Father's Day Brunch: Four Seasons, Avenue Lounge

Restaurant:  Avenue Lounge, Four Seasons Hotel

Where:  21 Avenue Rd., Toronto, ON  416.964.0411

The day for the other parent, Father's day.  Another breakfast brunch at a different hotel.  I had another idea but I will save that for another year when the babies are older.  It fun and interest of it would be lost on them and us because they are so young.

This day, we went to the Four Seasons, Avenue Lounge.  It was a nice spread but the consensus was, we enjoyed the brunch at Intercontinental Hotel's Azure Restaurant more.  Don't get us wrong, the spread was nice but due to our taste, we thought the selection at Azure was more to our liking.  (Plus, it was more inexpensive.)  A change of scenery was good as well. The thing was, Avenue has a larger anit-pasti selection which we didn't care for as much.  I found the dessert selection wasn't as good either.  The decor was nice but it was much too cramped.  Oh ya, and they threw in 1 golf ball for the fathers.

- mussels, lamb, mini burger, French toast, smoked salmon/bagel -

- orange juice & some tabletop arrangement -

- dessert:  tirimusu, creme brulee, lemon tart, fruit/cake with chocolate, fruit tart -

- cold shrimp -

- view from our table of the bar (elevated section) -

- antipasti bar -

- bowl of shrimp -

- dessert selection -

My Mother's Day Meal: Intercontinental Hotel, Azure Restaurant

My mother's day feast took place at the Intercontinental Hotel's restaurnat Azure. We had been there for breakfast once before and that meal was decent. It is convenient for us because it is a short distance from our home. The restaurant is spacious, especially on the weekends. It is probably busier during the weekdays with business people wheeling and dealing. Oh, it also has good high chairs. I didn't expect many people there because when we went there a few weeks back, the restaurant was practically empty. We might have been the only people there. Anyway, I thought we'd be ordering off the same brunch a la carte menu but....no! Azure was offering a mother's day brunch buffet. On this visit, the restaurant had people in it - mommies and their families.

There was a lot of food and a great selection. There were breakfast foods, eggs benedict, sausages, waffles, made to order omellettes; hot foods - vegetables, fish, chicken, potatoes, roast lamb; antipasto platter; fruit platter; cheese platters; variety of breads; soup; seafood table - mussels, shrimps, oysters & clams; sushi; and a separate dessert area. I have probably left something out and don't remember some of the special names of the food items. I concentrated mostly on the seafood and didn't stuff myself with anything ordinary.

Here are the mouth watering visuals of most of plates...

Weekend in Review

This was an extended weekend for us, not just Saturday & Sunday, it included Thursday, Friday and Monday. We inevitably go out on weekends because I hardly get out much during the week. The babies are a difficult bunch by myself (they are so young right now). A tag team effort eases the pain. While out in the city, we always eat.

Here is a weekend review of my food life...

Asian Legend, Chinatown: Northern Chinese

What we ordered: Chinese Silver Bun (fried), Xiao Long Bao (steamed soup filled pork/scallop dumplings), Rolled Onion Pancake with Sliced Beef, Hot & Sour Soup and Pork Chop Fried Noodle

Over Easy: A breakfast place (There's non-breakfast items on the menu too.)

What we ordered: I ordered the complete healthy breakfast which included egg whites, oatmeal, multi-grain toast & a bowl of fruit. I forget what the other order across the table was. Something with cheese, egg and bacon mixed together and baked (can see the small casserole dish) plus, hash brown. Also, an order of extra toast for baby1. ...coffee & grapefruit juice too.

John's Italian Cafe, on Baldwin St. (Lots of restaurants on this stretch of the street.)

A little rest and drink after a long walk. Our original destination was an organic farmer's market on John St., but it was nowhere to be found. So we kept on walking and ended up here. We only wanted a bowl of latte and a decaf cappuccino. The cafe has a full menu as well.

The mother's day meal will be posted after this. It deserving of its own entry.

Manpuku, Village on the Grange

What we ordered: kake udon, curry don & takosen

This is a new discovery from the Chowhound. Not the usual Japanese place that everyone is accustomed to around here, no sushi. Will have to go again to try some of the other items, particularly the onigiri and yakionigiri. I really enjoyed the takosen. It's not something I've had before so I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be but I loved it anyway. It's this orb of goodness all wrapped into one - fried outside and chewy & soft on the inside, with just the right amount of mayo on top. yummmm...