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| - College Street can be a restauranteurs heaven (if you're good) or nightmare because there is so much competition.
BruDa cafe now occupies the space of Carpano, the short-lived sister location to Sidecar. The large windows in the front let in a lot of natural light. The interior is made up of hardwood floors, tables, white walls and tea lights. The small, open-kitchen is located behind the bar where the chef worked solo to cook up our meals.
I had a Groupon voucher that I paid $79 for that consisted of a prix fixe menu for 4. The prix fixe menu was quite limiting and there weren't a lot of choices, however, you could substitute various items from the regular menu as long as you pay the difference.
When asked if we wanted flat or sparkling water we opted for flat. I wasn't paying attention and was surprised when our bill came to $10 for 2 bottles of water. I have no problems drinking tap water, and charging per-bottle for water is a little bit steep. Most places just charge you once and you get unlimited refills.
We ordered 3 glasses of Riesling ($10 each) and a mixed drink also.
The food at BruDa was pretty disappointing for me. We came on a Thursday night, and it was the Exec Chef and his one-man-show pumping out food that led to longer-than-normal wait times (and that was with just about 4 tables of customers). I sure hope that when they're busier on weekends that they have sous chefs or the wait would be a nightmare!
Complimentary bread is provided and it was quite unique. The bread itself is infused with flavour, though nobody at our table could discern what flavour it was. Suffice it to say that it was crusty and yummy.
For appetizers we tried the Duck Confit Spring Rolls, Slow-Cooked Spiced Rabbit, Bourbon-Braised Back Ribs and Seared Scallops.
The duck confit rolls were nice and crispy and the seared scallops were yummy (but a tad salty). The "spiced" rabbit was lacking in spice, and had a chalky taste to it. The back ribs were lacking in the flavour department as well, and while tender, were not the melt-off-the-bone variety.
For mains we ordered 2 x Ontario Brined Chicken, Chef-Rolled Gnocchi and East Coast Char. The chicken was the winner overall for me with a crisp skin and albeit salty was quite flavourful. The gnocchi reminded me very much of Chinese rice noodles in texture, and different than gnocchi I've tried elsewhere. The sauce was nice and creamy, though it did not cling well to the actual gnocchi. The char had a nice crisp skin to it, and was cooked just right. I'm glad that the mains were a little less disappointing.
For dessert, we ordered a Lemon Tart, a Jamaican Pumpkin Ice Cream, and a Citrus Sorbet. The lemon tart was quite yummy, although texture-wise I'd have to give it a failing grade. Runny lemon curd + a hard shell = fail. The pumpkin ice cream was different but not exactly satisfying or rich in terms of what you expect out of an ice cream. The flavours were very muted. The citrus sorbet was a little too tart for our tastebuds.
At the end of the day, we still had to pay roughly $87 for the drinks, substitutions, ridiculously-priced bottled water and coffee.
The food here is pretty mediocre, service is slow (not to the chef's fault as he had no hired hands for help), but the wait staff are pretty hospitable.
I will most likely not return to BruDa again given there is no shortage of good restaurants in the area.
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