Christmas Bazaar and Bannock

It is finally the Christmas Season and I am so excited! We all know what that means- more cooking and baking :D! Yesterday was a jam packed day for me (but it also included some awesome food!)



Christmas Bazaar
During the day, my mom and I decided to go and visit a local church who had a Christmas Bazaar. We figured we could find some little trinkets that might be good for friends and family for gifts. My brother and his fiancee came with us and treated us to lunch- homemade Ukrainian food! It was so delicious that I ate more than half of it before realizing that I hadn't taken a picture for the blog! OPPS! It was so nice to have Ukrainian food again.

Cabbage rolls, pierogies, saurkraut, and sausage

We picked up a wreath my mom fell in love with for her door and also some things for my brothers wedding in August 2014. We also picked up two new cookbooks- one was a "Family Favourites Cookbook" and the other was a "Ukrainian Cookbook". The second will definitely come in handy when it comes to Ukrainian Christmas time!

Bannock 
Yesterday also happened to be date night for my husband and me. I wanted to go to the Cavalcade of Lights at Nathan Phillips Square and so volunteered to plan the entire date night. I needed a restaurant close by so that we wouldn't have to eat in a rush and then drive or walk far to get to the square. I'm not too familiar with the area, except for the Eaton's Center, and wasn't too keen on going to Mr. Greenjeans for dinner. I had completely forgotten about Trattoria Mercatto which is also inside the Eaton Center. Anyways, we ended up trying Bannock, which is an Oliver & Bonnacini restaurant (How many restaurants do these guys have?!).

Bannock is marketed as a restaurant that serves "Canadian Comfort Food". My husband and I looked at the restaurant online and decided that they seemed to have some good food. They offer both "grab & go" and "eat-in" meals. We opted to eat at the restaurant since we didn't want to have to bother trying to find someplace warm to eat our food. The service we received at the restaurant was exceptional! Our server, Karen, was very warm and welcoming when we first got there, and told us about the specials. She was also very informative and so nice. I have often found that servers have this way of talking that makes you feel very little. She was definitely not like this. She was nice to talk to and just a great server. We really liked her!

On to the meal!
Drinks & Appetizer: 

Poutine with Harvest Sangria and Apple Crisp Sour 

 The poutine was so yummy! It was smothered in a delicious gravy and had really yummy cheese curds! LOVED IT! We definitely would have that again. My Harvest Sangria was good, but wasn't something I would run back to the restaurant for. My husband liked his apple crisp sour, I on the other hand didn't- to each their own I guess!

The Mains: 

The Pasta Special of the Day- Noodes with bacon & chorizo in spicy tomato sauce 

This was what my husband got as his main. He loves pasta and bacon (who doesn't love bacon) and so thought that this dish was be awesome. When he got it, he wasn't overly thrilled with it. He said it lacked flavour and was just "okay" but nothing to write home about. He also got a side of "Nasty sauce" which is a very hot sauce (the server said on a scale of heat from 1-8, it was about a 5, my husband said it was hotter and he LOVES spicy food!). Although he wasn't thrilled with the pasta, he did enjoy the Nasty sauce (but only in small doses!)

Free-Run Turkey Burger

This burger was so yummy! It was nice and moist, and also had dill pickle mayo and avocado to give it extra moisture (although really it would have been fine on its own!). I really enjoyed the burger and would definitely get it again. I was so stuffed after the poutine, that I could only eat half of the burger and had to give the rest to my husband!

My husband and I agree that this restaurant had delicious food and we would definitely go back again. We want to try their Roast Duck Poutine pizza and also their Sunday brunch.

Overall, I would give this restaurant:

Bannock
Location: 401 Bay St., Toronto, M5H 2Y4
Hours: 
Monday – Saturday: 11:30am-10:00pm
Sunday Brunch:  11:00am-4:00pm