Lunch with Bruce

Our relative Bruce came to town last week with his family. I believe my father either knows his father or is somehow related to him. I don't know the exact connection though.

Anyway, he sent my sister and I an e-mail the day before his arrival on Thursday. He mentioned he'd be in town for three days before heading to Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake on Sunday, then flying to Quebec on Monday (Montreal then a visit to Quebec City).

My parents had actually gone away on a 3-day bus trip on Wednesday night to Quebec. They were going to visit Mont Treblant and Quebec City among other places. They wouldn't return from their trip until Friday evening.

So it was up to my sister and I to entertain our relatives. Since I have Fridays off work, we decided to meet them for lunch on Friday. My sister picked a restaurant downtown, not far from her workplace. She would meet us on her lunch break.

We chose the Queen Mother Café on Queen West (just west of McCaul). They describe their food as fresh and flavourful Lao-Thai and pan-global cuisine. I have to say it's quite tasty and very unique. Among the dishes we had were Quinoa Salad with garlic, lemon, fresh herbs, chickpeas and olive oil, topped with crumbled goat cheese and sundried tomatoes, nestled on baby greens; Ping Gai - a boneless chicken marinated with garlic, coriander and black peppercorns, grilled crispy and served with a spicy lime and coriander dipping sauce, salad and steamed rice; Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni baked with garlic and herbed tomato sauce, topped with edam cheese and served with salad greens and garlic toast; and Barbecue Pulled Pork Tacos - slow cooked pork in a smoky homemade barbecue sauce, topped with maple cheddar cheese and nestled on soft corn tortillas, served with crunchy ‘slaw.

It took a little while for our food to come since the place was quite busy. We took advantage of the time to catch up on what was going on with everyone and our families.

After lunch my sister headed back to work, I headed back home and Bruce and his family headed out to explore the city.