A taste of the good life

We'd heard that our hotel offered a pretty impressive Sunday brunch buffet, and so decided to check it out. After a 20-minute wait for a table, we were seated... only to discover that our hotel has two restaurants, and of course we were in the wrong one.

We left, and at last found the right spot, where we were greeted with, "You don't have a reservation?" Thankfully, they squeezed us in pretty quickly.

Yes, it was impressive: ice swan sculpture, guy playing a grand piano, juice served in cocktail glasses. And we were there with two small kids.

Once AJ got past the shock of "I get a glass like this?", he warmed quite quickly to experiencing how the other half lives.


Salmon prepared two different ways, plus steamed mussels, and marshmallows dipped in a chocolate fondue fountain. AJ proclaimed, "This is the goodest restaurant I've ever seen!"

Sydney was a little less impressed with her surroundings. Though she somehow managed to force herself to dip her grapes in the chocolate fondue.

We followed that up with dinner at Montana's. After all, nothing says authentic Canadian dining like a restaurant named Montana's. And what an appropriate culinary bookend, considering our first meal in the Great White North was at a restaurant named Boston Pizza.

Montana's was nothing special. The food was so-so, and the service was slow. The most memorable part of the meal was the role playing that took place at the table. Thanks to the discovery of a really cool toy shop, which I'll write about at a later date, the kids were freshly equipped with some fun Playmobil toys. AJ had knights, and Sydney had a mommy, four kids and a stroller. Eventually, the two worlds collided, with AJ's knights returning home from work to play with the brothers and sisters in Sydney's family. I love how their minds work.

Wait! I thought of another nice thing to say about Montana's. They do take Visa.