The Oakwood Hardware Food & Drink

Hello friends! I know it's been a while - it's so hard to write updates now that I'm back at work and I can't just blog during my son's naps! Thanks to those of you who are sticking around (all...two of you?); hopefully I can catch up on my posts at some point! Anyway, back in July (only a month ago!), my husband had been talking about trying Oakwood Hardware for so long so I agreed to give it a shot.

Restaurant: The Oakwood Hardware Food & Drink

Location: Wychwood

Meal: Dinner

Day: Saturday

Son's Age: 15 months

It's actually technically in Oakwood Village but there aren't really a lot of restaurants in Oakwood Village so I'm just grouping it into Wychwood. Also I'm not sure what the theme of the restaurant is because it seems to be trying to do a lot of things at once, but I suppose that could be a good thing if you are with a group of people who have diverse tastes. Plus the place is run by Chef Anne Sorrenti, who is a Chopped Canada champion, so that boded well. 

Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐

The restaurant certainly touts itself as family friendly. There is clearly room for strollers to come in, and they have several high chairs as well as a kids' menu and crayons. 

The washroom, unfortunately, has neither a change table nor counter space. In fact, the sink looks like one big tub. 

The good news is that it is in the back (ie not down the stairs) and it is quite large, so I'm confident that you could fit a stroller in here. If your stroller reclines, at least you can use that in a pinch!

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The staff was extremely friendly and clearly accustomed to dealing with children. They came to check in on my son and gave him his own cup of water as well as his own plate (although I opted to bring his baby cutlery). They were very helpful with menu selections and they were cautious to keep hot plates away from my son.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I must say, the food was quite good, albeit confusing, as I said upfront. We started with drinks because we heard the cocktails were good here, and they have their own specialty cocktails.

I ordered the Pisco de Mora, which is made of Chilean Pisco, rum, sweet vermouth, blackberry and mint compote, lime, and egg white. This was such a refreshing drink with just the right amount of sweetness. I can't remember what my husband ordered but he really liked his drink too. For food, we started with the Oakwood meze.

This is obviously a Mediterranean inspired dish, served with fried cauliflower, naan with za'atar and cheese, baba ghanoush, and tahini. If you are unfamiliar with a meze, the description in he menu could mislead you to think the cauliflower was the star of the dish, when it was actually just a small portion. Everything here was delicious, though, and my son was a big fan of the naan. Mom tip: if your kid is like mine and just really loves bread and nothing else, remember that hummus has chickpeas and baba ghanoush has eggplants, so it's an easy way to sneak in some protein and veggies. With this particular dish, one watch out is that those little red pickled things are small chilli peppers and not mini tomatoes - luckily I tried one before my son got to it but he was definitely getting ready to eat one. Anyway, for my main, I ordered the lentil shepherd's pie.

This meal had stewed lentils, shiitake and cremini mushrooms, carrots, and celery, topped with mashed potatoes and cheddar and jack cheese, with a side of salad. It was such a comforting dish, and very filling, considering that it's a vegetarian dish. It's also a bit jarring to go from a Mediterranean appetizer to a British classic, but probably not as much as my husband ordering the KFC Korean fried chicken.

This was served with kimchi fried rice and sautéed vegetables. If you've ever had Korean fried chicken, you know it's way better than North American fried chicken, and I think this dish captured the distinct quality of the Korean version. It still catered to the local palate (I'm pretty sure I never saw sautéed vegetables in Korea), but the inspiration was evident. Overall, the food was all delicious and certainly a great introduction to different flavours, but I rated it as four stars because in trying to do a bit of everything, the food wasn't quite the best at anything.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The place is rather baby friendly, and I found the service to be more than accommodating. The food is definitely worth trying, especially if you are craving different flavours at once. It's definitely one of the best restaurants in the area, so if you're bringing the family, this is worth a try. 

Isaan Der

A new Thai place opened up in the Junction that looked pretty interesting, so I was excited to finally give it a try.

Restaurant: Isaan Der
Location: The Junction
Meal: Dinner
Day: Sunday
Son's Age: 14 months

We originally showed up with the stroller, but upon assessing the space, I decided to put the stroller back in the car while my husband and son got a table. The hostess seated us in the back of the restaurant, which was nice because there was a little side table that I could put my diaper bag on.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐
In case you didn't get it from my opening, this restaurant is not stroller friendly, which is shocking considering its location in the Junction. There is a step at the entrance, and there is no room to park a stroller, let alone bring it to a table. They did manage to provide a high chair, though.

