La Banquise

I heard about La Banquise a few years ago. I'll guess and say 2-3 years. It's basically what people in Montreal call the best poutine in town. I don't really know about that. I love poutine and it's the ultimate comfort food for me. I usually like the poutine at La Belle Province, specifically the one on Peel st.


La Banquise is a 24hr place that you can go for the classic poutine or special poutine. Sounds great doesn't it? So as I was saying, when I first heard about it, I wanted to go. But it was a bit out of the way and when I meet friends for dinner, poutine is not always our first choice. La Banquise is noisy and more of a fast food joint. People don't really stay and talk for 2 hours after the meal.


When my friend Christina was visiting from TO, I saw this as an opportunity to go. I mean, we gotta show outsiders what real poutine is. :)

For my first Banquise experience, I decided to try one of their special poutines. I chose the B.O.M. poutine. It's the classic poutine with bacon, sautéed onions, and mergues sausage. It was delicious! Christina has the Matty Poutine; classic poutine with bacon, peppers, mushrooms and sauteed onions. Rachelle had the Poutine Chouxxx; classic poutine with coleslaw. We were all pretty satisfied with our choices.

They also have burgers and stuff like that, but we didn't pay any attention to them. The poutines come in 2 sizes. We all ordered the small size and it was a pretty good sized plate. We saw some people with the large size and it's a giant bowl. Potato coma! I'd definitely go again if i'm in the area, but wouldn't make a special trip there. I'm equally satisfied with greasy Belle Province poutine near my work.

La Banquise / 994 Rachel East, corner of Lafontaine Park in Montreal / 514.525.2415

http://www.restolabanquise.com/

PhayaThai

Top Left (clockwise): Tom Ka Het and vegetable Tom Yum soup, Thai Green Curry with Vegetables and sticky rice, close up of whole fried fish in spicy sauce,
Whole fried fish in spicy sauce with sticky rice

A friday night with my girl Rachelle (Kev calls her my second BF), we signed up for a French macarons class at Europea and then a fabulous dinner at Phayathai. I haven't been to this restaurant in years, and to be honest, I don't have a clue why. It is quite possibly the best Thai food I have had in Montreal. This little restaurant is tucked away on a big street in downtown, corner Ste-Catherine and Guy. You can easily walk past it on your way to Bar-B-Barns.

Rachelle and I were famished by the time we got there. We were both weat from the drizzling rain and huffing and puffing because we were 15 minutes late for our reservation. It's a small restaurant, but seems well known online. Online reviews recommended reservation. Everything looked fantastic and we wished we had 5 stomachs.

R and I love Thai food, but we often settle for fast food Thai. I can't remember when was the last time I went to a Thai restaurant. We started our dinner with some appetizers, which we devoured before we remembered to take a picture. I ordered the mango salad ($7.75) and R ordered the fried tofu with peanut sauce ($3.75). Both were good, but I think what I wanted was the papaya salad. Mango salad was spicy and big enough to share between 2-3 people. We couldn't resist ordering soups since we were cold from the rain. R ordered the vegetable tom yum soup ($3.50), which was packed with tons of veggies. I wanted a soup with coconut in it, but didn't want to pay $7 for a seafood or chicken soup, so I ordered the Tom Kha Het, which is with mushrooms...a lot of them. For the main course, Rachelle ordered the thai green curry with vegetables ($10.95) and I had the whole fried fish in spicy sauce ($16.50), quite possibly the most expensive dish on their menu, but it was worth every penny. I remembered having this dish with my friends one time and loved it. The fish dish was big too. There are about 8 pieces of fish on the plate. It also wasn't as spicy as I thought it was going to be. We both asked for the sticky rice, which was great with out main dish.

We left there with a full stomach and very happy.

The restaurant is a great place for a romantic dinner. It's quiet and dim. However, if there's a big table of rowdy customers, then it might not be as quiet. I also would not recommend this place if you are in a rush. The service is good, but chill. And you really can't rush such yummy food. You have to enjoy and savour.

**************

Top left (clock wise): Fried fish cakes, Sweet & sour fried fish, Papaya salad, Fried fish in 3 flavor.

