Brunch at Sunflower Cafe, Ottawa

My friend K flew to Ottawa from Vancouver for a few days, so we went out to brunch with him and a few of his 'ol pals. His friends were such down to earth people. I felt like I had known them forever. One couple had a vibrant little 2 year old who loved being the center of attention. He was a very positive kid, and was a joy to be around.

We decided to meet at Sunflower Café for brunch mainly because we were charmed by the idea of having only 3 choices for breakfast. Sunflower Cafe serves Israeli style breakfasts that are prepared in the oven, and served in a hot iron skillet. Their 3 breakfast choices are: Mediterranean, traditional, and home style.

Sunflower Cafe has a small seating area on the main floor, with a much bigger seating area available on the second floor. They also have a few small tables outside during the warm seasons.
All orders need to be placed at the main counter, but the meals are brought straight to your table. For about $12 (including tax), you get the breakfast of your choice along with some fresh rolls, and home made salads.

First came the rolls. They were fresh and fluffy.

Fresh Rolls

Soon after, the salads showed up. Because we had a big enough group, we were able to try all of the salads they had that morning. We had a beet salad, eggplant dip, mushroom and cumin salad, Waldorf salad, olives, cream cheese, and feta cheese. Everything went well with the bread.

Assortment of cold salads and cheeses

Here are their three breakfast choices. Beware, the skillets are hot!

I chose the Mediterranean breakfast, a tomato based vegetarian option. Their home made tomato sauce was a blend of 4 different tomatoes, and the eggs were poached in the vegetable liquid. In Israel and some parts of Africa, this dish is also known as "shakshouka". I mixed the eggs with the tomato sauce, and ate it with the home made bread.

Mediterranean Breakfast

The home style breakfast is a traditional Israeli breakfast. It is eggs mixed with a soft home made cream cheese. Their cheese normally has herbs in it, but they ran out, and only had regular cream cheese. I asked K's friend what this tasted like, and I was told it tasted just like it looked: eggs with cream cheese.

Home Style Breakfast

The traditional breakfast mimics the traditional North American breakfast. It was a mix of eggs, bacon, onions, and potatoes.

Traditional Breakfast

Sunflower Cafe also offers home made cookies. We grabbed a few pistachio cookies on our way out. I liked that they weren't overly sweet.

Pistachio Cookie

Overall, the food was simple but it provided a different brunch experience, which was neat.
Sunflower Cafe is kid-friendly place, and we liked that a booster seat was available for Little Owen.

Sunflower Café
521 Rideau Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-288-2439