OAT COUTURE , A New Hip Fancy Oatmeal spot on Bank St (Ottawa South). In Ottawa ,Menu and Prices.

Spring is finally here!
I have not been posting as much lately as quite a few things were occupying my time.
But now that there is so much going on around my neighborhood and Bank street,I am going to try and post as much as I can!

Earlier this week I saw that the renovations on the Oat Couture restaurant seemed done and there was people in there last week who seemed to be enjoying their food.
On Facebook I found out it was a "soft open" and was told they would have another soft open March 31 (it was a Saturday).
I happened to be in the area and they had a sign on the sidewalk saying they were giving out samples, but I got there at 2:30 PM and was told they did not have any food for sale or to try as they were closing at 3-but that they would be officially open for business April 2.

I did manage to get a photo of their menu that is on the wall in their store/restaurant and the food does look interesting.
Pretty much all the food they make is based on Canadian-grown oats and and (mostly) local ingredients.

OAT COUTURE MENU!
*click the photo see the whole menu.

Oat Couture is located at 1154 Bank St, right at the corner of Glen Avenue.I'm not sure what the hours for this cafe will be, but will report back as soon as I find out.

*If anyone has had the chance to try the menu, what did you order?
I would love to know, as everything looks so interesting and it is hard to decide what to try first!

Update: Their menu and prices are not online yet, so hopefully this will help you decide what to eat this week!!!

Still trying to figure out this photo editing,but did manage to make part of the menu easier to read...

Oat Couture menu their combinations.

Foodiepages Feb 2017 box is here!

Hope everyone had a good new year and holidays!
Finally, I am able to get online more easily-I had computer issues, then Internet provider issues.
Bought a new modem from Amazon and managed to figure out the installation!

I ordered the Feb 2017 Foodiepages box as soon as I saw it was for sale, but had no idea at all what would be in the box.....
This was quite fun to open!

Unopened Foodiepages Box!!!

When I opened my box the first thing I saw was:

Product Card and Crinkle Paper. 

Under all the paper shreds were my food products, they were all very well wrapped up.

Every item was wrapped in bubble packaging.

Now, finally I will try some of the foods I received.
It is quite later here, so the seasonings will have to wait until later.
The first item I tried was Nuba Tisane.This is a hibiscus tea and comes in a 355ml glass bottle. The tea I received was a sugar free version.
The tea or herbal tea is very tart and refreshing, very similar to cranberry in tartness.
The hibiscus flowers for this tea are grown in Egypt and the tea is brewed from the whole dried flowers to provide more benefits.
As far as I know there is no caffeine in this drink and it should be ok for most people (check with a doctor or nutritionist if you are not sure).
I also like that this tisane has no calories and it would be nice to use in a drink or mixed with sparkling water.

1

Nuba Tisane Cold and Refreshing.

Nutrition Info!

The rest of my review is coming soon.

The next item I tried was the Pea Pops made by Three Farmers.
Sample size 28g, value $1.70/ Reg size 90g cost $4.99
The flavour is DILL PICKLE POW and the title does live up to its name. The dill flavour was quite strong and tart- but in a good way.
I did find there was quite a bit of salt for a small portion- 28g has 150mg of salt, 240mg potassium (some people need to watch that, nice to see it listed), 5g protein and 10 of your daily iron.

Overall I would say this is a great snack to bring to school, esp if you are not allowed nuts.
The sample size was good to get a taste of the product and would be good for a lunch on the go if you do not want a large portion.
I do have a small issue with the product- it would have been nice to try one of the other flavors too, especially since the sample bag was just enough for one person or serving.
The only other thing I would like to see, if possible is the same pea snack, but with a more plain seasoning-like just sea salt and pepper or maybe even unsalted.
I do not always want to be hit in the face (or taste buds) with such a strong flavour.

There was quite a few things I did like about the Pea Pops snack- it is roasted instead of fried. The peas were still extremely crunchy due to this.
The pea snack can be traced by the product number on the back of the bag.
This is also a vegan product and made in Canada!