Rachelle and I went back a week later with a friend for lunch time. They had a lunch menu, but I found it to be a little boring. They didn't have the sticky rice for lunch time, which was a disappointment. To start, I finally ordered the papaya salad ($6.75) I wanted and it was so spicy and delicious! Rachelle ordered fried fish cakes ($7.50). Karenne ordered from the lunch menu and quickly regretted it. She ordered a stir fry chicken...quite regular, and I bet she felt cheated. I ordered whole fried fish in 3 flavors ($16.50). I don't know what the 3 flavors are, but it was good. It was a bit milder than the spicy sauce version, but still good. Rachelle also indulged and ordered the sweet & sour whole fried fish ($16.50), which she liked better than my fish, but I disagree.

Since we had to get back to work and were already taking a longer lunch, we ended up having to eat fast. It was an expensive lunch, but it was very good. However, I think i'll stick to going to Phayathai in the evenings.

PhayaThai/ 1235 Guy (corner St-Catherine)/ 514.933.9949

Méchant Boeuf

Clockwise: Grilled Salmon with Pesto and Grilled Vegetables, Tatare Trio (Beef, Tuna, Salmon), Peacan Pie, Méchant Burger with Fries.

Between Jan 15-31 2009, Montreal had their 2nd Annual Happening Gourmand event. This is a great opportunity to try out restaurants. Eight restaurants in the Old Port would have a 3 course meal at a discounted fixed price. For example, at Restaurant Vieux-Port (yummy steak place), I had garlic snails, filet mignon medallions, and crème brulée for $22. I kept forgetting my camera. Fortunetly, Rachelle brought her camera when we went to Méchant Boeuf. I was expecially excited to try Méchant Boeuf because of their famous Méchant Burger. They call it the best burger in the city.

Before I start talking about the food, I'd like to mention the frustration Rachelle and I went through to make a reservation at this place. They have an incredibly frustrating system. For starters, I have to mention that this restaurant does not open during lunch time. It opens at 5pm every day. When I called the restaurant during my lunch hour at work, I was greeted by their voice messaging system. It advised me that they normally take reservations through the system, with the exception of the Happening Gourmand event. In this case, they told callers to call back at 2pm. So at 2pm, I called...It either gave me a busy signal or the voice messaging system would pick up...I called on and off until 3pm. At one point, I was looking on their website and they had a different number. So I tried calling it and someone picked up. I soon realized that I was talking to the front desk of hotel Nelligan, which is connected to Méchant Boeuf. She kept transferring my call back to the voice messaging system. After my third time calling, I asked the woman at hotel Nelligan what the deal was. And she told me that the restaurant only opens at 5pm, but that normally someone is there starting at 3pm. Apparently not that day. So I got Rachelle to call after 5pm.

She called after 5pm and she didn't have any luck either, so she left our reservation with the front desk of hotel Nelligan. Someone at Méchant Boeuf finally called Rachelle back to confirm the reservation, only to call back the next day to say they had 3 services at night and that our 6pm reservation would have to be moved to 5:45pm. We finally arrived at 6:15.

At least when we got there, we were seated right away. The waiters there are hubba-hubba! lol after a long week, Rachelle and I decided to reward ourselves with an extra apetizer. The tartare trio look good on the menu, and even better in our mouth. Rachelle knows my weakness with tartare. We started out 3 course meal with the onion soup. It was very good, but the smell of the cheese attack us when it got to our table. For the main course, Rachelle had the salmon (the only thing she could have, she doesn't eat meat, but she chose this restaurant). She told me the salmon was good, but I think she prefers it extra well-done...blech. I order the mechant burger and I have to admit that it was one of the best burgers I have ever had...and i'm not a big burger fan. The meat pattie was huge, thick, and juicy. I would definitely recommend it. However, the fries were a disappointment. They are what Rachelle and I call "La Belle Province fries". The pecan pie was mediocre. I guess I'm not a huge fan of pecan pie afterall. The service was pretty good. The waiters were attentive, but we did have to ask for a water refill.

In general, a good place to eat. I will most probably be going back for the burger, since Kevin wants to try it out now. But I don't think i'll be going back regularly, especially if I have so much trouble making a reservation.

Méchant Boeuf/ 124 St-Paul West/ 514.788.4020
http://mechantboeuf.com/

Ma Po Tofu

I think the very first time I had Ma Po Tofu was at my aunts. Back then, I absolutely loved eating anything spicy. I've probably had Ma Po Tofu about a handful of times, but have never made it. I don't recall my mom ever making this dish either.

A few weeks ago, Rachelle and I were in Chinatown. I hardly ever go there, so when I do, I sually make a trip to the oriental market and buy a few things. I was walking through the aisle with the pre-packaged sauces...sort of like Hamburger helper, but Asian. I picked up a little packet of Ma Po Tofu sauce and all I had to add was ground pork and tofu. The sauce I used was from Lee Kum Kee, a well known brand in Asian products.

