I feel at this point that, after seven years working in the halls of Parliament, I’ve sampled most of what the Hill’s catering services have to offer. But we had something I hadn’t tried before at committee on Friday and, while I didn’t go in with high expectations, I was
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A BCer in Ottawa: Eating up the Hill: The evolution of the caf’s General Tso Chicken
You’re not going to get high-quality Chinese food from a Parliament Hill Cafeteria — you’d do better at a nearby mall food court or, better yet, walk down to Sommerset Street and Chinatown. But for a quick lunch that is a nice change, I always try to make it to
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating up the Hill: Garden Party food round-up
Tonight marked the return of the annual Garden Party for Liberal MPs and assistants the grounds of 24 Sussex Drive after a two-year pandemic hiatus. Without the recently COVID-positive Prime Minister, sadly, disapointing a generation of post-pandemic young staffers who won’t be able to update their Facebook profiles tomorrow with
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating up the Hill: Chicken shawarma platter – better is definitely possible
Ottawa is Canada’s capital, in terms of government and in terms of shawarma. We have a longstanding Lebanese community that has ran shawarma shops across the city going back several generations. So when I saw that a chicken shawarma platter was newly added to the Parliamentary Cafeteria’s rotating daily specials,
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating up the Hill: Italian Sausage Ragout
During election campaigns the Parliamentary cafeteria system often takes the time to renew and refresh its rotating menu of daily specials. This week, it has two new offerings making their debut and I shall endeavor to try them out and report back to you, my faithful handful of readers. Today
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating off the Hill: Dumpling? Dumpling! opens on Bank Street
The pandemic has been tough on many restaurants and other retail businesses — there are more than a few closed storefronts on Ottawa’s Bank Street. I’m happy to report though that one new business that has been “coming soon” for most of COVID-19 has made it to a grand opening
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating in quarantine: Veggies and meat to my door with Freshii and TruLocal
Since the end of the before times when all this isolation and distancing began, my Facebook feed has been filled with ads for two things: veggies and meat delivered to you door. Since I’m both doing more cooking and limited to grocery shopping once a week (and to what I
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating in quarantine: Indian food Easter from Dosa & Curries
As it came to dinner time on Easter Sunday and no turkey having appeared in my larder,. I turned to Door Dash and went in search of Indian food, hoping for a bit more spice than my last attempt. I suceeded to an acceptable level in ordering from another Centretown
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating in quarantine: How to get crispy chicken wings at home
Chicken wings are the traditional bar food, although as I’ve written in the past I wouldn’t consider Ottawa a wing town. However, since I won’t be going out for wings any time soon, I’ve been experimenting with my at home wing technique, and how to get an appropriately crispy wing.
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating in quarantine: Patty melt and rings from The King Eddy
As I’ve mentioned I’m doing a lot more cooking while physically distancing, but I am trying to support local reasturants so at least once a week, often Friday nights, I order out for dinner delivery. And I’m trying to order from places I haven’t tried before. So last week, my
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating in quarantine: Chicken tacos with homemade flour tortillas
In the before times I didn’t do that much cooking outside the weekends. But now, with nothing but time on my hands I’m cooking all the time and trying some new things from time to time. I haven’t jumped on the breadmaking bandwagon, but I did come close by making
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating in Quarantine: Maverick’s Donut Company
So, I won’t be going out for a meal I can review in the near future. But I still gotta ear, and now I have more time to write too. So I shall turn my culinary scribblings to delivery/carry out from local purveyors of fine food, as well as the
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating off the Hill: Jerk Chicken Roti at Island Grill
I wrote last week about an Indian food outing that lacked some heat — well, a few days later I had some Jamaican food that more than made up for it. Island Grill is another Bank Street restaurant I’ve been walking by for year but never dropped into, so one
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating off the Hill: Cheese steak at Centrale Bergham
A sudden craving for cheese steak a few weekends back led to a googling of local options and to the decision to try a fast food spot I had passed by on the bus a bunch of times but never had the opportunity to pop in to: Centrale Bergham. They’re
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating off the Hill: Indian food for white folks at Roast N Curries
Don’t worry, I haven’t been eating out. But I do have a few backlogged meals I now have time to blog while distancing, which brings me to my craving a few weekends back for Indian food. Some quick googling found I was just down the street from one of the
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating off the Hill: Canada’s breakfasts need more chicken
Bacon. Sausage. Ham, Meaty breakfast staples. But who decreed breakfast needs to be so porky? Sensing the need for giving Canadians more of a reason to wake up in the mornings during these challenging days, McDonald’s recently did us all a favour and introduced a new offering: breakfast chicken. In
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating up the Hill: Possible Cinnamon pasta at likely my last Hill reception for awhile
Didn’t realize it at the time, but the Women Entrepreneurs on the Hill reception last Wednesday was, with a possible extended recess looming, likely my last Hill reception for a little while. So thankfully, I got some pictures. The catering at this reception was actually pretty on point. Right upon entry,
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating up the hill: Truly outstanding committee mac & cheese
A lot of the time of a backbench MP — and their staff — is spent either preparing for or in committee meetings. And often those meetings happen over breakfast or lunch. When that happens, food is provided for the members since they can’t leave in the middle of the
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating off the Hill: The Hungry Man at Fatboys Southern Smokehouse
This is my third time visiting Fatboys Southern Smokehouse, and it was third time the charm as I finally got the southern bbq experience I was looking for by going big on the meat. My first visit was four years ago for a reception, and the format didn’t really lend
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating off the Hill: Moe’s BBQ a miss
After having visited Austin, all BBQ pales in comparison. Still, I will continue questing for BBQ goodness North of the border, whether it’s Northern Smokes in Scarborough or The Smoque Shack in Ottawa. On Saturday, I trekked to deep southern Ottawa by South Keys to try another contender, Moe’s BBQ.
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