Restaurant: O’Thym
Date: Sunday December 17th 2017
Table of: 6
For our annual bottomless brunch, we chose O’Thym in 2017. Technically, O’Thym isn’t a bottomless brunch spot, but because they are a byow restaurant, it basically equates to the same thing (and cheaper actually). So we all showed up with a bottle of sparkling wine each, for a total of 6 bottles. They also sell half litres of orange juice, so you can make your own mimosas.
When we first got there, the restaurant was pretty empty at 10:30 am, but as time went on, every single table in the small restaurant was packed by noon. As for the menu, I would categorize O’Thym’s brunch menu as creative, as they add a creative spin on some more traditional brunch meals. For example, instead of serving a more traditional eggs Benedict dish with English muffins, ham, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, their eggs Benedict is served over a glazed maple doughnut with rabbit medallions. In the end, 3/6 ordered the croissant Wellington, 2/6 ordered the grilled cheese and because I’m such a huge fan of eggs Benedict, I obviously ordered the eggs Benedict.
Before we received our meals, we were served a small “entrée” of yogurt, granola and apples. This was unexpected and very good, a great way to start off our brunch. I love it when restaurants make these small gestures 🙂
When the meals arrived, they all looked delicious. Apart from the grilled cheese, all of the other dishes were very generous portions. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meals, as I did mine. I ended up tasting my friend’s croissant Wellington, which was minced Wagyu beef wrapped in phyllo pastry, just like a beef Wellington would be. I found the meat to be very good, flavourful and tender.
For my eggs Benedict, these were meant to be served over a maple glazed doughnut, but as I’m not a fan of mixing sweet and savoury together, I opted to have it served to me separately and to have it replaced with baguette instead. Therefore, I had eggs Benedict over toasted baguette with rabbit medallions, a cheese sauce, roasted potatoes and a garden salad. Overall the dish was very good, but not something I would re-order. For example, as good as the cheese sauce was, there really wasn’t much of it and I prefer my hollandaise sauce to be lathered all over my eggs. As well, this was only the second time in my life that I eat rabbit and so although the medallions were good, I would prefer to not eat rabbit meat again; personal preference. The sautéed potatoes were also good, but there was also another root vegetable mixed in? I can’t tell which, but it was much crunchier and so since I wasn’t expecting it, not too pleasing. The doughnut however was very good, nice and sweet and doughy.
Some of my friends also ordered the chocolate churros, served with a rich chocolate dipping sauce, which they really enjoyed.
In the end, we only managed to finish off 5 of the 6 bottles, partially because we were told we had to leave by 1pm, as another group of 6 was expected and they needed our table. Personally, I didn’t like being told we had to leave, especially at 12:30. It would have been totally ok had I been notified over the phone when I made the reservation, that in the event that there was another large booking after ours, we would be asked to leave at x time, that would have been okay. Or even when we came in that morning. But being hustled to pay our bills at 12:30 and having to ask if we had to leave and being told yes because another group was expected and that we had “kind of been there for a long time now”, didn’t sit too well with me. This will definitely be something to keep in mind if we ever come back to O’Thym for brunch.
Overall, we had a great time and I personally enjoyed doing a byow brunch; something I’d never done before. We got to choose bottles of sparkling wine of our choice (none of that Hungaria crap) and not pay the $35+ we normally spend for bottomless. The food was also good, but definitely not memorable (for me anyways). I have my own criteria when it comes to reviewing restaurants, which I also use on my Instagram account (@elisebgravel). It’s very simple, there are only three points: the quality of the food (on 10), the price (from $ to $$$$$) and the following question: would I go back?
So, here is my review of O’Thym:
Food: 7.5/10
Price: $$$
Would I go back?: Yes because its byow, but I would try something else on the menu
UP NEXT: ma critique en tant qu’invité du Z Biztro ! (Bistro gastronomique sur la Plaza)
*All photos and opinions are mine