So Much Dill!!

Info from Back of Package.

Cheese Plate served on slate board!

To try out the Spicy Tomato Jam made by Salt Spring Kitchen Co, I put together a cheese plate.
Almost any kind of savory cracker, nuts, vegetables would be great with the tomato jam.
Also, I'm glad the jam was not overly spicy-so for people like me who avoid very spicy food I had no problems eating this jam.

Actually it was hard to put the jar down, it was so good!

Cheese Plate!

I also made a delicious grilled cheese sandwich using fresh grain bread from Whole Foods and some Brie.
Pretty much any type of cheese or even just grilled vegetables in a sandwich with the tomato jam would be great for the non-cheese eaters.

Grilled cheese (Brie and Tomato Jam)

*This is what the inside of the sandwich looked like:

Inside of sandwich!

There was also a Wild Leek Vinegar made by Wild Muskoka Botanicals.
The bottle was a 60ml size and had a value of $4.50.
I used the vinegar on a salad and it added some nice extra flavour, but was not overpowering.
The product card from Foodiepages states the vinegar is made from Ontario organic apple cider vinegar that is infused with wild leek and to use this as a dressing, marinade or finisher on savory dishes.
I thought my mother would like the vinegar and gave her the rest to use in her food, I keep on forgetting to ask her what she used it in.

Salad with Wild Leek Vinegar

Finally got around to trying the Caribbean Jerk Marinade made by Saha Cuisine!
The jar is a 250ml size and cost around $8.
I used the marinade as a sauce to top my veggie burger-the sauce was extremely spicy for me, so I barely needed any.
For me, this marinade is almost too spicy, I am going to have to only use a very tiny bit for a big batch of tofu or chicken.
I think this marinade or sauce would be great in a dish with coconut milk or maybe on some roast potato that I cook in the oven.
The weather here has been quite bad, so for now I have not had a chance to get to the grocery store to pick up items to make any dishes.
(My freezer is mostly frozen fruit, bread and ice cream at the moment).

Jerk Marinade close-up on spoon.

Jerk Marinade on veggie burger!

The picture above is a veggie burger with Caribbean Jerk Marinade by Saha Cuisine as a sauce.
I did not use much of the marinade- just a few small drops, as for me it is very spicy.
Yes, I did try the marinade before putting it on my food and used a very tiny amount. But because the veggie burger is a similar colour, it looks like a lot more.

Overall I enjoyed the Feb 2017 FoodiePages tasting box and am trying to get one every month.
There are only 50 boxes for sale each month, so you need to check their website quite quickly to get a box.
This box was fun to try and I have never heard of any of these items before.
It would have been nice to get more than one bag of the roasted peas, as the portion was very small.
I do plan on getting more from all these companies in the future

Fairouz Restaurant Tasty and Modern Middle Eastern Food in Ottawa!

Fairouz Restaurant on Somerset!

There is a new Middle Eastern restaurant in Ottawa!
Now Fairouz does not serve the typical shawarma, falafel, regular hummus kind of foods you can get on every corner.
The cuisine is more refined and modern.
There is no regular hummus or tabouleh on this menu- also Fairouz is only open for dinner after 5pm.
The "new" Fairouz is located where their previous location was- in a cute house on Somerset St.

My mother from out of town treated me to this dinner, it is better to go with another person-that way you can try more of the dishes.
The meal was started with the Muhammara- a walnut, red pepper and pomegranate molasses dip.
There was also some fresh pomegranate seeds in the dip- that is quite different from other dips I have tried.
We were also brought a basket with with 2 nice pieces of warm homemade pita bread.
The pita had some herbs in it and I forgot to ask what they were.
The drink here was a "mocktail" of fresh grapfruit juice, cucumber, tonic water and not too sure- my mother ordered it and it was something the bartender made up.
If I have one negative thing to say, it is that you just get 1 piece of pita bread per person, then have to pay $2 for each extra piece.

