My rating is 4.5 stars.
My dear friend and I wanted to meet before Christmas to catch up and exchange gifts. I had a bit of time between trips to the States. We decided to meet on a Friday after we were both done work.
I made a bunch of suggestions. My first one was this Copper Branch in Bowmanville, which is our midpoint between Peterborough and Markham. She is vegan. We are both huge fans of Copper Branch. We were both game.
I needed to pick up a package from the post office before heading to Bowmanville. With the Christmas craziness at my local post office, the wait was long. By the time I was done, I needed to take highway 401 to get to Bowmanville. I was late by five minutes, which is uncharacteristic of me. I also prefer using backroads heading eastbound. It was not meant to be on this evening.
Luckily, my friend is understanding. She got there early and got a table for us.
There is plenty of parking in this huge plaza. Copper Branch is across from Planet Fitness. I parked and walked in.
This Copper Branch is the largest one that I have ever set foot in. It's spacious and cheerful. I found my friend and sat down.
We caught up with our lives since we last got together in over 2.5 hours. We stayed until closing time.
At Copper Branch, we are used to ordering at the counter and getting our food served. This eatery works a bit differently. It's full table service. We got menus. Everything we ordered got served to us. Nice!
My friend and I are so similar. Without even consulting each other beforehand, we got the same things:
- Poutine
- Nachos
I deviated by getting a peppermint hot chocolate. She got water.
My hot chocolate came out first. It was foamy at the top and creamy. The peppermint was cheerful, but not as strong as I had hoped. Still, it was yummy and I'd get it again.
We both haven't dined at Copper Branch since we ate at the now-closed Whitby location. She craved coming here because her local one in Peterborough had closed, too.
The poutine was larger than we had both remembered it to be. It was comforting and yummy. I wish that the cheese melted a bit better, but it's a hit-or-miss thing with vegan cheese.
I have never had their nachos served in a bowl before. In the past, it would be on a lined cookie sheet. I liked the old method better. Having nachos served in the bowl made a lot of chips soggy with the salsa over them at the bottom. The chips weren't crunchy. They were still delicious, but they need to be on a flat surface, and not as if you're having chili with nacho chips to scoop it out.
We paid at the counter. My friend got some dessert for her boyfriend, who has quite the sweet tooth. We both got pumpkin pie slices. I had it the following day. It was yummy. I particularly loved the amount of nutmeg used it in.
I paid using a credit card. It was a seamless transaction. It does get a bit expensive eating here. My food was just shy of $40 with taxes and a tip.
We both used the washroom on separate occasions during our dining experience. Each one is a single stall. The one that I was in was clean and stocked well.
I love this place. There are some minor improvements needed with the nachos, but the quality is there.
The table full of vegan cookbooks was a lovely touch. You can also get Very Good Butcher products here, too.
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