Eating @ The Grand, Ottawa

And now back to my Canadian post for awhile.  Continuing from the previous Canadian post where I highlighted some sights, let's take a look at our dinner that we had in Ottawa on the first night.  After walking up and down the streets for awhile, we finally made up our mind to dine at The Grand, settling for something Italian.

The Grand's brick building is lovely to look at and does have some grandeur to it.  It was packed and we had to wait a while before we got our table, sitting outside.  We enjoyed the fresh air and cool temperature and I didn't really get a chance to take photos of the interior. When I did go in to go to the washroom, I came across this ...

I just love looking at the photos on the wall ... it evokes a very nice and warm feeling

Of course the complimentary bread basket was brought before us and while the food took quite some time to arrive, we enjoyed the soft bread - dipping it into the balsamic vinegar & olive oil.  We were famished, thanks goodness we had the bread to munch on first.

The Nizzarda Salad (Nicoise?) $13- Arugula with Italian tuna, potatoes, eggs, red onions, tomatoes, green beans, sicilian anchovies, lemon & olive oil.  Every mouthful was delightful!

Fried Calamari, $10 (but of course! It's one of my favourite food) was fried till golden brown and was spot on with the slight batter crunch and calamari that was perfectly cooked.

Now, the pizzas here were truly authentic.  The Grand prides itself in delivering traditional Napoletana pizza done right in a wood burning oven.  Here you have the thin crust Funghi Mushroom $16 - made with cream of mushrooms, mixed local mushrooms, truffle oil, white mozzarella! So flavourful!

The Calvini Pizza, $16 - with sausage and mozzarella was just as good

While the photo of the Linguine Vongole, $17 doesn't do it justice.  The pasta was simply delicious - I couldn't stop eating it.  Generous amount of clams (no shells!), white wine & olive oil and added chilli flakes from me made this pasta dish a real palate pleaser.

Thus dinner was enjoyable ... and after a meal like that, we walked around to enjoy the sights of Ottawa.

To Be Continued....

The Grand Pizzeria & Bar
74 George Street
Ottawa Ontario, K1N 5W1
Tel : (613) 244 9995