Mes Amis

A week ago, I headed downtown for a Sunday brunch. Despite having been in Ottawa for a year, this was the first time I was seeing people outside of family. It's true that get-togethers have been scarce since the pandemic, but it was also caused by the intervening years.

Though the restaurant was on Bank St. near Somerset, I walked along Elgin St. to get some Japanese cheesecake from Uncle Tetsu. I then meandered down a few side streets to get to Tamis Cafe. During my stroll, I noticed two things. First, the smattering of older buildings was a reminder how beautiful Ottawa might have been if the city had done a better job of preserving downtown. Second, though there has been an influx of new condos, it was still mostly a ghost town. West-End and downtown Toronto would be bustling especially on the week-end. Even the quieter East-End neighbourhoods would have more activities.

One reason was that Ottawans don't go downtown. After our brunch, my friends admitted that they haven't visited the city core in years. So they were surprised by the new shops and condos. Tamis itself was a filipino restaurant that had traditional decorations but also a modern vibe. The latter was accomplished by keeping a lot of the aesthetic of the previous tenant, a 16-year martini bar and gastro-pub called The Buzz. This combination didn't quite work for me. They should also add some heavy drapes by the entrance to keep the cold out. Every time someone opened the front-door, we received a blast of freezing air.

We ordered our own dishes (I opted for the dasilog at $17.75) and shared a sisig appetizer ($19.95). The latter came out sizzling hot with specks of oil that unfortunately spattered on the waiter's hand. The sauteed pork belly and ears, mixed with egg, were rich and chewy. My main was fried bangus (milkfish), fried rice, two sunny-side up eggs, and toast. It wasn't prepared as expertly as Lamesa in Toronto, but this was the first meal I've had in Ottawa that was flavourful. I would be interested in returning for their Kamayan platters.