Our family was not unusual. Across Britain, the famous advertising campaign told us to “go to work on an egg” and we did. Breakfasts were enjoyed up and down the country with great relish, and not the green North American kind!
But as much as we loved it, we never ate breakfast out. This only happened on very special occasions, a visit to a B&B en route to a family wedding or the even rarer stay in an hotel. What a deprived childhood we had!
So imagine my delight on moving to Orléans and discovering that Canadians loved breakfast too! They loved it so much, in fact, that on the weekend they would actually queue up, sometimes in sub-zero temperatures, to get a table at their favourite breakfast spot and not just on special occasions like birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day or at Easter either; Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday, people were going out for breakfast. How civilised!
Breakfast is a wonderful meal to eat out. There is something for everyone, vegetarians, the Atkins dieters, fruit eaters, meat eaters, picky eaters and no-one has to be the designated driver.
It is sociable and fun – you can take the baby and Great Grandma and everyone is going to have a good time. No one has to take the food too seriously, it is a wonderful start to any weekend and, as we all know, if you have a good breakfast, it will keep you going for hours.
Slowly but surely my family began to sample the delights of breakfast “Orléans-style.” We tried the delicious fruit concoctions at Coras, the amazing asparagus and feta cheese omelettes at The Delicious, fabulous sausages at The Royal Oak, home fries and poutine at The Broadway Bar, to name but a few.
Everywhere we went we were amazed at the quality of food and the variety, the friendliness of the staff and the great atmosphere – relaxed, happy, people who had time to chat and to catch up after a busy week. It was great!
We even started putting Maple syrup on bacon and scrambled eggs – and enjoying it – imagine!
Every time we have visitors from the UK, we take them out for breakfast and they love it! It's like going out for dinner, but better! We have started having people over for brunch instead of supper and trying out new breakfast recipes, given to us by equally enthusiastic breakfast-eating friends. In recent months we have experimented with breakfast muffins, breakfast lasagne and breakfast pizza and wait eagerly for the next recipe to come our way.
So, whilst the breakfast-eaters amongst us are spoilt for choice in Orléans, those looking for a candle-lit wine bar or a neighbourhood bistro serving good food and wine, with some jazz on the side, are not so well catered for. As Orléans expands and grows, let's hope there's some room for a few little night spots to appear along the way and give breakfast some competition.
Breakfast, Orléans Style
We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As a child growing up in the UK, my mother put as much effort in to that first meal as she did to the one we ate in the evening. Breakfast was a veritable feast – porridge, kippers, mushrooms on toast, fried bread, black pudding, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, bacon – not all at the same time, of course, but the combinations were endless.
- Number of views : 681
- Rate
- Top of the page
