Ottawa, situated in the eastern part of southern Ontario, is the capital city of Canada. It lies at the confluence of the Ottawa, Rideau, and Gatineau rivers and forms the core of the National Capital Region (NCR), which also includes the city of Gatineau, Quebec, just across the Ottawa River. This unique geographical position makes Ottawa a bilingual city, with both English and French widely spoken.

Upon arriving into Ottawa (5 hours driving from Toronto) I went straight to Taara Indian Restaurant for lunch a great eatery that specializes in Indian cuisine, had a Mango Lassi along with their sizzling Chicken Tikka as well as the steamed Momos, and the Paneer Tikka. Taara Indian Restaurant is located at 727 Churchill Ave N in Ottawa, you can follow them on Instagram @taara.ottawa 

Happy Goat Coffee is located at 35 Laurel St in Ottawa, a popular cafe and specialty coffee roaster that has a few locations around the city, they also wholesale their coffee beans to other cafes across the country including Chai Coffee Company in Surrey, BC where I first tried their coffee .While in their Ottawa cafe I had a Cortado. You can also find them on instagram @happygoatcoffee

Restaurant Antonyme is located over the bridge in Gatineau, Quebec and about a 20 minute drive from the Ottawa Marriott Hotel where I was staying. I was solo that night and it was a nice drive outside of Ottawa to dine at the quaint house where I had a tasty Roasted Zucchini salad along with the Pan Fried Arctic Char with gnocchi. You can find them on instagram @restaurantantonyme 

In the morning before leaving Ottawa, I headed over to Little Victories Cafe and enjoyed a Magic (their version of a cortado) in the hip Glebe neighbourhood, they are a speciality coffee roaster with a couple of cafes around the city. You can find them on instagram @littlevictoriescoffee 

There are many more great restaurants and cafes and I look forward to discover more on future visits.

By: Richard Wolak