Muhammara Dip and Grapefruit Drink

The next dishes I tried were the lamb neck Falafel and the Monforte Halloumi.
The lamb neck falafel, I was told is a mixture of 50% lamb neck meat and 50% vegetable falafel.
There was no all vegetable option for falafel on the menu.
I usually only like vegetarian falafel, but did try this just to see if I would even like it.
The falafel was very hot and fresh, not greassy at all.
The lamb meat was well ground up for the most part and not overly noticeable.
The falafel was also served with "spicy radish", that was 2 thin slices of watermellon radish with a sauce on them and some dill tahini.
You got 5 golf ball size falafel and it was $12.
There was no pita bread included with this dish.

Lamb Neck Falafel and Halloumi Appetizers

The Monforte Halloumi cheese was also really different and very good!
The cheese was nicely browned on top and served with pressed apples with some kind of Verjus, a beet emulsion was splashed around the plate and then some sumac and other spices.
There was also some very fresh pistachios on the plate.
Overall, all the tastes blended quite well- if I have to give one criticism it is that the cheese portion was very small for two people.
The cheese wedge was around 3" x2" and 1/2 an inch thick. It was maybe a couple bites of cheese and cost $13.
I think they should make the cheese part a little bigger. But then this place has only been open 2 weeks,so their menu is quite new.

Eggplant Mashi Sharing Plate $24

The main dish was the Eggplant Mashi- this is supposed to be a sharing plate.
I could eat this size of dish by myself, but with some appetizers it was a good size to split with another person. There was nothing left on this plate in the end!
The dish was served with chic pea balilah-this was chic peas with tomato (not exactly sure),there was also bulgur,fresh pomegranate,eggplant, also rice I think.
There was quite a few things in this dish- the outside of the eggplant was nice and crunchy. That is different from what I usually eat.
This dish kind of reminded me of a dish I buy at a store that has chick peas, eggplant,tomato- except this version was much more presentable.

Jawaher Rice $12

The Jawaher rice dish was also really good and so pretty to look at.
The rice was topped with some edible flowers, fresh pomegranate seeds,pistachio and there was a slight taste of orange in the dish.
The rice dish was very tasty to eat and I would order it again.

My Own Creation!  Falafel Miriam

This next dish was my own creation. I had quite a lot of time to sit and there were many dishes on the table- the dinner took around 2 hours at least.
So I thought I would try and make a mini Falafel pita sandwich.
This had the lamb neck falafel, dill tahini was already on the falafel and I added some Hibiscus Gel, topped with a piece of watermellon radish on a piece of homemade pita!
I thought all the tastes and textures of my creation went quite well together- the falafel and savory dill sauce, the sweeter hibiscus gel, the crunchy and spicy radish and the fresh bread!
I wonder if anyone will notice this dish I made??

Halwat II Jben $12

Finally the dessert that was ordered was the Halwat II Jben-that was made of "Sweetened Cheese • Rose Water • Semolina Custard • Black Sesame Nougatine".
There was also some maple drops on the plate, a fresh fig and edible flowers.
This was an interesting dessert. I would go back to try the other 2 desserts on the menu.

Lastly when we got our bill we were given a small plate with petit fours on it- there was a chocolate covered date that was cut in half and a shortbread-like cookie that had a whole apricot inside and was sprinkled with sesame seeds.
This cookie was cut in half so you could see the filling-this was a nice was to serve these two extra sweets!
*I can not get my photo to load,hopefully my description is good enough.


Final thoughts on my meal at Fairouz:

Overall the meal was very good and had many new combinations of flavours I did not expect.
My mother who often eats middle eastern food actually wondered where the Tahini sauce was, not realizing the version here was tahini and dill.
The pita bread was super good, but that you have to pay an extra $2 per piece and that there are so many sauce- adding an extra pita per person would be nice.
Also, that there is no vegetarian Falafel on the menu?
My mother is a "vegetarian" but decided to try the lamb Falafel for once anyways.
She did find the falafel amazing,I thought it was good-but I only really like vegetarian falafel.
If you are in a rush for dinner- this might not be a place to eat at- our meal was around 2h30 from start to finish- we got there at 6:20pm and left at 9:15.
But maybe for some drinks and some snacks like the dips it would be good to stop in- the bar area was very nice with high tables and chairs.

