The Palate

A few weeks ago, my family decided to go out for brunch with my aunt. She suggested we try the Palate, a nice little restaurant downtown Fredericton, on Queen street. We checked it out online and saw that it looked good, and quite affordable, and so we were pretty excited to go. The Palate is a nice little place downtown, conveniently located (although a little harder to park at). On Saturday morning it didn't take very long to be seated for breakfast-although we did see others waiting while we were eating. The staff were also quite friendly. The brunch menu is fairly extensive, with all of the staples plus a few more creative concoctions. For those so inclined, mimosas are also offered at brunch. I chose the traditional eggs benedict, which was also offered with three or four unique variations, including smoked salmon with cream cheese, and a lobster variety. Another good looking option on the menu is called the "Alpine" and includes potatoes, eggs, and cheese. The eggs benny, pictured below, was quite good. The hollandaise sauce was flavourful and the eggs well cooked. I tried a bite of a family member's smoked salmon version, and the smoked salmon was fantastic-definitely what I'll be getting next time. After a good breakfast, we ordered desserts-sticky toffee pudding and chocolate lava cake, to be precise. The desserts definitely stole the show-the sticky toffee pudding was a perfect combination of sweetness and toffee, and the lava cake was a rich and delicious chocolate. The food was delicious, but the service was incredibly slow-probably the longest I've ever waited for food. To be fair, the desserts tasted as though they were just cooked (and with the amount of time it took, they may well have been), but none of the breakfast food we ordered should have taken as long as it did. The restaurant also committed one of my big pet peeves-the menu online is not accurate. To be precise, the prices are several dollars less than what they are in reality, and a few dishes were missing. While the price on the menu is obviously the correct one, it makes the website a much less useful tool when you go in expecting one price, and leave having paid several dollars more per item. Overall, the food was good, and the desserts fantastic. It's a cute little restaurant, and good spot to go if you're downtown Freddy. Just don't go there if you're in any sort of a hurry, and be warned that the prices online are not, as of the time of writing this, accurate.