The washroom is located downstairs and does not have a change table or counter space, but there is a toilet seat lid.

It's not ideal, but better than changing a diaper on the floor. Then again, if you have an older baby, you could also change a diaper while your baby is standing.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The servers were nice to us and greeted my son as they walked by, commenting about how impressive it was that he eats Thai food. They also didn't seem to mind when my son decided he wanted to practice walking around after he finished eating. 

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
They were out of papaya salad but substituted it with a mango salad, so we started with that and the golden bags.

The golden bags are deep fried pastries with water chestnuts, carrots, and mushrooms, served with chilli sauce. The mango salad was pretty much a traditional mango salad, so it was good but not extraordinary. The golden bags, on the other hand, were different and delicious. Next we ordered the pad Thai.

The pad Thai is made with rice noodles, chicken, bean sprouts, tofu, oyster sauce, chives, and lime. My son loves eating this, and I'd say it was quite good too, although similar to the mango salad, there wasn't anything about it that was especially memorable. We also got the guaytiaw gang. 

This was very good and I highly recommend it. It's rice noodles in curry sauce, bean sprouts, tofu, beef, and boiled egg. The curry sauce acted as a soup and was so hearty. My one caution is that I read a review that described this as the Isaan Der version of Khao soi, and I find that description inaccurate, as there isn't really anything that provides a crunch. If you don't go in with that mindset, though, the dish is really tasty. 

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½

The food is good, and it's not just your typical Thai restaurant. The accessibility isn't ideal, though, especially if you have a younger baby and you are a first time parent. The service is decent, though, so if you have an older baby, this place is probably worth checking out. 

Pearl Diver

I am so behind in my blog posts that I am only now getting around to blogging about Mother's Day brunch! My husband and my sister wanted to treat my mom, my aunts, and myself to a nice Mother's Day brunch, and seafood seemed like a good bet because my family loves seafood. We opted to go downtown because we heard something about a lobster benny that sounded pretty exciting!

Restaurant: Pearl Diver
Location: Corktown
Meal: Brunch
Day: Sunday
Son's Age: 13 months

As with any Sunday brunch, it was super important for us that this restaurant took reservations, since waiting in line with a baby is never an ideal situation. They actually have a back area with two larger tables so we didn't have to sit in the middle of a crowded restaurant, which is nice.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐
This restaurant is not stroller friendly. To get to the back table, the path is quite narrow, and there is a step. Once we were there, we were given the option to park the stroller beside us or leave it at the front, and we quickly realized that leaving it next to the table would make the area very crowded. They also did not have proper high chairs, but instead had booster seats that strapped to their chairs.

This doesn't seem like an issue, except the back of the chair is curved so the strap doesn't actually go around very tightly, and the seat ended up being slightly crooked. There is an option to attach a tray table directly to the seat, but space made it very inconvenient to use. (And yes, that is my husband's wallet that my son is playing with - blah blah hygiene germs blah blah - his grandmother was present so trust me I already heard the lecture.) The washroom also does not have a change table.

The saving grace is that the toilet seat has a lid so you could still change a diaper if you needed to.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐

Service was fine, but not memorable. When we were struggling with tightening the booster seat onto the chair, no one offered to help, which is fine, but it means you can't rely on the service to make your experience of taking your baby to a restaurant easier. 

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I am so torn about how to rate the food. We started with a dozen oysters for the table.

The special was supposed to be 6 east coast and 6 west coast oysters, but given the news about contaminated west coast oysters, we asked for all 12 to be east coast, and they obliged. The oysters were delicious, as expected, served with the traditional condiments of horseradish, lemon, cocktail sauce, hot sauce, and mignonette. For my main, I went with this famous lobster benny.

Let me tell you, these home fries were mind blowing. I could have just eaten a giant portion of home fries. Seriously, these might be the best home fries I've ever had. That sounds lovely, but I found the star of the dish was just okay and not memorable. There wasn't that much lobster, and it was so light that it got lost amongst the flavours of the egg, hollandaise, and bun. My husband ordered the PD classic breakfast.

