Jam Cafe (Victoria)

You'd think that since we have our very own location of Jam Cafe in Vancouver, I would stay away from the original store in Victoria right?  Well, no because it is always nice to visit the first Jam Cafe where they built up a reputation for creative brunch items served in enormous portion sizes.  Also, a visit to Victoria wouldn't be complete either.  Luckily for us, we seemed to have hit the sweet spot with our arrival as the lineup lasted only 15 minutes or so.  Once inside, the decor was familiar as well as the menu.

As such, I ordered one of their most popular items (which I didn't have a chance to try in Vancouver) in the Pulled Pork Pancakes.  This lived up to Jam Cafe's reputation arriving as an intimidating portion size.  Not only was there a huge pile of moist pulled pork on top, there was even more sandwiched in between the pancakes (which were fluffy and moist).  A touch sweet and nicely balanced by the pickled slaw, the pulled pork was meaty yet not dry.  I did find the pancakes to be getting a bit soggy due to the amount of pork though.  Cee Cee went for the Chicken and Waffles which were similar to the one in Vancouver, but better.  The chicken was juicy with well-seasoned and crispy batter.  Soft and slightly chewy, the waffles were a good canvas for the creamy and lightly peppery sausage gravy.

Featuring the same meaty and tender pulled pork, The Union was both messy and tasty.  Suffice to say, the sweet and tart flavours melded well the amount of moisture meant the sandwich ate well.  Despite this, the bun stood up to the wet ingredients while not being dense either.  The generous side of matchstick fries were cripsy and light.  Onto another lunch item, the Mac n' Cheese Sandwich was good due to the addition of thick sliced bacon.  It added both crunch and saltiness to an otherwise ho-hum version of mac n' cheese.  It was decently flavourful, but unfortunately dry.  Being that was sandwiched in between bread, that made the sandwich even more dry.

Although the popular Charlie Bowl is something that I avoided in Vancouver, it was ordered by 3 people at our table.  This massive serving consisted of hash browns, biscuit pieces, smoked ham, cheese, country gravy and green onion with 2 eggs on top.  Yes, this was carb-heavy, but was rather tasty at the same time.  This was due to the creamy gravy and impactful ham.  Otherwise, it was quite the filler with all those carbs. Overall, this visit to the Victoria location was as expected (since I've been to the Vancouver one).  It yielded large portions of generally tasty food.

The Good:
- Large portions
- I found it tastier than the Vancouver location
- Great service

The Bad:
- A bit carb heavy on some items
- Lineup