Oh, you tease. Go on and taunt me with macarons. See if I don’t return the favour with something equally delectible…

But actually, your post inspired me to look around for a new eatery to discover. We have our faves around here: Japanese Izakaya, Mexican standby, bakery of epic bread proportions. But you know what we lack? Breakfast. Which is fine because we make fricking amazing breakfast at our house, if I do say so myself. But sometimes you just want to go out for breakfast, you know? It’s my favourite meal and favourite meal to eat out. I can never decide between sweet or savoury, and if I do decide, I spend half the meal wondering what the other choice would taste like. DH will tell you (beleagueredly) that I tend to snag a taste off his plate before he’s even had a chance to himself. I am in heaven when I can order a bit of both worlds–say, a stack of apple pancakes and a side of hashbrowns with hollandaise. Okay, I think I just gave myself a food craving right there.

But I digress.

We were out the other day and stopped by a place we’d heard had recently opened up. The previous incarnation in the building had been okay, but we’d heard great things about the new restaurant–and that they did only breakfast and lunch. Sounded good to me. It’s called Jar. I know. It wasn’t at all obvious from the photo above. But I love the wood and glass, the blackboard. It’s clean, unpretentious and bright. They make their own jams. For some reason, that seems really honest to me. The mandarin orange marmalade is amazing.

You know the other thing I love about breakfast out? It’s such an optimistic thing to do. It’s the first meal of the day. Good things happen after breakfast. You feel satisfied, fortified. It’s social, loud and sometimes colourful. You almost never get dirty looks from childless tables when your toddler throws half her meal on the floor/staggers around the room, nearly missing table corners with her forehead. You know why? Because everyone knows kids get up early (stupidly, stupidly early), and where else would you go when you’ve been up since five and just want to eat something and be out of the house? Taking a kid to dinner and having them terrorize innocent people out of procreating is one thing, but who gets a babysitter to go out for breakfast? Well, I’m sure some people do. It would be nice. But there’s something optimistic, no matter the carnage left behind, about taking your kid and your husband out for breakfast. We will eat. We will talk. Yes, we will leave a huge tip for the poor soul who has to mop the floor behind us, but we will have a good time. And whatever we have to do next–errands, chores, a walk in the woods, will be a bit nicer because we have full bellies and smiles on our faces. One of us also ketchup.

[I know that doesn’t look like breakfast. Forgive me. I inhaled the pancakes and hashbrowns with hollandaise so quickly I forgot to get a photo. This is also what happens with a toddler: speed eating becomes the ugly norm. But rest assured the lunch at Jar is also very tasty, as Little e will attest.]

Where is your favourite breakfast place? Or better yet: favourite breakfast place in different countries?

XO

Ria