The Coastal: Great Breakfast, Perfect Coffee

The Coastal
2731 Robie Street
Halifax, NS B3K 4P1
(902) 405-4022
www.thecoastal.ca/index.html

My friend and I hit up the Coastal for breakfast on a foggy Tuesday morning. We are both tired when we arrive and ready for some coffee and good food.

Then menu at the coastal is pretty small, though the breakfast offerings take up most of the available chalkboard space found above the counter. The “not breakfast” offerings are on a separate chalkboard and while they look great, they are not our focus today.

I know what I want going in. Having been to the coastal before and had a savory breakfast dish, I was in the mood for some sweet. I order “The Elvis”; a breakfast sandwich made out of banana, peanut butter and bacon served between 2 waffle halves and soaked in maple syrup. I hold the bacon because I don’t want a really heavy breakfast this morning. A word to the veggies: making anything veggie at the coastal takes $2 off the price. Not too shabby. A word to meat-eaters: the bacon would have made this a delicious sweet and salty dish. Next time, I won’t be opting out!

My friend orders “Les Oeufs D’ete”. Two sunny side up eggs are topped with a basil oil and served with a crisp green salad and baguette topped with brie. The server behind the counter asks if sunny side up is ok and my friend says she would prefer over easy.

Ordering at the counter, you are forced to leave the tip before you eat, which I do not like doing. Tips are about the service and food and I would rather have the option to leave it at the table or pay after I have eaten. Oh well, we move to one of the small tables and start to chat and enjoy our coffee.

The food arrives quickly and I dig in. The flavour combo of my waffle is great. Peanut butter, bananas and maple syrup work well together. However, the waffle is a bit cold and not crisp on the outside (it seems to have the “heated in a microwave” texture about it) and it is a little dry (I go to the counter and get more syrup the make up for this). Overall it is a great dish that needs a little more love to make it amazing. The coffee, on the other hand, is perfect. Smooth, perfectly brewed and fresh, I kept wishing for the server to come and ask me if I wanted a refill (my answer would have been yes!).

My friend enjoys her meal but to our dismay, the eggs are done sunny side up rather than the requested over easy. She says she doesn’t mind because they are not as slimy as some of the sunny side up eggs she has seen. She raves about the bread and brie and is sad to realize she ate all the bread first and didn’t have any to dip in her eggs. She find the basil sauce a surprisingly delicious accompaniment to the eggs.

The coastal is a great place to eat and has some of the best breakfast in the city. The way it works is a little cumbersome. You order at a counter but the food is brought over to you. It then makes it hard to know if the server will be back to check on you or if you are expected to fend for yourself. The food makes up for that, though. Fresh, full of flavour and very filling, the food is worth the trip every time!


A note about these reviews: I plan on taking pictures of the restaurant and food in future posts. For now you will have to use your imagination! L