Cafe Bonjour

*Restaurant is now closed*

Here I am heading to Portland once again for the third year in a row. Something about the place that entices us to make the 6 hour drive down. Could it be the clean greenness of the place? Big city, small town feel? Tasty food? Believe it or not, not the main reason. It's the shopping! The Woodburn Outlets + no tax = score! On our way to Portland, we had planned to stop at 5 Spot for some brunch. However, much like many popular restaurants, there was a huge ass lineup. With 2 hungry kids in tow, we were not about to wait any longer for food and a washroom break. We were already lucky that we made it this far without a "are we there yet?" We were not about to push our luck. As we were pulling away from the lineup at 5 Spot, I noticed a small little restaurant across the street named Cafe Bonjour.

This small unassuming bistro cannot seat more than 22 people, taking into account outdoor seating. With the amount of staff available, it wouldn't be a good idea for more than that amount of customers either. With that being said, we got warm service with a smile despite the sparseness of it all. Not knowing the portion sizes, we err on the side of caution and only ordered 2 breakfasts for the 4 of us. Trust me, the kids don't eat much and we really didn't want leftovers. Viv went for the Breakfast in Paris which consisted of a large crepe stuff with scrambled eggs, spinach & cheddar cheese with a side of Nutella toast. All breakfasts are accompanied by Bacon-Herbed Potatoes. She enjoyed the crepe and there was plenty of ingredients inside. The Nutella toast was more like crisp bread topped with an obscene amount of spread, caramel sauce and powdered sugar. But my son loved it, so it was good in that respect.

For myself, I ordered their largest offering in the Meatlover's Brekfast. It came with 2 sausages, 2 bacon strips, a big slice of ham atop the same spinach, egg and cheddar stuffed crepe. In addition to the bacon-herbed potatoes, country gravy was served on the side as well. I loved the bacon strips, they were cooked perfectly crispy and weren't too fatty. I found the sausages to be pretty standard. As for the ham, it was alright, a bit too thin for my tastes. I did like the potatoes, very starchy and a nice flavour from the bacon. As for the crepe, much like Viv's, the eggs were fluffy with a good amount of cheese and spinach. The crepe itself was not exactly thin; yet it was soft enough.

A pretty good random find in my books. It was a whole lot less crazy than 5 Spot. We enjoyed our breakfast in peaceful serenity and didn't have to spend a fortune. The Queen Anne neighbourhood is filled with pricey places to eat; but Cafe Bonjour serves up good portions for a reasonable price. The fact that the food was decent is an added bonus.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Good portions
- Quaint little place

The Bad:
- Friendly albeit sparse service
- Really small place with small tables