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!