This weekend we were all ready to try out Robz bistro but to our dismay it was closed on Saturday. Before we found out it was not going to open, we were early so we decided to try a new indie coffee shop, Illume on Wellington beside the Metro. The cappucinno was good and came from this unique machine that was imported from Europe. The coffee shop is spacious. There was a good selection of loose leaf tea. I had the Jasmine Green which had very nice flavour and aroma. They also sell Jones soda which my son had. Most of the desserts are gluten free except the Suzy Q donuts.:).
Since Robz Bistro was closed, we decided to go to the Mill St BrewHouse for lunch. Note to self, do not go during Bluesfest as you have to pay for parking. Parking was 20 dollars with a 10 dollar Mill St voucher and the 10 dollars going to CHEO. At least my money went to a good cause.
The drink: the beer is standard Mill St.It was interesting that I couldn’t order a half pint of the beer only a 15 ounce. So instead, my husband ordered the paddle where there were 4X6 oz beer samplers. One of them was a lemon tea beer that I wanted.
The food; since it was before 3PM we were able to order off the brunch menu. My son ordered the pulled pork eggs benedict, my husband ordered the smoked salmon frittata and I ordered the beef dip.
The eggs in the benedict were done perfectly. The hollandaise sauce was not as buttery as Cafe Cognac but still tasty. The pulled pork was tender with a nice BBQ smoke flavour that did not overwelm. The potatoes were very well seasoned. My son enjoyed his plate as the flavours melded very well.
Eggs Benedict
The frittata was good; nothing spectacular. The fried potato patty was good. Soft in the middle crunchy on the outside and not greasy.
My beef dip was good. The beef was a chunk of very tender brisket that was slow roasted. The dip was tasty but seemed to have the canned beef broth taste. The onions were ok except the sous-chef used some of the papery onion so there were chewy onion parts. The strawberry salad was perfect with a strawberry dressing and crumbled goat cheese and almonds for crunch. I also liked the slaw which was a fennel slaw with apple.
Overall, the food was better than average. The timing was another story. The restaurant was not busy but we ordered right away. It took a very long time for our meals to arrive. The table beside us who ordered after us and had appetizers had their appetizers before our meals and their meals arrived just after ours. I seemed our meals took a very long time.
This restaurant definitely makes their money on drinks…the non-alcoholic drinks start at 3 dollars.