Kev was curious about this. He said he had never heard of this dish before. White I boiled my tofu, I added some minced garlic when I cooked the pork. Then I added some chopped green onions, and the sauce. The sauce was rather bland and not spicy. I attempted to make it better by adding soy sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, salt, and pepper...It wasn't great, but edible. Perhaps next time I will make my own Ma Po Tofu from scratch. In the meantime, if you're looking for a Ma Po Tofu recipe, my friend Judyfoodie made her own a few months ago.

Le Boeuf Gourmand

For our two-year anniversary as a couple, Kev and I wanted to eat out, but didn't know where to go. Our original plan was to eat somewhere in the old port and then rent a horse drawn carriage for a tour. That didn't end up happening, because by then, Montreal had its first snow fall with freezing rain. Since Kevin would be out bowlingwith his co-workers for their x'mas party, he asked me to look for a restaurant near the plateau. So I did. I found this French bistro that looked affordable and had pretty good reviews, but the earlier reviews were horrible. We figured that maybe they changed chefs or something because all the new reviews were great. Their specialty is the Steak-Frites. The Steak-frites is served with either soup or a fresh salad for $18.90. The steak is thinly sliced. The feature that stands out most about Le Boeuf Gourmand's steak frite is the revolutionary top secret sauce they use. They claim it is made with 18 ingredients.


Quickly after ordering, a hot tray was put on our table. I had read reviews, so I knew what it was for. They don't put your entire 8oz of steak on your plate. Only half is on the plate and the other half is on a plate placed on the hot tray, where a candle is supposed to keep the rest of your steak warm (it didn't).



We started the dinner off with the soup. Our choices were the Citrus Carrot soup or their cream of vegetable soup. She highly recommended the Citrus Carrot soup and told us that it was so popular that they had to make it all the time. So we took that...I quickly remembered that I'm not a big fan of citrus in my food. I can do citrus juice, just not in my food. Kevin did not seem to mind it. The steak-frites arrived warm, but not piping hot, which I couldn't quite understand, because we were the only table in the entire restaurant. The secret sauce was good, but is mainly butter. The hot tray failed to keep the rest of our steak from getting cold and the sauce congealed. The fries were okay, not the best i've had. But they were salty and satisfying. We decided to skip the dessert because I had bought some pastries to eat at home, which we didn't.


The bistro was too brightly lit. Kevin said he didn't think it was a very romantic place, and he is right. If they had dimmed the lights, we might have been able to stomach the utter cheesiness of the decor. The entire time we were there, we were the only customers.


It wasn't so bad, i've probably had much worse dinners in my life, however, I might not repeat this place. It was a bit of a disappointment for such an occasion.


Le Boeuf Gourmand/ 3666 St-Denis corner Cherrier/ 514.849.8910

Tatami

I discovered Tatami through Kevin's aunts around this time last year. We had a Capricorn birthday dinner there. Since Kanda became a popular sushi eatery in Montreal, I haven't been to many à la carte sushi restaurants. But since discovering this place, it's the only à la carte sushi place i've been to in 2008. The selling point is the ambiance. The tables are aquariums. You can see different tropical fishes, sea horses, and shrimps while you eat their fishy friends.

But the most impressive thing about this place is the presentation of their food. Every plate is garnished with flowers, herbs, and fruit...it's like a garden. One time, they hid the wasabi inside an apple. I believe pictures speak for themselves. And yes, they do taste as good as they look.

My favorite is the salmon tartare. I have it every time i'm there. On our last visit, Kev and I shared the handroll special (the actual menu name escapes me). 4 handrolls (chef's choice) for $20. The very first time we came here with kevin's aunts, some of them had the steak teriyaki. Instead of steak strip stir fried in the teriyaki sauce, they served you a big huge steak. Since that time, Kevin has been wanting to try that plate, but every time we go, the steak is not available. Perhaps next time we make a reservation, we will special order it. My sister had the chicken teriyaki. She's a picky eater and she likes to try the chicken teriyaki at different places. She liked this one. Although, I think I heard her rave more about the teriyaki at Zenya. The service is always good there. However, every time i've gone, it's very quiet. I fear that the lack of customers will make this little gem suffer.

