Bubby's Kitchen

Address: 355 Cook St.
Phone: (250) 590-8915
Website: http://www.bubbyskitchen.ca/
Price: less than $10 for most dishes
Notes: Table service, stellar prices and great baked goodies

Bubby's Kitchen is one of the new kids on the Cook Street block serving of reasonably-priced comfort food to the masses. It is the same owners as the Bubby Roses Bakery, and features the same coffees and baked goods, but with the addition of a full menu and expanded seating in a new location.

I really liked the feel of the space - beautiful art, the perfect balance between casual and modern decor. I did notice that the layout is a bit confusing on the first visit, but they seem to have made some signage to help sort out where to go and how you should flow depending on your visit. Although it is a restaurant, it does have the feel of a cafe or coffee shop (it reminds me a lot of Willie's Bakery). For the record: full table service if you are eating in is the way to go.

While the lunch and brunch menus are more classy diner food, the dinner menu has two tiers: the $10 price point for 'sandwichy things with a side' and then the slightly more expensive but still crazy reasonable 'protein + veggie plated all fancy' section. We saw a few of these float past us, and they were quite nice looking. Add a few local beers on tap and a wine selection and Bubby's is turning into quite the full dining experience.

Food:
July 15, 2012

Cheeseburger with Fries

I recently saw this had taken over as the Victoria Burger Blog's "best burger" so I had to try it. I'm wishing I made some notes, because it has been such a long time between the eating and the posting that my memory is starting to fade. I remember that it was good, the texture was spot on and the burger patty was nice - not the best ever, but pretty good. Definitely homemade, but the seasoning wasn't really my cup of tea which may not be static. Toppings were good - maybe a little thinner slice on the tomato or just one slice (such a fussy thing, but I ended up taking one of them out because it was interfering with the eating!). Burgers are a hard thing to make consistently - I've raved about burgers at other restaurants and gone back and not had as good of an experience. (I suspect it has a lot to do with who's in the kitchen that day...)

Hot Dog with Soup

Someone recommended the Bubby's Kitchen hot dog as one of the best in town. I reported this back to my partner-in-food-and-life and he was duly impressed. The hot dog was good quality, although the bun-to-hotdog ratio as a little bit more than optimal. I had a bite and quite liked the relish topping. When my p.i.f.a.l. inquired about the soups, they checked and said this non-dairy soup had just come up as an option. When it arrived it wasn't super warm, but it was tasty. I would try another soup there... especially in the fall when soup is kind of a staple (or you know, summer because Victoria's just kind of like that this year!). 

Day-old Cinnamon Bun

So I recently tweeted about (but have neglected to post about because I am lazy) the most amazing cinnamon bun of my life (Patisserie Daniel's at 2% Jazz). Low and behold, Bubby's started tweeting about the fact that they have the best cinnamon buns (which I haven't tried before, and there is a rant involved in the reason why & really, it's not about Bubby's Kitchen as much as it is about the original Bubby's so I'll save it for when/if I post about that location). Anyhow, we were kind of craving something sweet as is our wont these days so we asked if they had one. Sadly, there were only day-olds left but they offered to heat it up and slather it in icing which sounded pretty agreeable. It's hard to compare day old to fresh, but it was definitely up there!

[side note]I have this vision of one day organizing some kind of charity 'food off' with local restaurants putting their version of something up against each other (think: top chef-style audience participation voting). it will probably be organized 'as' a tastebud guides thing but perhaps a cinnabonoff would be a fun one...[/side note]


November 16, 2011

OMG Grilled Cheese via foodspotting.com

The first thing that I noticed about this sandwich was how freaking cheap it was (I actually make them double check my bill to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything)! I think (and it's not on the menu on their website so I cannot corroborate) that it was $7 including a side. This was welcomed, as I really shouldn't have been eating out anyhow but it was a moment of weakness. The sandwich itself was not quite what I was craving, but it was good. The pesto really stood out as a flavour - which I think is what made it not grilled-cheesy for me, but it was good and the tomato added a nice texture and acidity. The bread was quite good which I never say about whole wheat bread so that's a huge compliment! I opted for the truffled fries which I was really surprised to see on the menu in such a casual environment because I associate them with much more fancy places. They only cost $1 extra and were quite delicious.


Service:
July 15, 2012
Very attentive service, lots of checking in and following up on things promptly. Also extremely perky. Details are fuzzy because I was lazy in updating, but I remember I was impressed.


November 16, 2011
It has become a running joke between my partner-in-food-and-life and I that I constantly worry about being recognized as a food blogger [this is mostly because I think too much, but also that I am attracted to anonymity for many reasons some of which I have explained here]. But this time I swear that I was! Sadly, I was dining alone so there was no one to corroborate or dispute my paranoia. Anyhow, the service was very attentive and helpful either way and I am sure that the owners would be shocked an appalled at the implication that any guest in their establishment would possible be treated otherwise.