Before I started this post I tried to find out how many restaurants there are in Toronto. Of course with the amount that open and close on a regular basis that would be hard to do, but on the City of Toronto website it says somewhere around 7500.

There have been many lists posted on new brunch places, best places to have eggs Benedict, new places, secret finds and more. Not to mention any friend on social media who happens to share food photos, I am always taking notes and marking places down for future reference.

A few of my friends and I decided to have a ladies who brunch club and make a regular date to try places we hadn’t tried before. One friend has a list on her phone and is going to make notes as we go along.

Our first stop is not a ‘new’ spot, but it was new to us – Emma’s Country Kitchen. Many of my friends have posted from there before and I know it is a popular spot. It is only open from 8-3 and if you go during peak hours be prepared for a wait. And we did. We waited for over an hour for a table. We did go to Zaza Espresso Bar across the street for a coffee while we waited.

As we were waiting to be seated you couldn’t help but watch all the different plates of food passing by and making food choices much harder. Their story on their website is about their grandmother Emma, who opened the first restaurant in their hometown of Cheltenham Ontario and many of the recipes are passed down. Making their love of scratch cooking food, freshly made daily way of business.

We did miss out on the gourmet donuts baked every day (regulars know to get there early) and we missed out on any desserts at all. Thankfully their fresh made biscuits were still in the showcase. We had to have one of those with light and fresh citrus butter.

All four of us chose something different and at the end we were all full and happy with our choices.

I chose the Emma’s Classic Cobb Salad which had a really light honey mustard vinagrette which was a nice change from some of the cream based dressings I have had with a cobb salad. I opted for goat cheese instead aged cheddar which the server said she had never had anyone do before. It worked well with the dressing.

Wild blueberry and ricotta pancakes looked good and tasted great. The biscuits with lemon citrus butter and jam were wonderful. The citrus is a great addition to the butter adding another level to the flavour.

To round out the table there was a classic breakfast and an Emma’s Benny. The top their Benny with a mousseline sauce instead of traditional hollandaise. Yes, while we were waiting, we did have to look up mousseline. We also saw a wonderfully looking bowl of frites that we decided we needed to have for the table.

It is going to be fun to continue to enjoy new restaurant experiences in our city, this summer and beyond.

Eat well and enjoy the journey,