If you've read my top Toronto pizza lists (which you totally should if you haven't) then Vivetha Bistro may sound familiar to you. That's because during my initial list (since updated), their pizza came in at #40, an impressive showing.
Strangely enough, I'm fairly certain they don't offer pizza anymore and haven't for quite sometime! Which is a shame, since they're located four blocks from my house and the Queen East stretch of the Beaches is super dry when it comes to top notch pizza (Beaches Brewery aside).
Anyhow to the matter at my dawdling hands here, Vivetha has some fairly diverse and creative menu options. Aside from pizza I've only gone there for brunch, and this review is no exception. When it comes to brunch... I don't treat myself to it often and so when I do, I almost always go for something with poached eggs drenched in hollandaise (basically something I would never attempt to cook at home).
As their Saturday/Sunday brunch menu has more interesting options than the weekday one, I elected a weekend option: poached eggs atop garlic grilled salmon, complete with a side salad, home fries, a slice of smoked crispy bacon, melted brie, with some slices of melon and hollandaise sauce on the side (since I ordered it to go as I always do).
Rolling in at about eighteen bucks I think, it's not the most expensive brunch you might find in this city of Toronto (*cough* *cough* Queen West *cough*) and there's a lot going on here, though thankfully not simply for the sake of quantity. I definitely appreciate getting both a salad and home fries (saving me the regret of having to choose salad and then usually cursing myself when the fries later look amazing...), and the rest of it blends together also. Eggs and salmon together in the same bite was rather odd, but since there was so much variety here I saved the salmon for the salad (and they gave me a big piece of fish) and ate the eggs, sauce and bacon with the home fries. The brie also was a really nice touch, working really well with the salmon to add some creamy saltiness to that part of the meal.
Frankly it felt like two separate lunches, leaving me to mix and match this with that. It was quite enjoyable: nothing was particularly outstanding (though the salmon was really nice) though nothing was unpleasant or skippable either. The salad dressing was slightly sweet also, which did help balance all of the buttery, saltiness prevalent in the rest of the dish.
There isn't much else to say beyond... this is pretty good, enjoyable food that is quite affordable for the amount and variety you get (as far as brunch goes. I haven't had a dinner there yet and the prices do climb a bit after 4pm). But hey... I can't try everything... this isn't pizza of course.
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