The Good Fork

So I've been trying to get to the Good Fork for a while and finally managed to meet up with my bestie there! I used to come here all the time when I didn't care about waiting 45 minutes for a table (aka before I had a baby), but luckily my friend was able to meet me for brunch on a weekday.

Restaurant: The Good Fork
Location: Bloor West Village
Meal: Brunch
Day: Monday
Son's Age: 6 months

I had made a reservation, but once we arrived the hostess asked to wait a few more minutes because they had originally reserved a table upstairs, but upon seeing my baby in a stroller, they thought it would be better for me to wait for a table on the main floor. The hostess also noted that the second floor was a bit colder.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
High chairs are available but since my son isn't great at sitting still they let me park the stroller next to the table.

There is also an accessible washroom on the main floor with a change table provided so it's easy to just wheel the stroller in. 

There's not really anything more you can ask for to be baby friendly, so as far as accessibility goes, the Good Fork gets five stars. 

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I appreciated being seated on the main floor and everything went smoothly - food arrived promptly and there were no issues splitting the bill. My small quibble is that I had to ask for a coffee refill a couple times, but overall service was great. 

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is one of my favourite brunch places in the city. A lot of times, I find one restaurant and one good dish and I order the same thing every time I go. Not here. There are genuinely multiple dishes that I would recommend, and it's great for larger groups or pickier eaters because there's a large variety of brunch and lunch items, with a good mix of meat versus vegetarian and healthy versus indulgent. On this occasion, I had to order the fork scramble.

This is a puff pastry topped with scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, whipped chive crème fraiche, and dill, served with a side of salad. The puff pastry is light and fluffy and all the components just go so well together. It's filling without being heavy, which is just lovely. Lest you think that I'm on a diet all of a sudden, I should explain that I wanted something light to offset my order of a side of red velvet pancakes.

Yes, you read that right. Red. Velvet. Pancakes. Seriously. If you don't order this, you are insane. It's served with a vanilla cream cheese frosting, powdered sugar, and maple syrup. These are without a doubt my favourite pancakes in the city. You can actually get a full sized order of this, but I opted to get the side and split with my friend so that I could ultimately get a combination of sweet and savoury without stuffing myself.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
This is such a great place to brunch with baby. The restaurant itself is so baby friendly and accessible, and the food is delicious. If you come on a weekday, you can actually make reservations too. I highly recommend trying this place out if you haven't already. 

St. Clair Banh Cuon Pho Ga

There are actually a few Vietnamese restaurants in my area, but my favourite, sadly, has closed down. Determined to find another one, my husband and I decided to try St. Clair Banh Cuon Pho Ga.

Restaurant: St. Clair Banh Cuon Pho Ga
Location: Corso Italia
Meal: Lunch
Day: Sunday
Son's Age: 6 months

I admit, typically when I think Vietnamese, I think pho. Specifically, I think house pho (probably menu number 101) - made with rare and well-done beef, tendon, and tripe, sometimes with beef balls and/or brisket thrown in. My husband is a little more adventurous with the menu (with the exception of my favourite place which had six courses of beef - and that's the last I'll say about that since, as I said earlier, it closed down). However, as the name of this restaurant suggests, their specialty is in banh cuon and pho ga, so naturally, we had to give these a try.

Accessibility: ⭐️
This shouldn't really be a surprise, but this place is not super baby friendly. We brought our son in his car seat and placed him on a chair.

There is a step to get into the restaurant, and there were no high chairs in sight. The place is quite small, and the washroom is down in the basement, so definitely not stroller friendly. On top of that, there is definitely nowhere to change diapers in the washroom. 

I suppose if you were really desperate, there are some deep freezers in the basement as well right outside the washroom that provide a flat surface. 

Please note that I am not recommending you do this, because, you know, hygiene, but I'm acknowledging that sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. 

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Service was pretty much what you would expect from a Vietnamese restaurant. Everything was fine, but nothing was particularly memorable and servers certainly don't go above and beyond. 

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We decided to order the banh cuon cha lua banh cong, which, according to the menu, is steamed rice flour rolls with ground pork, sausage, and cupcake. We also each ordered a bowl of pho ga, which is chicken pho. 