This is a typical classic with eggs, bacon, toast, home fries, and salad. Again, amazing home fries, but also surprisingly the best toast I've ever had! I don't know what it is, but it was perfectly toasted and perfectly buttered, so it was just such a standout on the plate. So, overall I'm not sure how to judge the food, because if you like toast and home fries, you seriously need to come here. The rest of the food is fine but not great, so I've decided to net this out at four stars.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐
This place is fine to bring your baby, and the food is pretty good. If you want the best toast ever, it's worth the effort, and being able to make reservations is definitely a plus, but I think there might be other places that are more worthwhile. 

Kub Khao Thai Eatery

We were visiting my mom and sister in Scarborough and decided to go out for lunch. I'm trying to have my son eat whatever I eat instead of bringing food with him, so I was looking for a decent place with baby friendly food (aka not sushi), and my husband suggested we go for Thai.

Restaurant: Kub Khao Thai Eatery
Location: Scarborough
Meal: Lunch
Day: Saturday
Son's Age: 13 months

Heads up: the location is weird. The restaurant is in this small strip mall and there is a gas station right in front of it. The parking lot is small too, although I suppose it's sufficient for the size of the plaza. I probably would have missed it except there were a couple girls standing in front of the restaurant taking selfies (in the middle of an open parking spot, I might add - grrr).

Accessibility: ⭐⭐
Since the place is quite small, they actually only have one high chair. I think I might have hijacked it by accident, because upon arrival, we said we needed a table for four adults and a baby, and they seated us after they seated a larger party with two children (not babies, I should add, but one was a toddler). A server started walking in our direction with the high chair and I immediately stepped forward and said thank you, and directed her to where I wanted it. She paused and clarified that I needed the high chair, and my mom and I both insisted that we did, so she placed it at our table before proceeding to apologize to the other table. In my defence, the adult chairs at my table were stools, whereas the larger party had a long bench seat. Anyway.

The moral of the story is that there is only one high chair. The good news is that they also have plastic plates and cutlery for kids, which my son found very exciting. As expected, the washroom does not have a change table.

There also isn't really any counter space, but the toilets do have lids if you need to change a diaper so that's useful.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Service was fine - as I mentioned earlier, there was obviously some confusion regarding the high chair, but once they gave it to me, the server immediately got a cloth and cleaner to clean the chair for me as well (I usually use my wipes to clean high chairs before my son sits down, and when she saw I was about to do this she intervened). She also was nice enough to provide the plastic silverware (is it still called silverware if it's plastic?) for my son, and she answered questions that we had about the menu. Overall the server was pretty hands off, so she doesn't really come back to check how we are doing once the food arrives, but that's fine by me.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I love that this restaurant has lunch specials because I like having smaller portions at lunchtime. I ordered the street lunch of grilled pork with sticky rice.

The pork was on skewers and the sticky rice was served in a little basket on the side. The pork had a nice sweetness to it without being overpowering, and the sticky rice was a great complement. My husband ordered a quick lunch, which was served with mango salad.

The mangoes were nice and refreshing and particularly great for my son, who is obsessed with all fruit. I don't know how I feel about the wonton crisps - they add a nice crunch but aren't particularly  special. For his actual lunch, my husband had the pad Thai with chicken.

It was a decent pad Thai that made for a satisfying lunch, made with eggs, tofu, bean sprouts, chives, tamarind sauce, and peanuts. My baby was a bigger fan of the chicken and tofu from here than he was of the grilled pork, but as a mom I was just happy that he was eating. Since we didn't know what my baby would eat, we also ordered a starter of chicken toast for the table. 

It comes with sweet chilli sauce, and let me tell you, this was delicious but totally not what I would order for a baby. The toast is deep fried with chicken on it, which is awesome for me but I would rather not feed my baby deep fried food if I don't have to. As a dish, I fully recommend it - just don't be fooled by the name!

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐½

This is actually a really good find for Thai food in Scarborough! It's not exactly designed to be baby friendly but the food is great so if you go at off-peak times, you might be okay bringing a baby here. 

La Banane

For whatever reason, this year, I can't help but notice that my son is getting sick right around any planned celebrations. We rescheduled our Paris trip because he was sick (celebrating my soster's birthday), we rescheduled my birthday dinner, we rescheduled my husband's birthday dinner, and my husband missed a wedding. For my husband's birthday, we decided to go to La Banane - about a week later.

