Hidden away in Denman Street between Delaney’s Coffee Shop and Fatburger is Acacia Fillo Bar. I’ve walked by here a million times not knowing the hidden gem that was right beneath my eyes.
Opened in 2005 by Vera and Ziggy, Vera is bringing traditional Bulgarian baking and comes from a family in the restaurant business and she a owned a successful restaurant and catering company in her home country before coming to Canada.
The service here is warm and friendly, the staff are ready to answer any questions you might have, it’s a comfortable, relaxing place to enjoy breakfast and read the paper with your coffee and a lot of the locals seem to believe that we well-it was constantly busy on both of my visits and pretty much everyone I saw eat the compliment the chef of how good everything was and I totally agree with them!
The signature dish here is the Banitza, it’s like a layered phyllo pie but the layers are end to end instead of on top of each other~it’s totally delicious and a must try for your 1st visit.
This is the spinach and feta banitza, all of the banitza’s have eggs in them but you state the other fillings more than the egg, the feta used here is from Bulgaria and all the phyllo here is made from scratch, what really got me was this~from a photographers point of view
the individual compartments of flavor and layers of phyllo and how they translate in a picture~OK now back to the food!, I loved this dish!
It was served with a small spinach salad with balsamic dressing and a side of plain yogurt with pepper~both the salad dressing and yoghurt help cut the richness of the banitza, for $8.50 it was a great meal and a solid value.
Next up is the leek, feta and egg banitza, just like the spinach but leek this time, the flavor on this one was more savory because of the leek and the feta stood out more on this one as well~again another delicious dish and the same price as the spinach and feta banitza.
Lastly I tried something else on the menu~a filled Phyllo, this one was mushrooms and spinach
This was made fresh because they were out at the time, the filling was simple~just spinach and sautéed mushrooms, it was ok but I enjoyed the other items I had more, there were also 2 different sides with this main
a simple salad like with my other meals
and roasted potatoes and yams, these I really liked, the yams were nicely seasoned and so were the potatoes. This meal was a bit more than what I had before-$16 and change including a can of pop.
At the end of the day I enjoyed my visits here and am definitely going to make it a regular breakfast spot, if you find yourself in the area and want to try something a little different check Acacia Fillo Bar out, they are also open for dinner and have a selection desserts made in-house as well as catering services available.
For as long as I can remember the Ukrainian Village restaurant has been serving up great Eastern European classics in the West End. from the minute you walk in the door it’s like you’ve stepped into someone’s cozy house for some good home cooking.
It’s a family run business that is open Monday-Sunday (they open at 5PM on Mondays) for lunch and dinner. The menu is varied with classics like schnitzel, homemade perogies and delicious soups your sure to find something that satisfy your hunger.
The Ukrainian Dinner $19.95, two cabbage rolls, six perogies, Ukrainian sausage, vinegar dressed coleslaw, pickled beets and NUCLEAR hot mustard.
The Ukrainian sausage is pretty standard, I don’t think it’s made in house but who cares-it’s darn good and a quality product.
On the menu this is listed just as vegetables but it’s more like a coleslaw that’s seasoned nicely with some herbs and a vinegar type dressing, the beets are really good and that mustard is damn hot so beware-I don’t even touch it and have learned my lesson.
You get six perogies and they have 3 different kinds-potato and fried onion,homemade sauerkraut and cheddar with potato. I usually get an assorted mix but my favorite is the sauerkraut-it’s not like that stinky stuff from the jar, it’s more sweet than sour.
Finally you get two cabbage rolls, they also offer a vegetarian version but I went with the meat. They make good cabbage rolls here and there HUGE and not just a bunch of rice and filler
there’s a great mix of onion and beef and the sauce on top is nice with a sweet/sour taste.