This is a place I would definitely recommend. The prices are reasonable for a restaurant in the Old Port and for the quality. It's a quiet and romantic place for intimate dinners. Although, i'd definitely recommend a new music selection. The music is not bad, it just never changes. I can imagine how crazy it makes the staff.

Tatami Sushi Bar Restaurant / 140 rue Notre-Dame Ouest / 514.845.5864

Massage therapist tried to steal my soul

In late November, Rachelle told me she was booking 2 massages a week until Dec 31. She exclaimed that our insurance company takes a lot of our money, why shouldn't we get something back. Our policy allows us a maximum of $500 worth of massage treatments in one calendar year. Since I had already paid my deductible for massages, I forgot I could still continue claiming until i reached my $500. So I began my massage-a-thon.

In our building, there's a spa, EQlib. The one-hour massage was $80 + tax and tip. This is not my first massage, i've had a few, but this would be my first time at EQlib. I was quite disappointed. I had booked my appointment for after work. My massage therapist asked me a couple of health questions. Then she left the room to let me get undressed and settle under the soft blanket on the massage table. While undressing their system was playing these oldies music, not really the new age stuff or nature sounds I normally hear at a spa. No matter. It was pretty soft, so I knew i'd be able to relax anyway. Lights were dimmed and it was a pretty nice setting, even though the room seemed a bit small. I figured that my surrounding wouldn't matter since i'll be in bliss when she gives me my massage. I was wrong.

When she began the massage, the music stopped playing. Perhaps the CD finished and no one noticed. So the remainder of the massage was done in total silence...no, i'm wrong...not in total silence. My massage therapist is a loud breather. You'd think she was doing Tai chi or something. If the music was on, I think the breathing could have been more bearable. But would the breathing matter if I had an amazing massage? No, of course not. But did I get an amazing massage? No, I did not.

Now, I know I have knots from stress. I mentioned to her that I have recently been a bit stressed, but only wanted a general massage. I didn't have any pains in any specific area. She told me she felt some knots between my shoulder blades. Since it's not my first massage, i know that when a massage therapist finds a knot, they go a little harder on that spot to loosen the muscles. It would hurt, but only for about a few seconds. This is the first time that I had a therapist really rub their thumb into my entire back the whole time. Instead of relieving my stress, I felt more tense. When she asked me if it was ok, I told her that it hurt. She softened for about 20 seconds and continued running her thumb up and down my back, sometimes in a circular motion on the shoulder blade. Since I was getting tense and rigid from the pain, maybe she thought I was very stressed, so she worked even harder to relieve it. Perhaps this is what a deep tissue massage would feel like, but I didn't ask for one.

After 20 minutes of this painful experience, I wanted to turn around and punch her in the face. I was just so angry. So between the annoying breathing and the painful massage, I was ready to scream and tell her to get away from me. I woke up today feeling achy. My shoulder blades hurt. They feel bruised. WTF!

I am now contemplating on writing a letter of complaint to the spa. I'm usually not one to confront people, but for the price they charge for a one-hour massage, you'd expect a good one. I am never going back there for a massage. When she asked me if I wanted to make another appointment the next week, I said "no, not at the moment"...really, i'm not into masochism.

Noodle Factory restaurant

For Kev's birthday, his friend Derrick called him up to go have dinner. At first, Kev suggested Vietnamese Pho. But then I remembered the noodle place my cousin introduced me to about 2 months ago. However, when I went with her, we only ordered dumplings.

The restaurant is in a very convenient location (corner De la Gauchetiere and St-Urbain). It is also very small. It can sit about 30 people only. Most of the customers were non-Asians. Noodle Factory boosts their freshly made noodles and dumplings. You can actually see them making the dough and turning them into floury noodle goodness. And if you didn't notice the cooks making the noodles, no worries, the waiter will come by your table and exclaim "spectacle! spectacle!" to catch your attention. Service is friendly and quick.

The menu is not very big. You have different choices of dumplings (fried, steamed, boiled) and noodles (fried or in a soup). In the entire menu, you can only see pork as the meat. But on the restaurant wall there are small sheets in Chinese characters with prices on them. I recognized the symbol for beef. I assume this is the secret Chinese menu. You can't read it, you can't eat it. Unfortunetly for us, we didn't notice the secret menu until after our food arrived at our table. Kev and I can't read Chinese, but Derrick can.

