Though I’ve never been a huge fan of restaurant chains, I’ve been very addicted to Canada’s 113th Cora’s Breakfast & Lunch at The Shops in Waterloo Town Square.

Located in the heart of Waterloo, Cora’s markets herself as a healthy breakfast place. It offers the typical diner breakfasts with a healthy twist – loads of fruits together with your french toast or pancakes drenched in maple syrup. The exciting variety of fruits and generous serving size is what constantly draws me back to Cora’s. Fruits are delicately carved, which means orders sometimes take a while. However, do not be intimidated by the long line up for weekend brunch, turnover is usually pretty fast and you’ll get seated in no time.

Heaps of fruit!

My favourite is the Buckwheat Blessing. Sausages in buckwheat crepes, topped with cheese. Yumms. However, I think the Crepomelette won in terms of uniqueness – crepes stuffed with omelette!

The cosy atmostphere and booths of the restaurant sets the right mood for a great meal, especially now that the patio is open. Service is prompt and friendly, perhaps a little slow when they get too busy during the prime brunch hours on the weekends. Other than that, everyone’s all smiles like the Cora’s sun. They also feature interesting fruit facts. Did you know that pineapples are berries and strawberries aren’t fruits?!

There’s always freshly made fudge at the cashier so feel free to grab some before leaving.

Instead of see you again, see you tomorrow!

If only Cora’s was open all day instead of only till 4pm, then I’ll start eating breakfast for dinner. After all, they say “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”!

We got in the cars, called ahead to make 10-minute-ahead reservations (none needed), and found the place which arguably has one of the worst street-fronts I’ve ever seen for casual dining, but some of the best Greek food in Kitchener.

Location Location Location?

Not to be a jerk, but this place has a hilarious location. It’s in the basement of an mid-century office “tower”, sharing its space with the YWCA Resource Centre. Inspiring.

Once we took the elevator to the back door (there’s a much more inviting front door actually, as we found out later) and got into the place, my mood and approach to the place changed entirely. It’s great. It’s big, loud, tall, friendly, and accommodates a group of ten or more comfortably. The menu is serious but  not overwhelming, the wine selection is reasonable, and there were many  lunch-sized things that came out in good time. It’s not cheap nor expensive, with many meals available for under $10.

Oh There It Is, Hurray! White Sign, Left.

Greek Coffee and Salad. Oh something else.

With no offense to the kitchen, I regret getting the vegetable moussaka. Everyone else’s meals looked more interesting and from the sound of it, were delicious.  The moussaka was … bland and tasted like they used powder potatoes. The Greek salad was very nice, simple, tasty, and fresh. Easily the toast of the whole meal was the drink. The Greek-style coffee, with very fine grounds still at the bottom and lightly chalky texture, was delicious and got me in the mood for more Greece.

Moussaka, meh, salad, nice, coffee, amazing.

Despite the outer shell, Three Kretans is very much worth a visit, especially with a large lunch group.  On a related note: next time you’re at a Greek place, ask for a glass of retsina to start your meal. It’s wine that tastes like tree sap. Seriously, don’t judge until you try it ;-)