I will surely be back to sample some more of the dishes, the whole menu looks really good!

The Fairouz website can be found at:

http://fairouz.ca/contact/

The restaurant address is:

343 Somerset Street West, Ottawa, ON K2P 0J8

If you do eat at Fairouz, let me know what dishes you like and what drinks you have!

Ombrella Pizzacones A New Way To Eat Pizza in Ottawa!

I've seen this small pizza shop many times when passing by Bronson Avenue,but never got around to passing by when I was hungry for pizza.
Today Finally I made a trip to try the famous Pizza Ombrella!
What is a Pizza Ombrella?
It is a type of portable pizza that originated in Italy and has the shape of an "ombrella".
This makes the pizza more portable and an interesting new way to enjoy your meal.
I had a Ombrella with the topping of pepperoni.
A basic Ombrella is made with cheese and tomato sauce and costs $6.50. Additonal toppings are .50 for a first topping and $1.00 for 2 or more toppings and there are over 20 savory options. You can also get a breakfast pizza made with scrambled eggs or a dessert pizza with hot apple filling and ice cream.
The pizza Ombrella was around 7" in diameter and the "handle" of the ombrella was around 3" in height and served as the base you hold to eat this portable meal.
The base is also filled with cheese and tomato sauce.
The top part that is flat had a lot of topping-I chose pepperoni and there was a lot of it,as well as quite a lot of cheese. The only option for cheese was mozzarella and there was a lot of it-I actually asked for less cheese as it was a lot for me.
The pizza Ombrella is baked in a special oven that takes around five minutes to make your portable snack.
The dough part of the Ombrella were already baked so these just need to be assembled.
There was also the choice of a Pizzacone, and I did not try that this time.
The Pizzacone looked a bit like an ice cream cone shape and was made of pizza dough.
I did not try the dessert option,but will go back to do that pretty soon as it does sound interesting.
Overall this was an interesting and different was to eat a pizza.
Surprisingly the pizza Ombrella was not as filling as I expected and I was still a bit hungry after eating this.
So, this might be better as a snack..unless you get a ton of toppings.
One thing that is nice is that for the extra dollar you can get as many toppings as you like which could make this a more filling item.
I took a flyer before leaving and there is a special on Tuesdays where for a Toonie you can get a mini Pizza Ombrella made with cheese and tomato sauce.
If you are looking for something different to try,this is a fun quick meal idea!

Ombrella Pizzacones is located at 527 Bronson Avenue and open from 8am-11pm 7 days a week.
If you are in that area there is also the very tasty and vegan bakery Aunty Loo's Treats at 507 Bronson.
I will post about my visit there pretty soon.

Top photo: Pizzacone being prepared.

 Photo #2 : Baked Pizzacone ready to eat!

 Photo #3: The oven with Ombrella and Pizzacones baking.

 Photo #4: My Ombrella pizza, ready to eat!

Cote D'or Experience vs. Sensation bar!

I have been trying to located one of the mysterious Cote D'or Experiences chocolate bars for the longest time.
They are very tricky to find as they look exactly like the regular Cote D'or orange bar-same size and thickness too.
Now, you are probably wondering what is the big difference with this bar?
Even the images on the label are the same.
The big difference is the Experiences bar has an orange truffle center, while the Sensations bar is just dark chocolate with bits of candied orange.
Both bars are good, and I made the mistake recently of buying the Sensations bar at the drugstore thinking it was the truffle centre bar.

I have only been able to find this tasty bar at European deli type stores lately.
The Experiences bar is very delicate and tasty because the truffle part is very thin in between what is crunchy dark chocolate with 70% cocoa.

