I also eat elsewhere: In Niagara Falls it's practically impossible to avoid chain eateries. The night before, for dinner, we walked all over the city trying to find something independent, but found only tattoo parlours and seedy bars. Fun, yes, but not what we were after. We fared a little better at breakfast, and decided to eat at Niagara Falls' famous German restaurant, The Happy Wanderer (6405 Stanley Ave). The restaurant is small, and packed with German folkart, including incredible wooden chandaliers dangling from the ceilings. Jungle-like growth creeps across the walls at the entrance. The waitresses all wear traditional German dress. Awesome. So far it seemed promising. I ordered apple cinnamon pancakes, and they were ok, just a little blah, with big slices of apples cooked in. The biggest disapointment were the potato pancakes which, in print, seemed heavenly. In practice they were greasy and had the oddest consistency: they looked crispy, but were chewy, gelatinous - as if the potatoes had been soaked in water too long before frying. We should've just ordered the $3.99 breakfast special.

This past weekend, I was in Montreal where I had two satisfying egg breakfasts, first at The Toasteur (1310, avenue Laurier Est) and then at Shed Cafe (3515 St Laurent). Shed Cafe has a bit of an edge because I got poached eggs with ham and this interesting maple sauce instead of hollandaise, and I ordered a special blueberry/rasberry juice to wash it down. While I stuck to eggs, Caro had pancakes. At Le Toasteur, nutella and bananas, and at Shed Cafe they came with a generous portion of pecans. And the portion was huge. I am getting excited at the thought of trying out more Montreal breakfast places.