So I feel the description needs to be clarified. The rice rolls are similar to Chinese cheung fun stuffed with ground pork. The sausage comes on the side and is reminiscent of cold cuts. The cupcake is like a deep fried cake with shrimp inside, about the size of a small cup, so while the description is technically accurate, it is somewhat misleading. The dish is served with fish sauce. Personally, I found the whole dish to be very tasty, although I could have done without the sausage. My husband didn't think it was particularly special, but I really love cheung fun so this dish was right up my alley. As for the chicken pho, I definitely recommend it, especially for people who like chicken more than beef. I thought it was delicious, although I personally prefer beef. The pho was served with a plate of bean sprouts, lime wedges, and basil leaves, as well as some cut up chilies, which I like better than the whole chilies that most pho places give you. I wouldn't mind eating here again, but I should note that my husband wasn't impressed so it's not a place for everyone. 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️½

Despite the food being different and enjoyable, this place is really not designed to be baby friendly and the service doesn't help improve the situation.

SongCook's

I was meeting my mom and my aunt for lunch, so we found a somewhat halfway point and ended up at SongCook's.

Restaurant: SongCook's
Location: Thornhill
Meal: Lunch
Day: Friday
Son's Age: 6 months

As you probably know, I've already reviewed this place once before, and actually did not take any photos because I was not planning on doing another review given that I ordered something similar as last time. It turns out that I do need to update my review, so I'll make this short.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As I mentioned in my last review, there is an attached parking lot and plenty of space in the restaurant for the stroller. High chairs are available, and there is a nice change table in the washroom. Of course, there are still steps going toward the washroom so it's not entirely stroller accessible, but obviously I did not expect that to be corrected since my previous visit.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was why I needed to update my review. Our server was a very nice lady who was prompt in taking our order and bringing our food. She made sure we had enough banchan. She seemed absolutely delighted to see my son and interacted with him. When I had arrived, it was raining outside, so I had a rain cover for the stroller and an umbrella for myself, not to mention a diaper bag. My mother tossed my things onto the table next to us, which I didn't really appreciate, but she insisted it was fine and no one was sitting there. Midway through our meal, a hostess was showing a party of four to the table we had taken over, and when she saw our things there, she quickly turned around and found another table to seat them at rather than tell us to move our things, which I thought was extremely courteous. Also, I was claiming a free pop, but since I don't personally drink pop, I asked my server if she could just bring me the can without opening it, since I wanted to take it home so I could offer it to a guest at some point in the future (yes, tacky, but I tend to have guests over last minute and I don't drink pop or juice so I can pretty much only offer water, milk, and alcohol). She was very nice in obliging my request. My mother also asked for a takeout container at the end since she did not finish her cham pong, and our server happily packed it for us. She noted that there was not much soup leftover and asked if that was okay - my mom had intentionally finished all the soup, so she was fine with it, but I can't help but wonder what our server would have done if we had said we were not okay with that. All in all, my experience here was tremendously improved based on the service that I felt went above and beyond.

Food ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I ordered the cham pong, just like my mother. I said this in my previous review, but the noodles here are the best I've had in the GTA, so if you are craving Korean noodles, this is definitely the place to go. I'm not sure how the other menu items taste since I generally order the cham pong and/or jja jang myun, but I'm sure it's worth trying another time.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Considering the quality of food and the overall accessibility, I think this restaurant is worth trying. Throw in the amazing service I experienced here and it's pretty much a no brainer to check it out if you happen to be in this neck of the woods.

Ravi Soups

I was meeting my bestie for lunch and as chance would have it, she wanted to try Ravi Soups! I love their soups so I agreed to meet her there.

Restaurant: Ravi Soups
Location: The Junction
Meal: Lunch
Day: Friday
Son's Age: 6 months

This post is going to be relatively short since I recently wrote a review, but I did order something different so I thought it was worth reviewing.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️
Same situation as before. I actually ended up sitting at the same table, so had no issues parking the stroller, but there is still no change table in the washroom located in the basement.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
As I mentioned in my previous post, service is cafeteria style, so not particularly memorable, although the food did come out quite quickly.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
And the food is still as good as I remember! This time, I ordered the chicken hot pot broth.

The soup contained coconut milk, lemongrass, cilantro, kaffir lime, fresh noodles, bok choy, edamame, mango, pineapple, Thai basil, crispy shallots, and fresh herbs. This is a great soup to have as a meal as the chicken and noodles are more than substantial. The soup is also served with a cheese biscuit and red pepper jelly, which is such a nice complement. I still love how it is served on a lazy Susan.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
This still isn't the most accessible restaurant for baby, but the food makes the visit worthwhile. If you're looking for a nice, warm bowl of soup, this is still my favourite place to go to in the city.