Restaurant: La Banane
Location: Trinity Bellwoods
Meal: Dinner
Day: Sunday
Son's Age: 13 months

I wasn't sure how this was going to go because from what I had heard, La Banane is a fairly boujee French restaurant. They're actually known for their highly Instagram-friendly Ziggy Stardust disco egg dessert, but given that it's pretty expensive and way more chocolate than two people can conceivably finish, we passed on it.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐
No surprise, but the setup isn't exactly designed for babies. To their credit, they actually seated us at a table that had a bench seat on one side and a chair and high chair on the other. The host said it was so we could have options of where my baby could sit.

If you have a pre-toddler like mine who does not like to sit still, this option is actually perfect for while we order and wait for food to arrive. Once there was something to eat, we moved him to the high chair. 

Points for having a high chair, but there is no room for a stroller if you have one, and the washroom is located in the basement. 

There definitely is no counter space for changing a diaper here either, so your best bet unfortunately would be to change the diaper on the ground. Luckily I did not have to do that, but it's pretty much your only option if you need to do a diaper change. 

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Service here was outstanding. The staff was extremely pleasant and accommodating, and some servers came by to coo at my baby, so I felt very welcome. Our server was also very helpful in answering questions about the menu and making recommendations, and the bread was served promptly as per my request. 

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Since we were celebrating, we decided to start with some drinks. I got a glass of Chardonnay while my husband opted for a specialty banana cocktail. 

The bread is actually soft pretzel sticks with mustard, which was a nice surprise. My son, continuing his love of all things bread, really enjoyed this. 

For the parents who are concerned, don't worry, I only let him eat the inside and avoided the salt. Moving onto the food, what better way is there to start a meal than with some freshly shucked oysters?

The east coast oysters were served with the traditional accompaniments of lemon, horseradish, hot sauce, and mignonette. We then ordered the albacore tuna with brown butter, doll, and capers. 

It doesn't look extraordinary but the flavours were perfectly complementary and the dish was so light and savoury. We thought we should probably get some vegetables, so we ordered the white asparagus, served with mussels. 

I was really hoping my son would eat this, but he's very hit-or-miss when it comes to vegetables. Nevertheless, it was a great dish, and I had never had white asparagus before and didn't realize it would taste so different from green asparagus. I must say, though, that the pièce de résistance was the eurobass en croûte. First, they present you with the cooked fish encrusted in pastry. 

Then they take it back to the kitchen to remove the top and serve it with yuzu beurre blanc and zucchini medallions. 

This is just such a delicious dish and you really need to try it. The fish is perfectly cooked and the sauce is rich without being overpowering. We also got a side of the pommes aligot, which is pretty much puréed potatoes with cheese. The side goes very wel with the fish and my son liked both, although he appreciated the cheesy potatoes more, obviously. Each dish was light, but overall the meal was so filling that we didn't have room for dessert!

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The food and service are impeccable so I recommend you come here if you would like some good French food. Accessibility leaves a bit to be desired but I think the rest of the experience makes up for it. As long as you come at a reasonable hour so that your baby doesn't interrupt any romantic dinners or anything like that, I don't see why you can't bring the whole family here!

Tabule

For those of you who don't know, once your kid starts daycare (or school, if you forego daycare), you will probably end up taking your little one to the doctor a lot. I'm told that after a year, my son wil havethe best immunity system, and I'm seriously banking on that to be true. In any case, I took him to the doctor's office and then realized that I didn't have any lunch plans for him. My mother had decided to accompany me and we tried to find something nearby with food he would eat.

Restaurant: Tabule
Location: Bayview Village
Meal: Lunch
Day: Thursday
Son's Age: 12 months

Tabule is a middle eastern restaurant that has a couple locations in the city and recently opened in Bayview Village. I had been meaning to try it before and figured this was a good opportunity. Despite the fact that it was a Thursday, however, we had to wait. The good news is, you can leave your cell phone number and wander around the mall. The bad news is, other patrons are downright rude. I came back after I was called and I was shown in and an older lady yelled at me, saying that the next table of four should be hers and I don't need a table for four because there were only two of us (excuse me, but my son eats solids now, so yes he needs a spot at the table). I noticed in general that a lot of the clientele seemed very entitled overall, but that isn't really the restaurant's fault.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The benefit of going to a restaurant at Bayview Village is that the place is full of mothers and seniors, which means it's very accessible. I was given the option to keep my stroller at the table or park it at the front, and I was promptly provided with a high chair for my son.

As you can see, he was very excited and wouldn't sit still, which is pretty impressive considering he was too sick to attend daycare. The washrooms are individual and have a nice counter top.

