Sooo…here we go. Our first review on this site. Read with us and we will make it through.
One Saturday morning my wife and I were watching TV and a show called “Big Food Bucket List” comes on the Food Network...
They proceed to show amazing breakfast and brunch options available at Monki and then proceed to show a dish known as their “French Toast” At this time I literally hear my wife salivating and reaching for her phone so quickly it was a flash to find out where this restaurant was. Turns out Calgary, AB…where I go at least a few times a year to visit customers. Next thing I know I’m flying out on business and Suzanne is joining me and insisting that we make a visit to this heavenly gift to breakfast establishments!
It was an early Friday morning and we showed up 5 minutes after opening time and were greeted with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and sights of the open kitchen prepping for another day. Since we were the first people there we had the dining space to ourselves for at least the first half hour and then others showed up. The building is in a non-descipt area of downtown Calgary in what looks to be an up and coming area and easy to find. The interior was a quirky collection of artifacts, hot sauces and a very cool post covered with fortune cookie fortunes!
Since she had been dreaming of the French Toast we decided to order one of those plus the Brisket Hash for me. Accompanied by hot coffee and tea. Service was prompt and the coffee was hot. Suzanne was worried the portion would be too big for her but as they say, things always look bigger on TV!
To say that she was not disappointed is an understatement. Here was 2 pieces of holla bread French toast with a layer of banana and Frangelico cream sandwiched between and then covered with a layer of hazelnut chocolate and condensed milk. I know you are thinking too sweet but the portion was just right. Great choice of bread with just the right amount of toppings to make a great combination.
Brisket hash…get in my belly!!
For my breakfast I had the Brisket Hash. In place of normal grated potatoes were their classic hashbrowns mixed with pieces of moist brisket, valbella pork sausage, jalapenos and topped with two perfectly poached eggs and creamy hollandaise sauce. The only thing I would have done for this is to maybe have browned the hollandaise under the broiler…yes, i’m picky.
And since the portions were good and we knew that we would be walking at least an hour back to the hotel we decided to indulge and order one more dish that we were curious to try. Enter the Spinach Bene. Classic eggs bene but made with baby spinach and mushrooms on an English muffin served with their classic hashbrowns and we opted for…get ready for it…pink prosecco hollandaise! One word. Yummy.
Spinach bene…it’s healthy because of the green right?
To end the meal we were each given a fortune cookie and that’s where the post came in!
POST HERE :)
All in all, this place was great and the food was good. Service was spot on and it was reasonably priced. My only complaint was that the food was not that warm even though we were the first orders of the day.
If you live in the Calgary area or are just visiting, have breakfast at the MONKI bistro!