Thyme to Indulge Catering

As often happens on weekends, J and I had trouble deciding what to eat for brunch. J loves trying different places so she set out on a mission to find a new place to eat. She stumbled upon an article listing restaurants with "to-die-for breakfasts in Vancouver". That is how we ended up eating at Thyme to Indulge Bistro. (I found the article a little suspect, as a majority of the restaurants listed were on Main Street)

Crab Cake Benedict

Croque Madame

Croque Madame

Kids Scrambled Eggs and Sausage

Various Macaroons

Nestled next to the Dairy Queen on Main and 13th, the restaurant is small and doesn't really stand out with its small storefront. We found street parking nearby and waited over 30 minutes for a table (our fault for arriving during the peak of the brunchtime rush).

Once seated, we put in our orders and admired the interior decor. With bright white walls and plenty of natural light from the windows, the interior was very welcoming. It was also quite busy.

Service was pretty good with attentive servers. Our order took a little longer than we expected (a table that was seated after us and ordered at the same time received their food ahead of us by a bit), but the quality of the food made up for the wait.

Crab Cake Benedict - What is there not to love about crabcakes and eggs benedict? The cakes were deliciously moist and crispy on the outside, and the eggs were cooked to perfection. My personal favourite was the toasted focaccia that the eggs and cakes were served on. Forget English muffins!

Croque Madame - I have had this dish at a few different French restaurants, and I have to admit that Thyme's is the heartiest. The sauteed onions, peppers, and spinach made it stand out amongst its competitors'. My only criticism is that the bechamel sauce made the bread a little soggy. Nonetheless, the dish was superb.

Kids Eggs and Sausage - What you see is what H got. Eggs. Sausage. 'Nuff said.

We also got H a couple of macaroons which she took apart with great amusement.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with our meal. I wouldn't describe it as "to-die-for", but it was good and I would definitely go back. Next time though, I will aim for 12:30pm or much earlier to avoid the crowd.

Summary
Food: Great. The standout feature of Thyme is the food. A definite recommendation.

Service: Good. The staff are friendly and attentive, but the food did take a little longer than expected.

Setting: Good. The location is busy, but the restaurant itself is quite nice.

Value: Good. Prices are reasonable and the food is great!

El Camino's

El Camino's is another restaurant that was featured on You Gotta Eat Here.

We went there this past weekend around 12:30pm and found parking right in front of the restaurant. One of the servers took my name and informed me it would be 5-10 minutes for a table. It took a little less than 10 minutes before we were led to our table, at which point I asked for a highchair for H. A few minutes later the server forgot about the highchair as she went back to cleaning tables, so I reminded her. She came back with a booster seat that couldn't be strapped down to a chair, which wasn't very safe for H, so I returned it to her and brought my own from the car.

J and I ordered a Mexican Cola and a Ginger Beer, both of which were served promptly and came by the bottle. We put in our orders and waited for the food to arrive, which took over 20 minutes. The tables around us had similar wait times, and we noticed that a large table nearby of about 6 people waited closer to 30 minutes.

I ordered the Huevos Divorciados, J ordered the Pulled Pork Bennie, and we ordered some Canadian bacon, a scrambled egg, and a fruit cup on the side for H. My dish seemed a little small when it arrived, but because it had beans and came with potato wedge hash browns, it was still quite filling. The tortillas were indeed crispy and the over-easy eggs mixed with the two kinds of salsas quite well. It was an interesting Latin American twist on a toasted open-faced fried egg sandwich.

J's Bennie was really good and felt very heavy because they used a type of cornbread instead of the traditional English muffin. The poached egg went well with the pulled pork and the cornbread was great for soaking up the excess yolk. H ate most of her brekkie too, which was a good sign as well.

Overall service wasn't bad, but it was clear that they can get flustered and overwhelmed at times, forgetting little things.

Summary
Food: Good. Well-made and unique. I may return someday for the dinner menu.

Service: Average. Servers are average to good, but the wait time for food is lengthy.

Setting: Good. Parking isn't bad and the interior of the restaurant is clean. Focus seems to be on the bar.

Value: Average. Good food and average prices, but the quantities are a little small.

Paul's Place Omelettery Restaurant

Note: This review was originally posted on Dine Here and reposted to this blog on Sep 16, 2013.

A friend suggested this place for Saturday brunch and we went just this last weekend. There were 4 of us in total and we arrived before 11am so it wasn't too crowded, but it got really busy around noon, so go early or be prepared to wait.

I ordered a pulled pork hash (special) and it was fantastic. It wasn't too greasy and there weren't too many potatoes to weigh it down. The cheese was a little cold when it was served, but I was busy feeding my daughter so the dish melted it just fine after a bit of mixing. The poached eggs on top were really delicious and tied it together well.

It was quite busy, but my coffee remained full almost throughout the meal. The servers were attentive and accommodating (our baby was a little fussy).

The prices are quite reasonable. Most of the breakfast dishes are around $6-10 (compared to breakfast/diner chains that run $8-13 per dish), and as mentioned above, the food was good.

It was busy and there was plenty of hustle and bustle. It's not a quiet romantic place by any means. There was nothing surprising about the ambiance.

I would definitely visit the Omelettery again, and I recommend it to friends.

Summary
Food: Very good. Common selection of breakfast items but they were done well.

Service: Good. Despite being busy, the server was attentive and readily available.

Setting: Average. The tables seemed a bit cramped and parking is just okay.

Value: Good. Cheaper than chain restaurants and better tasting.