Coastal Cravings

Piggybacking off my last post on Yummy BBQ, we have another cheap eats to blog about...  Coastal Cravings, located near the boundary of upper and lower Lonsdale offers up delicious brunch for well under $20.00 per dish.  In fact, most are around $15.00!  Not only are the prices attractive, the portion size is also generous and as mentioned, the food is actually good.  I don't know much about Coastal Cravings, but they did replace the Garage Grill.  Not sure if they have any affiliation with the former Fresh Cravings that was in North Delta.  Whatever the case, Jackie and I sampled their wares on snowy February day.

Although our first dish was nothing really sexy on paper, The Signature Smash Avocado Toast ended up to be more than just avocado and toast.  Sure, it did have those components with fresh creamy avocado and a nicely toasted Savour sourdough bread.  However, there was also 2 perfectly poached eggs on top with sauteed mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and blueberries.  With runny egg yolks, it made the toast much more fulfilling and more than just avocado toast.

Another seemingly simple item was the Sunrise Croissant Sandwich.  Being one of the least expensive items on the menu at $11.99, it was still pretty substantial.  As you can see, they overstuffed the croissant with fresh guacamole, lettuce and perfectly-prepared soft scrambled eggs.  I can tell you that this was really a study in texture with the fluffy eggs and creamy avocado having a great mouth-feel.  The toasted croissant was able to hold things together.

One of the more interesting dishes was the Waygu Omelette for $15.99.  Not sure if I prefer ground wagyu anything (including burgers), but for this omelette, it was okay.  The meat was pretty tender was moist.  However, I really couldn't tell you if it was Wagyu or not (that is why I don't like ground Wagyu).  I mean it did taste beefier, which would be an indication there was more fat.  I did like the addition of mushrooms as it provided some complimentary flavours.

My favourite dish was the Chicken & Waffle where they essentially made it into a quasi-Eggs Benny.   The mini-waffles were thick with a crunchy exterior and soft chewy interior.  On top, we found Thai Fried Chicken and I did notice some spice to it.  The chicken was juicy and the batter was crunchy while not being overly greasy.  On top, we found runny poached eggs with a dollop of Hollandaise on top.  I found the Hollandaise to be creamy with proper seasoning.

So we actually got a Benny for our last dish in the Bacon Eggs Benny served on a classic toasted English muffin.  There was a good amount of crispy and meaty bacon topped with the same runny poached egg.  I liked how the muffin was toasted enough that it wasn't doughy.  Egg yolk was perfectly runny while there was a sufficient amount of Hollandaise.  Hashbrowns were crispy, well-seasoned and fully.  Overall, the food at Coastal Cravings is quite good and well-priced.  A really good combination given the uncertain economic times we are experiencing.  

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:

- Solid eats

- Well-priced

- Good portion size

The Bad:

- Limited staffing, so service can be slow