Chicken with Boursin on baguette at Café D'Amour
Café D'Amour
Address: 685 Osborne Street
Phone Number: 204-415-4995
Neighbourhood: South Osborne
Website: cafedamour.ca
For anyone who works from home, you'll understand this common predicament.
The home office is a blessing and a curse. You make a lot of your own hours and have a lot of freedom, for the most part.
But you may also have a toddler dominating even your designated work hours. Deadlines mean nothing when it's time to play trains or tackle and roughhouse. At some point, when repeated deadlines are blown past, things get desperate.
That's when a great neighbourhood coffee joint or café with free Wi-Fi is essential. So on a recent Tuesday, I fled my office and found exactly what I needed: Café D'Amour. Did I mention the free Wi-Fi?
This petite South Osborne café did the trick. A creamy and kicky latte delivered a much-needed jolt.
Café D'Amour was one of those little places that flew under my radar and then, one day I spotted it while driving by. The café opened in summer 2011 and is the work of Althea Howard and Sharla Lehmann. Turns out, lots of other locals have discovered this place. During my three-hour stay, a steady stream of folks came in, loaded up on espressos and headed out. Howard and Lehmann seemed to know all of them by name or at least by their beverage of choice.
While others came and went, other Café D'Amour regulars tapped and scrolled away on computers, sipping on coffees for hours.
The menu is an eclectic mix of soups, salads, sandwiches and baked goods. Daily specials and some menu items rotate daily so even if you spot something enticing on the menu, it may not be available. My first choice, a bruschetta chicken panini with goat cheese was on hiatus that day. I settled for chicken and Boursin in a warm, crusty baguette that was worthy of a first choice as well.
I hesitate in revealing Café D'Amour's charms because when you find a great spot with yum yum food, a low buzz that doesn't distract, and free, yes free Wi-Fi, you kind of don't want to share it.
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