 (mostly because I love those potatoes).