 No change table, but you can easily change a smaller baby on the counter. If that makes you a bit nervous, the washroom outside the restaurant has a proper change table, not to mention a nursing room.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The other customers might have been a pain, but the service on all counts was excellent. The host was very open about the wait time and took my number to let me know when a table was available. She helped to bring my stroller to the front after I was seated. The server was very friendly too. When he served water, he would pour from a high distance to create a stream, and he intentionally ensured that my son had a good view every time. He even refilled my son's sippy cup when he finished his own water. I mentioned when I sat down that I needed my appetizer to come quickly as I was feeding my son, and he kindly obliged. I especially loved that he interacted with my son and asked him how he was enjoying the food. I suppose the servers are trained to deal with babies, which I really appreciated.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐
We started with a cold mezze sampler platter, and we chose hummus, baba ganoush, and of course, tabbouleh.

This is served with both white and multigrain pita bread. The dish itself was delicious, and my son really enjoyed the pita with hummus and baba ganoush. I also liked that I was giving him chickpeas and eggplant with his bread, so I had covered off three food groups! My one complaint is that the multigrain pita was quite tough, so I didn't feel comfortable giving it to my son. I was so concerned about feeding him that I forgot to take a photo of the mains, but my mother and I ordered the kefta and tawuk to share. Kefta is ground lamb and beef skewers and tawuk is chicken, and both are served with rice and grilled vegetables. I found the mains to be underwhelming, with the meat being a bit dry. The portion size is generous, though, so my mother was able to pack a takeaway box to bring home. The rice and vegetables were pretty tasty too, although they really aren't supposed to outshine the meat, in my opinion.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
The accessibility and service make this a great spot to bring your baby, and the hummus, baba ganoush, and tabbouleh are fantastic, even if the meat was not impressive. I would recommend this as a good family friendly option.

Dirty Food Eatery

My son was getting ready to start daycare and I was about to start work, so I was treasuring my last days of maternity leave. I decided to meet my sister for brunch and try a new restaurant in the generally baby-friendly Junction.

Restaurant: Dirty Food Eatery
Location: The Junction
Meal: Brunch
Day: Monday
Son's Age: 12 months

Dirty Food is a relatively new restaurant that apparently is affiliated with Junked Food - I didn't actually know this at the time but my husband informed me afterward when he found out that I came here without him. I was just excited to have a new brunch place nearby.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The restaurant itself is quite small, and I didn't bring a stroller because I was able to find parking nearby. I saw that someone else had left a folded stroller at the front, though. They not only had a high chair for my son, but they also had a kids' menu and plastic cutlery for him!

I'll talk about the food itself later, but my so loves trying to use the knife and fork by himself. He wasn't particularly successful but it was cute watching him try to imitate my sister and me. The washrooms are in the basement, so not stroller friendly, but the larger stall has a change table.

It's more like a shelf (think of the change tables on airplanes if they were padded), but it gets the job done, and it's a good use of such a small space.

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The servers are clearly prepared to deal with young children. Our server was extremely friendly and interacted with my son, and he was happy to answer all the questions I had about the menu also (specifically about the kids' menu). He checked in on us frequently to make sure we had everything we needed, which really helped to make the experience pleasant.

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I really did not know what to expect, given that all I knew was that a new brunch place had opened up nearby. I couldn't decide what to order, so the server recommended I try the chicken 'n' waffle 'wich.

This is buttermilk fried chicken in a waffle sandwich with mayonnaise, candies jalapeños, and lettuce, served with jalapeño syrup, slaw, and fries. This is so delicious, and if you like chicken and waffles you will want to try this. The slaw was actually really good too. There's a fried drumstick separated from the sandwich so you can eat that with your hands without worrying about biting into bone. For my son, we got the kid size Jonny cakes.

These are cornmeal pancakes, served with some pineapple and maple syrup on the side. As you can see, my son was really eager to eat this that I couldn't even get a photo without his hand in the shot. I like that the syrup was on the side because I try not to give him too much processed sugar, but even without syrup he was a huge fan. The kids meals all come with a small drink, but I drank his juice because I haven't given him juice yet and he really likes drinking water.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
This is a really great baby-friendly restaurant with delicious brunch food. If you are particularly reliant on your stroller, you may run into some difficulties, but otherwise I highly recommend you bring your baby here.