Fol Epi has a reputation as an artisanal bakery, turning out bread thats made with the best flour, wood fired ovens and an 'old time' feel. They've recently moved into a space on Yates Street, and opened up a restaurant to go along with the baked goods and coffee sales.
So, my intrepid breakfast eating friends and I descended this morning to try out the brunch.
The staff set us up a table for eight, moving together a set of two-person tables into one long affair. They were super happy to organize us into the space, and took care of us quickly once seated, bringing out coffee and water as a platoon, not just one server dealing with one table. Though the space is large, and would appear to be noisy, it was very comfortable to sit and have a good conversation, while still seeing across the restaurant, into the kitchen and behind the bar. One guy was squeezing ALL the oranges... so if you need OJ, you knew it'd be super fresh.
We could also order house made 'ferments'. Which I assume is Kombucha and other items that are made by invoking the right mold and bacteria to grow in a liquid or solid... and instead of throwing it out as spoiled, serving it. And why not 'black mushroom tea' is kinda of tasty, even if the mold culture that transforms the sweet tea into the slightly fizzy, slight sour drink is gross looking.
But I choose the coffee. It was dark roasted. it was hot. it wasn't bitter. I liked it. I choose coffee over the APA beer on tap, as it was 10.30am, and I had just driven down. I can adult sometimes.
For my meal, I ordered the eggs, sausage and hashbrowns. The eggs were soft poached, but not overly tasty... the pale yellow yolk suggests these weren't from hens with a wide diet. There wasn't a richness in flavour I've had from other eggs, though my reading suggests the yolk colour isn't really a great indicator of the provenance of the ovum.
The sausages were house made, and a great combination of rich dark meat and a enough herbs to bring the flavour up with out overpowering the meat. Very good. The potatoes were cubed and friend 'country style'. They were advertised as hash browns. The lovely Brunette was not in attendance, so she my monthly gripe. They were good solid cubes of potato, and set well with the rest of the food. Two slices of an airy, floury bread were served with the meal as well. And a big dish of house made ketchup as well. The ketchup was good.
The house made hot sauce was really good. Served with a eye dropper bottle, this added a little kick to the eggs, but also added flavour more than pure heat. Really nice way of serving it, and a really good sauce.
All in all, I thought it was done well, but without amazing me in anyway. The prices were a little bit of a premium to other places, and some of their competition other out does them on the creativity, or on portion sizes. And some can easily match the quality of the source material as well.
I'd probably return for the dinner service, as there looked to be several interesting choices, and the bar drinks where interesting and wide ranging. But for brunch... I'd rate Relish, Veneto and Glo ahead of Fol Epi, all of whom serve a similar style of menu and food. It's not a bad fourth place to be, and there's a lot worse places to go.
Agrius by Fol Epi, 732 Yates Street, Victoria: www.folepi.ca
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