Another way to identify this elusive bar is by the writing at the bottom of the label.
"Orange flavored dark chocolate with a rich orange centre", "Chocolate noir aromatise a l'orange fourre d'une truffe riche a l'orange".

If you get a chance to try this bar, it is amazing.
Also pairs well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
A nice dessert presentation would be a scoop of ice cream and one square of this bar as a decoration in the same dish!

the flour shoppe! new cupcakery on Bank st!

I was just walking down Bank street today on the way to the Raw foods show and saw there was a new cupcake bakery that has opened in the Glebe area.

Had to stop in as I do like sweet pastries.

The cupcakes I got were to go in a cute take-out box as I was on the way somewhere else.

The people working at this little cupcake store were very friendly and the display in the store with cupcakes on small platters behind some glass at the counter is also nice looking.

The first cupcake (on the top) that I tasted was the Lemon Earl Grey- the one with the small specks in it.

The size of these is not gigantic, but enough of a portion for a dessert or snack.

These seemed to be the size of small muffins (or the "standard" muffin tin size).

The wrappers on all the cupcakes are dark brown so it is hard to see the cupcake in a picture without taking off part of the wrapper.

Now to the actual tasting of the cupcake:

The cake part was just right, not too dry and not too oily either. There was not a very strong Earl Grey taste and it was very light. The icing was piled very high in a pretty swirl and just about as high as the cupcake base.

The icing was a nice and fluffy buttercream.

The specks in the cupcake,I think are either vanilla bean or bits of earl grey tea leaves-did not think to ask about that.

If you buy two (or several) cupcakes you can get them in a nice cardboard box that has a cardboard tray so your cupcakes travel better!

Carrying cupcakes around several hours is probably not reccomended if taking a photo.

Now on to the second cupcake tasted (on the right).

That was a Rootbeer flavored cupcake.

The Rootbeer flavor was very light and almost hard to notice.Was actually expecting a much stronger kind of flavor.

Icing was a meringue type of icing and thicker than the buttercream. The icing did not seem to have a Rootbeer taste that I could tell (but then I had eaten something with very strong garlic and it was harder to taste more subtle things).

Going to this new store was fun and enjoyable and I will go back to try the flavors that change almost every week.

Cupcakes cost $2.50 each and that seems like a very good price.

There is also tea and coffee for sale and you can sit in the store and eat your treat there.

If you also feel the need to exercise, there is a 24 hour gym a few doors down from this bakery!

While I was there I also saw a cupcake called "father's day" that has maple icing and a peice of caramelized bacon on top.

Did not have the chance to try that,but looked very interesting.

There was also a "spicy" cupcake.

the flour shoppe is located at 617 Bank Street,Ottawa.

http://www.theflourshoppe.ca/

Red Bean and Pecan bun from Golden Baguette Bakery bank st!

Just came back from picking up some lunch at Golden Baguette bakery on Bank st.
The bakery is very small and easy to miss, it is located at Bank and Lisgar st (near Edible Arrangements store).
I have not bought anything there in a few weeks and today there were some new items in the pastry selection!
So, of course I had to get one of these new treats.
Has anyone ever heard of a red bean filled bun, topped with sesame seeds and pecans?
That is one of the new items for sale, along with a bun filled with Green Beans (will review that one next :)
Once I figure out how to add a picture I'll update this post as well.

Now on to the red bean paste filled bun.
It looked very fresh and is quite a substantial size at 5" round and 1 1/2" high!
You could easily eat this for lunch with some fruit and be quite full.
The bun smells very fresh and when I bit into it, the bread was very fresh and tasty.
There was some sweet red bean paste throughout the bun-but not a huge amount of it.
The sesame seeds on top of the bun add some nice taste, as do the crunchy fresh pecans.
This is an item that I would buy again, as it is nice for a quick lunch and quite portable too.
But if you go too late in the day you might be out of luck. When I was there only three buns were left.
Golden Baguette is located at 242 Bank St. and open Monday to Saturday from 7? am until 6pm.
If anyone has the chance to try this asian pastry I'm curious to know what you thought!