Bonjour Brioche

Yesterday was a perfect day for brunch. Ok any day is good for brunch. But yesterday the weather just made it even more enjoyable. Got the beautiful sunshine and warm weather where no fall jacket is necessary yet.

Me and my 2 best friends made plans to go have brunch at Bonjour Brioche. It was originally suppose to be 3 however my other friend caught the flu bug. Here is a post so she gets to see what she missed out on. I discovered the bakery cafe from watching the show Toronto Dining and also saw it was listed as number 3 on the Best French Toast in the city on blogTO.com. I had to go check this place out since I've been drooling over it ever since I saw the review.

When we first arrived there was already a lineup with people standing outside of the cafe. This instantly got me excited since I thought there's a lineup at 11:30am on a Sunday morning. It had to be good since people are actually up this early and waiting in line for brunch. Yes I consider it early since I normally don't get out of bed till 12 or so and I definitely wouldn't be up all the way in Leslieville either lining up just for brunch.

However, the wait wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We waited for like 10-15 minutes before we were seated. But I have to point out since this was a small place we had a table which I think is normally for 2 but instead since they were extremely busy they had to seat me and my 2 friends at this tiny table. A wobbly one I might add but the waiter fixed it for us immediately after upon noticing the unstable table. If I wasn't extremely in starvation then I would've waited for another table but my stomach couldn't wait any longer nor seeing or smelling the food on other patrons' table didn't help either.

After we were seated our waiter came and gave us our menu along with the specials for the day. I asked him what was a popular dish and he recommended the special, Norwegian Benny, along with their infamous Baked French Toast and also their Smoked Salmon dish. He was extremely informative and very friendly and helpful. It didn't take much persuasion so we decided to order all 3 that the waiter had suggested along with a side order of peameal bacon since what is brunch without some good ole fattening bacon.

After what seemed like an eternity, although it might've been 30 minutes or so but when you're really hungry time just appears to stand still, our food finally arrived.

I was in awe when the plates arrived. I mean just look at the picture doesn't it look colorful and inviting. I couldn't wait to dig in but as always no matter how hungry I am I have to take pictures first before I can even eat otherwise how else will I have pictures to show on my blog. Of course I had to refrain my friends as well from digging their forks and knives into the pretty arrangements.

Here is the smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, chives, rosti potato, creamed horse radish and caviar. It was good but I have to say the next 2 dishes coming up took my breath away.

Here is their popular baked french toast with fresh fruit and maple syrup. This was truly the BEST french toast I had EVER had so far. The texture was like a bread pudding cake moist and delicious. It was full of flavor even without the maple syrup. A must have if you are ever in the mood for some yummy french toast.

Here is my favorite dish out of all the 3 entrees, the Norwegian Benny.

First of all, I have never had a benedict before so kind of hard to compare since it's my first but will definitely not be my last. If you are like me and never ate a benny before it basically consists of an English muffin topped with bacon, ham or poached eggs and served with Hollandaise sauce.

Now what is a Hollandaise sauce? It's essentially the backbone of a good eggs benedict without it, it's just eggs n bread. The Hollandaise sauce is one of the sauces served in French haute cuisine. It is a mixture of egg yolk and butter along with seasoning such as lemon juice, salt and a bit of pepper. Yes this sauce is definitely fattening but oh so buttery good.

This is Bonjour Brioche's version of a benny served with fresh green salad along with their signature dressing. It was so delicious and will be my benny that will be compared with the future bennies to come.

After we licked our plates clean, onto dessert which I appear to always have room for but one of my friends was crying out no since she was stuffed to the max. However, being the good friend that I am I forced her to share in my joy for desserts and split the tart with me. I couldn't resist it since upon clearing our plates away the waiter returned tantalizing us with this assortment of tarts. He's evil I tell you. Just kidding. Or maybe not.

The flavors we were presented with were pear, strawberry, blueberry, lemon, coconut, chocolate, pecan and 2 other flavors I don't quite remember since I was too busy taking a picture.

We ended up picking pear and it was pretty tasty. It was served with whip cream but I think it already is sweet without it.

The grand total came to about $50 for 3 people which I thought was pretty decent. The portions were good and the food was unbelievable along with the helpful friendly staff.

Overall, it was two thumbs up and I definitely recommend a trip to this favorite neighborhood spot. Now I have to make a second trip with my sick friend so she can taste what I am drooling about.

TOTAL BILL $50...EAT HERE NEXT!!!