The Disney-character artwork and the fact that there were two TVs - one in front of the other - says to me that this was trying very hard to be a family restaurant. Apparently it works, as there were several children there, enjoying their breakfasts.

The tables had colourful tablecloths on them, pressed down by glass planks covering the whole thing. In addition to the ocular offensiveness, let’s not forget the auditory. The music was – questionable. It was interesting because I’m not used to Filipino music, but then again, I’m not used to Filipino music and actually found it sort of grating. But that’s just me. Let’s move on to the gustatory part of the experience.

I ordered the “Canadian Big Breakfast” which came with two pieces of the three standard meats – sausage, ham and bacon. At a completely reasonable $5.50, this was the cheapest “big breakfast” I’ve ever encountered. Coffee was a buck 15 on top of that, still cheap. My eggs were over-easy perfect but the rest didn’t impress. The potato chunks were tasteless to the point where I couldn’t tell if they were frozen beforehand. My rye toast was small, dry and was only accompanied by the most basic of PB & J spreads.

Out of the three meats, I liked the bacon the best. It was crispy but not too much. The sausage was dense and tough, which was nice because it was far from the typical sausage-link, but I couldn’t identify what meat it was. I’m still out on that one, but it was gristle-free and tasty, in a different way. At least we got the cock hot sauce (our favourite, with the green top) without even requesting it!

You know, after I wrote that line tasty in a different way, I actually got kind of scared. Hm.

The ham was fried luncheon meat. Processed in some factory then sliced to the millimeter and scorched in the kitchen. The coffee was straight from the underground reservoir of sub-par coffee that seems to feed so many sub-par diners.

So, for clarification, this part of the review concentrated on the back-restaurant area while eating the Canadian breakfast. I think I would really like to sit in the front-diner and have the Filipino breakfast next time. It’s worth coming back to try. Several people in our party got the Filipino style brekkie and I had to listen to them “mmmm” and “aahhh” while I picked at my has-browns.

At one point during the meal, somebody at a close table got their Filipino style breakfast with a good amount of pungent fish in it. Whew!Fortunately for me, our table all tried the pork. Most of us furrowed our brows at the concept of fish for breakfast, but to each their own. However, the stench (yes, stench) of the fish nearly made me gag. I do have a particular hatred of the ‘fishy smell/taste’ that plagues us in prairie restaurants, but everybody else in our party agreed with my condemnation, fish lover and hater alike.

On top of all the sensory offenses, I definitely got the feeling that we were being neglected and peered at during the meal. We only got one coffee refill (which wasn’t so bad, considering the quality) and it took them forever to come to the till and ring us up when we were done. We all stood by the till looking at the woman behind the counter, and she casually sauntered around, talking to people and doing other things. I know I’m not the centre of the universe, but I can tell when we’re being ignored.

April 19 2008

JUVIANS RESTAURANT

621 Balmoral St

Hours of operation:

Sun - Mon        7 AM - 7 PM

Tues - Thurs     9 AM - 7 PM

Fri - Sat            10 AM - 7 PM

The Balmoral Hotel is not exactly a place you’d associate with good food – or for many, food at all. The main attraction of the hotel is Club Fantasy, and I bet you can guess what kind of business that is. I’ll give you a hint – it rhymes with “whippers.”

Consequently, many people stay away just for that reason. Juvian’s is a Filipino-run restaurant that serves up a Filipino breakfast that attracts quite a crowd. Our little group was the only

Caucasian table for a good while. That’s not a comment, it’s just an observation.

There are two parts to the restaurant. The front is diner-style with booths and a reader-board menu. The back part is restaurant-style with tables and tablecloths. Due to my reservation we were seated in the back part.

The décor of the entire place is “like a garage sale exploded” as one breakfaster commented. I heartily agree, it was garish to the point where garish doesn’t seem to cover it. It was so colourful one has to mind to not start seizing.

Awesome tasty BBQ pork Filipino goodness.

October 30 2010

Juvian’s Restaurant

417 McPhillips Street

(in the back of the Van Loy Food market)

Hours of operation:

Mon-Sat –   8am - 8pm

Sun –             8am - 6pm

Two-Item Breakfast - $8.99, coffee $1.49 (One-item $5.99)

Juvian’s used to be in the Balmoral Hotel, where we first reviewed them. In the two-and-a-half years since then, they moved into the Day’s Inn beside the McPhillips Street Casino (partnered with Topo Gigio), but since that hotel closed, they moved across the street into the most obscure and hard-to-find location ever – in the very back corner of the Van Loy Food Market. I jokingly told the owner that she loved to move, and she told me they plan on moving yet again, into the McPhillips Street Casino itself. The owner, by the way, was Vivian, the “vian” of “Juvian’s.” She and her husband Jun run the place.

In the current incarnation, Juvian’s is a fast-food joint. They’ve abandoned the pretense of the Anglophone breakfast and are sticking with what’s good and what works. Fine with us, as we found the English breakfast to be quite lacking last time. Their coffee (which was pretty much just brown water) was served in disposable cups, the tablecloths were red and white checkered plastic affairs, the flowers were fake and the fluorescent lighting was headache-inducing. But wait, because the food was great!

There’s a standard list of Filipino breakfast ingredients to choose from. You’ll find this list in every Filipino restaurant in town. We stayed well away from the fish items (posit, tuyo, bangus) as we are white and the concept of fish for breakfast scares us. That doesn’t mean we think it’s wrong, but it’s sure not for us. (What about the Icelanders? Leif) We sampled the tocino (sweet pork) and longanisa (sausage) and embotido (ground pork meat loaf). Yes, we speak Tagalog now. (No we don’t.) Each meat was fantastic. The large portion of tocino we got overshadowed even the hefty helping of rice. And I know I say it every time we go to a Filipino restaurant (Mango Grill), but longanisa should be the Winnipeg standard of sausage. Get rid of the breakfast links and make way for the bright pink pork!

I topped everything off with my favourite Sriracha cock sauce and was in heaven. If only the coffee were any good! We’ll definitely check out their new location when the move again.