Sushi 88, Somerset Street, Ottawa - June 17, 2004

Hubby and I stopped in here for a quick bite on our way home from one of the pre-election debates.

Small, bright, and clean, they offered an interesting selection of sushi, sashimi and other Japanese restaurant standards.

We started out with a Japanese beer, and a water. Typically I order tea, but it was a warm night. The tropical sushi (avocado, salmon and pineapple) caught our eye so we ordered that along with a batch of shrimp and veggie tempura.

Service was a bit slow - my guess was that the waiter/owner was a casualty of a high tech layoff who hasn't quite got the gist of reading customer signals. But he was very friendly and accomodating.

The food was good - although I still don't understand why people tempura raw onions - I know it's cheap and it balances out the overall cost of the veggies, but if they aren't eaten, isn't it a waste?

(and I know this restaurant cares about that, because he gave us the option of not having rice if we were not going to eat it)

They also included some unidentifiable vegetable (daikon root?) that was very tough and bland, even with the tempura batter.

Overall cost, however, was reasonable. I'd go back.

Pho-Lin, Sargent Street, Winnipeg - Saturday, October 18

Yeah - not an Ottawa restaurant. Best darn Vietnamese food I have had ever. Mango rice paper rolls!

Need I say more?

Go!

Breakfast at the Fergus Inn Bank Street @ Belmont
FERGUS INN is now GEORGETOWN PUB

My hubby likes weekend brunches. It stems from when he was a student, and all his friends got together for brunch instead of dinner because they had no money.

Times have changed, and we can afford dinners out now. And since this brunch cost more like $30, instead of the $3 (or $6 per couple) that it might have cost then (which really was not THAT long ago), I think I prefer a good dinner.

Anyhow, the real reason for this post is my opinion of Fergus food. In a word -- inconsequential. Or bleah. Take your pick.

Menu: pretty standard pub breakfasts - eggs, eggs and more eggs. I'm not an egg fan at the best of times, but I appreciate a good poached egg. What's a girl got to do to get restaurants to serve more waffles and fresh fruit?? (I have to go to a place like Cora's or Ada's. )

I splurged a little and chose orange juice and eggs florentine. Every time I see this on a menu, I remember my own brunch experiences as a student @ UBC in Vancouver and the time we visited the Coq D'Or, where waiters gave a new meaning to the word "obsequeous".

I was sorely disappointed though. The eggs were a little runny, and the bed of spinach they sat on left a very funny aftertaste in my mouth. The english muffins were untoasted, which left them tasting more than a little cakey. I thought it was standard to toast english muffins, but maybe that's my own bastardization of it.

Orange juice: they ruined it. It was syrupy and acidic at the same time. Service was average.

All in all, a very mediocre experience.