And the Eagle has Landed....

Spring is here! spring is finally here! its been weeks and months of sub ten degree temperatures and nothing but rain (sometimes snow!) and dark skies lately but finally in late May we get to have beautiful beautiful sunshine. Along with beautiful weather and warm temperatures comes patio season!

On this sunny weekend in May I decided to sit on a patio and have weekend brunch with my favourite dining companion at "Hunter's Landing" in City Place. "Hunter's Landing" is situated right in between the many condos in the area and has a massive unobstructed patio with lots of sunshine. Their patio offers a nice relaxing atmosphere where I was able to just sit back and soak up the rays with a cocktail in one hand.

If this is your first visit to "Hunter's Landing" for brunch I would highly recommend you to order their monstrosity of a caesar, "Landing's Cure".

This giant mug of all things great comes in a stein and pretty much has every animal from the animal kingdom on a stick! Theres assorted house pickled veggies, a lobster tail, thick cut bacon, sausage, and even a slice of pizza on a stick! The caesar was little light on vodka for me but I think it was because of the large of amount of Clamato that was poured into the stein. The caesar overall had a nice flavour and I really liked the touch of horse radish. It is difficult for me to call this a cocktail since this was more a meal in a glass.

For the non-liquid portion of my meal I decided the to have the pulled pork eggs Benedict.

This was a very filling dish especially when I accompanied it with their signature caesar. The pulled pork was moist and tender and paired up very nicely with the poached egg. The only complaint I have was that the pulled pork contained large amounts of fat that are usually discarded but somehow found its way to my plate.


My dining companion ordered the ahi-tuna Sandwich on a multigrain croissant.

The ahi Tuna was nicely prepared to a medium rare and had a nice little kick of spice from the chilli peppers. The choice of using a multigrain croissant was a little odd for me. the croissant was a little denser then your normal croissant and wasn't as flaky as its regular counter part. I think if they served the ahi-tuna again on a regular croissant it would definitely taste much better.

This was a very enjoyable weekend brunch on a nice patio which makes me want to come back again. There  are still a few items on their brunch menu that I would like to come back and try and I might even challenge that monster caesar once again.

For More Information:
Hunter's Landing

What a Bagel? (actual restaurant name)

There are countless places to eat around the city for brunch but on this particular mid-day brunching hour I decided to finally visit "What a Bagel?" on Spadina. As the name suggests, "What a Bagel?" specializes in bagels at this jewish eatery. On your visit to "What a Bagel?" you can expect quite a bit of wait for table because I had to wait twenty minutes before I was seated at a table, which is not an uncommon occurrence from what I heard from other diners.

The dining area was quite cramped and uncomfortable. I was quite difficult to listen to what my dining companion was saying because it was quite loud and we were seated about six inches away from another couple. This wouldn't have been a problem if the day was warner and they opened their spacious patio but it seemed liked they tried to cram as many people they could in what little space they had. 

The food menu was quite large and had a lot of jewish speciality items you would expect such as matzo ball soup, cream cheese and lox.  "What a Bagel?" also sold a variety of Bagels for take out if you were hoping to bring home next days breakfast or be an office hero.

Avocado Turkey Bacon Club. 

After scanning through their menu I decided to order their speciality of the day, Avocado turkey bacon club.  The fries appeared to be double fried and were crispy on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside like how good fries should be. The club, was stacked quite high with fresh tasting ingredients  on their home made bread. The avocado was a nice touch to the club because it added a nice creamy texture to the sandwich.  I wasn't so sure about the turkey bacon because I personally love the salty swine counter part more. 

lox (smoked salmon), chive cream cheese, tomato, 

red onion, capers 

My lovely dining companion ordered the "Big shot" which was lox (smoked salmon), chive cream cheese, tomato, red onion, capers on their signature bagel. This was a massive serving of food, which this picture does not due the dish justice. The lox was packed full of the smokey flavour everyone loves and combined with the chive cream cheese made it a match maid in heaven.... or on Spadina. 

The one take away for me is the massive amount of cream cheese on the bagel. The amount of cream cheese on the bagel was almost more then the amount of lox placed on the other side.

This would be a nice sunday brunch spot if I was sitting outside on their patio but unfortunately cramped space on the inside was quite distracting, especially when they seated us next to the heating pipes which made our dining experience quite warm. I'm looking forward to coming back to try their food and have a better dining experience.

For more information:

What a Bagel?