The Drake Hotel located at 1150 Queen St W in Toronto

A few of my university friends and I decided to have brunch to reunite and catch up.  We voted and The Drake Hotel topped the list of a good weekend brunch spot.

I arrived here after 11 a.m. and my friends were already here.  The hostess led us throughout the hotel lobby to the back dining room where we received a large booth table for our brunch.  (Thanks Brix for making the reservation!)

Stylish and modern dining room

Aside from the usual brunch items, I spotted the Shakshuka dish which looked very appealing.  It had a baked egg, creamy polenta, spicy tomato sauce, baguette, thyme, and basil.

Weekend brunch menu

Our food arrived in a reasonable time.  There were lots of other people brunching on a Saturday morning too and our server was prompt and professional during the whole visit.

Shakshuka . $15
-baked egg, creamy polenta, spicy tomato sauce, baguette, thyme, basil

I was actually really disappointed with my brunch item.  The Shakshuka dish arrived with only two pieces of baguette — if you can even call it that.  They were more like thin slices of crostini.  You could either eat the polenta (with the spicy tomato sauce and baked egg) with the spoon or use the baguette to scoop it up to eat with.  There should have been at least four pieces of baguette with the dish.  It was a really small brunch item and even after I finished it, I didn’t feel rather full. 😦  For a $15 dish, I expected to be full.

In terms of the polenta, it was tasty but not incredibly ‘creamy’ as they described it in the menu.  The spicy tomato sauce was a refreshing mixture and reminded me of a bruschetta that I was eating.  Aside from the small portion of the dish, I was also really irked that one of the two provided baguette pieces was severely burnt and blackened.  It’s not healthy to eat burnt food.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t vocal enough to let the server know about this otherwise I would have asked to receive a fresher piece of baguette; one that wasn’t burnt.

Drake Benny. $17
-two homestead eggs, country ham, arugula, English muffin, hollandaise, potato hash

On the other hand, two of our friends ordered the Drake Benny.  This had two homestead eggs, country ham, arugula, English muffin, hollandaise, and potato hash (with the option to add $3 to substitute the ham for smoked salmon or  roasted mushrooms).  The Drake Benny dish looked really great, presentation-wise, and was definitely filling in terms of the portion.  I tried one bite of it from Kim’s plate and really loved the soft poached eggs along with the hollandasie sauce and country ham.  It was delicious!  It was just too bad that the Shakshuka dish was such a sad comparison.

The Drake Hotel from Queen Street West

And thus, that was my first experience brunching at The Drake Hotel.  A friend of mine commented that their scones are really good after finding out that I had visited.  If I ever return for brunch again, I hope it will live up to its hype and popularity but for now, I can say that I was disappointed with this brunch experience.