Travel: Ottawa Trip with a less than happy return… | Sybaritica

In my post back on March 9, I mentioned that I would be leaving in two days for a trip to Ottawa. It was a very pleasant trip, with lots of restaurants visited and interesting food purchases made, but my return, less than a few hours ago, was not quite as nice. My wife left for a business trip to the western Arctic a few days ago and sometime following her departure some dickhead broke in to our house…

Thankfully, there is very little damage, just a bit of mess from drawers and cupboards being searched, and only a few things taken. Our Blu-Ray player was stolen, as well as a bottle of wine and some cigars, but other than those things and some food, little else is missing as far as I can tell. The miscreant (and this has all the hallmarks of a single individual entry) tried to take our television (it was sitting in the hallway) and it is evident that he gave up the attempt as too much effort. Anyway, I have notified the police but I don’t imagine too much will come of it…

On a lighter note, I visited my favorite bar in Ottawa, the Highlander Pub, on the third evening of my visit. I was tickled by the little insert they had in their menu and thought I would share. I didn’t eat there on this trip but I did sample a number of beers I have never had before, as well as a lovely (and very expensive) single malt Scotch.

During my six days in the capital I visited quite a few restaurants and will be posting reviews in due course. I also returned to some places I reviewed in the past in order to try some things I had seen on their respective menus. Some were very interesting, and will be featured in ‘Notable Nosh’ posts in the days to come, while a few were less than spectacular and did not make the cut. These were:

Scallop Dumplings … I had these as part of a Dim Sum lunch at the Palais Imperial. They are wrapped in the same sort of dough as used for Har Gow and actually contained more shrimp than scallop. They also included Cilantro, which is not my favorite herb at all. They weren’t bad but I think I can do a better job and I will post the results when I get around to attempting it.

Fried Shrimp Roll … I also tried this at the Palais Imperial. They were basically just whole shrimp wrapped in a commercial egg-roll wrapper and served with a basic, and mediocre, plum sauce. It wasn’t terribly special but the idea has merit and possibly worth experimenting with…

Squid Tempura… I revisited Ken’s Japanese Restaurant to try something I had seen on their online menu and ended up having several delicious dishes I will be telling you about in more detail in later posts. The squid tempura, however, was about the worst I have ever had. It was breaded, rather than done in a proper tempura batter, served with a tasteless mayo concoction, and badly overcooked. To the kitchen staff at Ken’s… PLEASE change your cooking oil more than once every ten years!!!

Well, returning home to a break-in was certainly not pleasant, but, on a happier note, my luggage is packed with a lot of interesting new foodstuffs that we can investigate in the coming weeks. Stay tuned…

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