Posted by Melissa Woycechowsky in brunch, restaurant review on June 24, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Cora's
Mississauga (Clarkson) location: 1865 Lakeshore Road West
905-823-2672
Downtown location: 277 Wellington Street West
416-598-2672
Breakfast for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $28
"That’s a little O.T.T.," says my husband as we walk into Cora’s, pointing at a sign in the entryway.
"What’s O.T.T?"
"Over the top."
I read the sign. "Please allow us the pleasure of accompanying you to your table." Okay, a little over the top, but I’m happy they tell us that they want to seat us. I have a problem in restaurants where I’m not sure if I should seat myself or not. I either end up standing there like an idiot or sitting down somewhere I’m not supposed to be. In due course, the server accompanies us to our table, which I allow her to do. She even asks if we want a booth or a table. Cora’s is one of those breakfast places that get incredibly crowded on weekends, so we are glad to be eating there at 7:30am on a weekday morning to have our pick of seats.
Cora’s was started 20 years ago in Montreal by Cora Mussely Tsouflidou, who went into the restaurant business after her husband left her. After success in owning and managing restaurants, she started Cora’s to combine traditional breakfast foods with health foods that were becoming popular then. She then franchised and Cora’s now has 65 locations across Canada, mostly in Quebec and Ontario.
On the walls are brightly coloured cartoonish graphics with the names of some of the dishes and little drawings of food and suns. My husband says they remind him of a nursery school, and I agree. They are a jarring contrast with the subdued French country style in which the rest of the restaurant is decorated. Luckily we come here for the food and not the ambiance.
The menu is large and lavishly illustrated with photographs. I consider having the Raspberry 4 Lucie crepe, which comes filled with custard, raspberry coulis and cream cheese ($10.95). But really, that seems more of a dessert, so I get the 1990s Harvest Breakfast ($9.95). My husband orders the Cora’s Special ($8.95). We also get coffee.
The coffee is good, but what’s really nice is they ask before they refill our cups and ruin my perfect blend of milk and sweetener. Our meal takes about ten minutes to arrive, but I know that it hasn’t been forgotten. All of Cora’s restaurants are built with an open kitchen, and I enjoy watching the chefs running around frantically making our breakfast. I was also happy that our order was picked up by the waitress as soon as it was up, and arrived at our table piping hot.
And what a lot of food it was. Cora’s breakfasts are not cheap, but they are ample and delicious. The Cora's Special came with two eggs, oven-fried potatoes, bacon, sausage, ham, a crepe, toast and fruit. The crepe was much thicker than the types of crepes that come wrapped around fillings, but it was much thinner than a regular pancake. The meat products were all of good quality. It was a huge amount of food, especially for the price.
My breakfast was equally good. It consisted of two pieces of cinnamon roll French toast, two eggs and a mountain of fruit. I’m very fond of cinnamon, and the cinnamon rolls were great, but if they had much more cinnamon in them I don’t know if I would have been able to eat them. They were not very sweet and I put maple-flavoured syrup on them (real maple syrup costs fifty cents extra!) and I think this was the best French toast I've ever had.
I liked this place so much I actually went and ate there again. This time I went to the Cora’s in downtown Toronto, quite near Rogers Centre. It’s a very touristy area, and I think I was the only person not looking at a map or guidebook during lunch.
Once again the staff was efficient and professional. I had the waffle with fresh fruit and custard ($9.95). They take a freshly made waffle and spread custard on it, and then load it with about a cup and a half of fresh fruit. Delicious.
At many breakfast places, fresh fruit is more of a garnish. It’s often unripe and I don’t think they really expect you to eat it. All the fruit we had at Cora’s was ripe and fresh. There is a good variety too, including kiwi fruit, strawberries, plums, pineapple, grapes and apples.
The menu at Cora's changes seasonally, so even if the items mentioned are not available, I have faith in this place that they will come up with something equally good.
Love Cora's. My most memorable experience is definitely the melted brie with a mountain of fruit. It's indescribably delicious. Of course, the mountain of fruit does little to mitigate the damage of having a fairly large serving of melted brie first thing in the morning.
I visted the Wellington location on a regular basis for the last two years, and found that the quality has diminished significantly.
On certain days, if their stock is running low, they'll skimp on the dishes. I ordered a plate that promised "a mountain of fruit" - I recieved a few slices of cantalope and melon, arranged haphazardly on my plate. The last time I ordered the same dish, strawberries, kiwi, bananas, apples, and oranges were literally falling off my plate.
I've also had the poached eggs with hollandaise sauce at several Cora locations, and they both ladled a nauseating amount of sauce onto the plate, so that the contents are swimming in it. (And believe me, I LOVE hollandaise sauce!) I used to enjoy going to Cora's, but I find that the kitchen staff get sloppy when it gets too busy, or if they're running low on ingredients. The wait staff are super-friendly, but not worth the long lineups or expensive prices anymore.
Alternately, I'm absolutely in love with Prague's brunch, and hopefully a review will be posted in the future!