Manx Pub

My friend Karen from Kingston (that's Ontario not Jamaica) was visiting Ottawa for work so we decided to meet up for lunch today.  I chose Manx Pub on Elgin Street.  Manx is a great place but I always forget about it.  If you have never been there for their breakfast/brunch on the weekend you HAVE TO check it out.
Anyway, I'm glad I thought about going there today for a few reasons.  Every time I've been there, the food has been great; its fresh and unique.  It may say 'pub' in the name but this is not your typical greasy fried pub grub.  Karen is not a big meat eater either, and I know there are plenty of non-meat choices.  In fact, one of the worst things about Manx is how to choose!  There are so many things on Manx's menu that I want to try.  I was scanning around the room to see what other people were eating to help me decide.
Another reason to pick Manx is the atmosphere.  This is a real 'Irish' pub complete with copper table tops and a cozy environment.  The servers and bartenders have always been warm and friendly.  Its small, so it was ideal that Karen and I were meeting up later, arriving at Manx close to 1pm when the Ottawa federal government noon lunch crowd was gone.  But there were still enough customers to give the place a nice vibe.

Here is Karen shortly after we arrived.  Although you might think from this picture, that Manx serves GIANT beers, its really just a normal sized pint.  Stupidly, I left my camera at home today and had to use my cell to document our lunch, so not all the pictures are the best, but I think this one of Karen looks really nice.  I promised her if it turned out badly I wouldn't post it!
We ordered our lunch - both off the special board.  Karen chose the rice and bean burrito.  It came with a beautiful salad of fresh veggies and we were both super impressed with the julienned root vegetables (beets, carrots and something yellow - maybe some kind of turnips) were really beautiful.  Karen said that she loved how fresh the salad was.  The rice and bean burrito, which was huge, included sausage and salsa, and Manx's home made hot sauce.  Karen said it was very good.

Again, sorry about the picture.  This really does not do justice to how great her plate looked when it was set down on the table.

I ordered the beef burger with peameal bacon, sauteed onions and smoked cheddar, with garlic mayo, lettuce and tomato.  I chose 'fries' with mine but this really is a misnomer; these are MONSTER potato wedges.  They were crispy on the outside but not at all greasy.  My burger was MASSIVE.  It was served on a kaiser bun and there was no 'excess' bun sticking out beyond the patty.  This was a HUGE lunch but you know, I powered through and ate the whole burger.  I left at least half of my wedgie potatoes though.

My lunch was delicious and I was so happy with my choice.  I was debating between the club house sandwich and a chicken and guacamole wrap, but I think I made the right decision with the ENORMOUS burger.  Unfortunately I had to go back to work after lunch so I didn't get to relax with a beer but that didn't prevent us from totally enjoying our lunch.  Of course, I made Karen wait to dig in until I took the pictures, but she was a great sport about it!

Whenever we get together there is never a lull in the conversation.  It is a wonder we were actually able to eat, we were chatting so much.  Clearly the food was worthwhile!

This is not a petite mustache or burger sauce on my face.  It really is a blot on my cell phone lens!  Really!

As an added bonus for me, Karen treated for lunch (how nice, thank you so much).  From now on, I'll try to remember to keep my camera with me in case spontaneous eating of yummy stuff appears and to avoid future mustaches!
Karen, who is great about exploring the city whenever she is here, was telling me about a new cupcake place downtown and a bakery in the market that I have heard of but never been to.  Stay tuned for a comparison of the new cupcake place with my current favourite, The Flour Shoppe on Bank Street.  We got the cupcakes for my last birthday party at The Flour Shoppe and you can see a picture of one (well me holding one!) on my home page.  I will also be checking out the croissants at the bakery (that Karen insists are a massive, decadent guilty pleasure) at some point in the future, too ... but that means a trip to the Byward Market and I usually don't go there until the weather warms up ... considerably.
I encourage you to check out Manx sometime.  I'm going to try to remember it more often when trying to pick a place to go for something good and different to eat.  But wait, its not just for eating. Manx was a more frequent haunt when I lived just one block away where I spent a few nights pouring booze down my throat there and I'm going to go back for some drinks too.