Brunch at Bistro Le Coq

Last Sunday a crew of us went for brunch at Bistro Le Coq, which serves an elegant brunch with some French flair.

We started out with some perfectly decent Caesars which they call the “uncle buck”. Clamato is blended with pot au feu jus, dijon, horseradish and 1 oz rye ($7). Kind of pricey for one shot, but had a nice lingering spice and a crunchy bean. I was less of a fan of the “phillipe”, a cocktail with pear nectar, elderflower cordial, orange juice, strawberry puree and 1 oz citadelle vodka ($7). This one was too sweet and smooth for me.

The coffee was excellent.

I was excited to try Steak Tartar ($14) for the first time, and split an order with Emily to start out my meal. Oulton’s tenderloin is chopped, seasoned and served with an egg yolk on top. I was actually shocked at how delicious this was, and questioned my whole existence. How have I never had steak tartar before?? The peppery baby arugula and the garlic crisps were quite complimentary.

Meanwhile Tinfoil had the Duck Prosciutto ($10) which came with house pickles and berry compote.

She had this to say about it: “It was good! It all tied together pretty nicely. The pickles were pretty tasty, too”.

Natalie had the Duck Confit Salad ($10) to start, and Emily had it for her main dish. This had roasted hazelnuts, mesclun & baby arugula, blue cheese dressing, and pulled duck confit. Emily enjoyed this salad, although she would have liked more flavour from the dressing. The confit itself was quite nice, and the beets and tomatoes gave it some colour.

I never get to have eggs benedict because everyone else usually orders it and I feel compelled by my blogger’s duty to showcase other menu items. Fortunately today I was the only one who wanted benny, so I got to enjoy the regular Eggs Benedict ($13): “with local ham and truffle hollandaise, duck fat rösti”. I interpreted this as meaning that it came on top of a rösti but this was in fact the side dish. I may not have opted for a salad if I knew I wasn’t going to be doubling down on rösti. But the salad was nice and fresh and I left brunch lighter on my feet.

The ham was a bit dry and the English muffin was maybe a bit too crispy. The Hollandaise was merely a dollop, but a very, very tasty dollop. Some of the best I’ve had this year, in fact. The egg was not runny, as I usually like, but it was still very soft and creamy and for once I actually didn’t miss the running yellow.

MGyver and Julien had the Brunch Burger which was a special that day (not on regular menu). It had maple bacon, smoked gouda, “fancy sauce” and a hard fried egg (because the chef doesn’t like messy burgers. or runny yolks apparently, but you can request it over easy). It came with a side of truffle fries.

MGyver said this was among the best burgers he’s had in Halifax.

We had such a pleasant brunch at Bistro Le Coq, and I’d have to recommend it. Strangely enough, I’d go back just for the steak tartar and the coffee.