Don't go Brekka-in' my Heart

Brekka Bakery on Fraser is the other coffee shop in my scope of view that has been under consideration. Breka Bakery looks like a place that is so close to having it right for a cafe. They are close but for some reason it still has not hit home for me. They do serve espresso - I mean really, what self respecting European bakery claiming to be a cafe wouldn't? - but again they are using Lavazza style beans which is very European, but I still find to have too much of a burnt smokey flavour for my preferences. The baked goods are wide in selection, but truly when I have one, I always expect it to be better. I see these creamy desserts that could balance the smokey coffee taste and then I pop the baked good in my mouth and...It's baked but really not that good. I must give it credit for the breads that they create. They do produce some tasty breads that look good and come in a variety of densities and flavours which they will thin or thick slice for you on the spot. Perhaps they should just stick to Brekk-in' bread with friends.

Out of 5 slices of European style baked bread

Scene: 3 When you look around the options you have on Fraser - Starschmucks not withstanding -it is slim pickin's. This place actually has some decent seats and there is a variety of people who go there from families, hipsters, locals and students. Perhaps it is developing a bit of a following after it renovated a couple of years ago. Who knows? Maybe they will evolve into the neighbourhood establishment where people will actually head to as a destination. Ahh, who am I kidding?

Grub: 3 Mostly because of the bread. The place does serve the odd counter dish like Mac and Cheese for kids but it really is a bakery, everything from cakes, tarts, buns and breads. All of them baked. You judge which ones are good.

Coffee: 3 It's okay. I would almost say 2 but I know there are those people who love the flavour of Lavazza and the coffee is not necessarily utilitarian. If you are looking for a place to sit, have a coffee or read the paper, see the odd neighbour and maybe have a brownie, this could be your place.

Euro Breads, Bakery and Cafe

This is one of two cafés on Fraser that one can go to for an espresso that I know of. It is around Fraser and 27th Avenue and could be easily missed if you were not looking for it. The cafe is a decent size but appears small because there really is not too much to it. It has a few chairs and tables inside and out, but for the most part the cafe saves its room for the stand up glass door fridges and display cases. The people in there are friendly but are not really interested in having you stay, nor go. They are there to bake the goods and maybe serve some coffee. I would say out of the three things that they claim to be, they are definitely a bread place. They have an entire corner dedicated to breads they make which area combination of wheats, seeds, gluten and gluten free breads. They also have a Georgian flat bread that is worth noting. I have to say that one of the things I do like having when I go there is their Borscht. It is hot with a dollop of yogurt, and served with a piece of flat bread. Yum! The rest of the baked goods are okay by my standards (actual baked goods not including cakes) but I couldn't say that there was anything other than the breads that stand out in my mind. Kind of the same way the store front blends in with the rest of the neighbourhood.

Out of 5 European Slices of flax seed gluten fee bread
Scene: 2 pleasant enough and not disruptive. The people are very unobtrusive mostly because they don't really care if you are there or not. The people who go are usually locals or the odd person who happened to be on Fraser and found themselves needing a coffee. It's actually not a bad place to go and quietly escape to read a book or do a crossword.

Grub: 3 There are good select items, but for the most part the baked goods are inoffensive, and you know that they make it one the premises. I only sometimes wonder about the freshness and turnover, since the place doesn't always seem very busy.

Coffee: 3 I'm not crazy about the grounds. I think they use the Lavazza or something similar. The beans always taste a little bit over roasted and a bit burnt, but they serve it the way you ask for it. It isn't the fastest service in town either, so don't think you are going to be able to et out of there in under 10 minutes if you think you are just passing through - and that's if you are the ONLY one in the store.

Not Much to Roar About at the Lion's Den

The Lion’s Den café can be seen behind the little pie piece median from the intersection of Fraser and Kingsway. It is a little hole in the wall with a big personality. I couldn’t help but be constantly surprised once I stepped through its doorway. At first sight, you cannot help but be accosted by the Jamaican Bob Marleyesque décor which is literally crowned with a taxidermy lion over head. The person behind the counter was, I believe, to be a wildly outspoken Japanese woman who told us that we had to serve ourselves our own coffee, because she could not take care of us all day because she was by herself and she was hung over. As we served ourselves coffee from the eclectic thrift store mugs, we couldn’t help but notice that the menu was a fusion of your diner breakfast, Jamaican dishes nicely rounded out by your option of Japanese delights. We opted for the standard eggs, hash and bacon (which we were promptly told that there may be too many of us in the café and that there may not be enough bacon for everybody!) to set at least a baseline for food. To our surprise when we looked past the dumbwaiter window, we couldn’t help but notice that the kitchen was a kitchen one might find in a rental suite with about the same quality utensils. While we waited, we noticed a steady flow of people until the second staff member arrived. The actual breakfast was a decent enough home style breakfast and the wait wasn’t nearly as long as expected. It actually appeared that the place, despite it quirks, had a steady routine of abuse customers, take their orders and give them enough service that they might come back. Would I come back? Would I be a regular? Not on your life. But it’s kind of like after being hit in dodgeball. You are briefly stunned when it happened, you realize it was fun while it lasted, but everyone’s gotta have a turn.

Out of 5 Jamaican Lion Roars Mon

Grub 2: The food we had was alright but I have to say that everything else looked pretty sketchy and peering into the kitchen didn’t instill any sense of reassurance.
Scene 3: It was kind of interesting who went in there. There were workers, a couple of people who appeared to be tourists, and a few other random folks who were in and out. Strangely t seemed like it was mostly men in there. I doubt you would see any Kits types in there.
Coffee 1: The coffee was terrible. I think they had an espresso machine in there. In fact I am pretty sure it was a Saeco Barrista from Starbucks that looked like an alley cat after a night out with the Feline Fight Club.
Note: If you every have a hankering to play two person head to head table top Pac Man from the early 80’s, this place uses one of those exact machines as their tables by the windows.