We all ordered the same thing..."Soup noodle with spicy vegetables and pork". Sounds simple. I need to clarify this "spicy vegetable"...it is not stir-fried veggies in spicy sauce. If you're hoping for the I-can't-feel-my-lips kind of spicy, you will be disappointed. I believe the translation for this was bad. The "spicy vegetables" it is referring to is what we call Tza Choy (sp?), better known as Szechuan pickled veggies (chopped turnip, minced cabbage...). It is a little bit salty, but because it is mixed in with soup, it is not as flavourful as it would be if you mixed it in rice. I love that stuff, but it is misleading to call it spicy vegetables. This pickled mixture is then stirfried with tiny strips of pork and then slid into your noodles and broth. The fresh noodles were delicious. They just melt in your mouth and super slippery.

This is Szechuan Pickled Turnip before being cut. Doesn't it look like stool?

When i went with my cousin, we ordered Siu Long Bao (sp?) or Xialongbao in Mandarin or Shanghai Steamed Soup Dumplings in plain English. The only soup dumplings i've had are at dim sum and they are not quite as good as they're supposed to be. Soup Dumplings are traditionally filled with soup and meat (pork). The soup inside is created by placing some meat gelatin inside the dumpling before steaming. The steam heat melts the gelatin into soup. So when you pop that little dumpling in your mouth, you get a burst of yummy soup too. These are traditionally served with vinegar and ginger slivers. On this visit, I ordered it. However, once cooled, it is difficult to take out without having the bottom of the dumpling stay stuck to the bamboo basket and having the soup spill out of the dumpling. So tragic. The dumplings were good!

Shanghai Steamed Soup Dumplings

Derrick was still hungry after the dumplings and soup noodles. Kev and I were ready to unbutton our pants. Derrick ordered Wor Tip (sp?) or Chinese Dumplings. They typically consist of a ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together or by crimping. Chinese Dumplings should not be confused with wonton: Chinese dumplings have a thicker, chewier skin and a flatter, more oblate, double-saucer like shape, and are usually eaten with a soy-vinegar sauce (and/or hot chili sauce); while wontons have thinner skin, are sphere-shaped, and are usually served in broth. My mom makes amazing dumplings. Many times in the past, my brother and I would tell my mom to open a dumpling shop. It never materialized. My mom's boiled dumplings are my favorite, her pan -fried ones are my brother and sister's favorite. I find them to be a little too oily. At Noodle Factory, the dumplings arrive pipping hot. We had to wait a few minutes before eating them. They're not as oily as mom's, but the filling also did nt taste as good as mom's. However, they were pretty decent and I'd order them again.

Chinese Dumplings uncooked.

In the end, the three of us left with a belly full of noodle goodness and it only cost us about $36 (tax and service included). I can't wait to go back and try their secret Chinese menu.

Noodle Factory Restaurant/1018 St-Urbain/ 514-868-9738

Review: PC's Best Ever Meat Lasagna

"Lasagna lovers, we proudly present to you the ultimate upgrade. We've prepared it with paper-thin sheets of delicate egg pasta layered with a generous selection of premium authentic fillings. Our recipe includes beef and Italian-style spicy pork sausage (50% more meat than our regular lasagna), creamy béchamel sauce, roasted garlic sautéed rapini, rustic tomato sauce and six delectable cheeses. One taste will convince you that this irresistibly flavourful masterpiece is indeed the best ever in our line of excellent PC lasagnas."

When we run out of ideas for dinner during the week, we sometimes turn to prepared frozen food, like frozen lasagna. We usually buy the regular PC meat lasagna, but I much prefer the PC seafood lasagna. Over the weekend, we were in the lasagna aisle and Kev said he saw the feature fridge with President's Choice's new lasagna. They call it "Our Best Ever Meat Lasagna" for $14.99. It is slightly heavier than the regular meat lasagna we get for $7.99. The spicy pork sausage, roasted garlic, béchamel sauce really got me. So Kev agreed to give it a try.

On the day Kevin made it, he worked from home because he had a dentist appointment, so it worked out well. He put the lasagna in an hour before I was expected home. So the lasagna was ready by the time i took off my shoes.

At first glance, I could tell that there wasn't a lot of cheese on the top. I'm a cheese fiend. I know there's 6 kinds of cheese, but for $14.99 c'mon...don't be cheap. It's supposed to live up to its name. As I cut into this lasagna, it didn't feel as firm as their regular meat lasagna. Perhaps it was too hot and I should have let it sit on the counter for 10 more minutes. Scooping it into our plates with a spatula proved that the lasagna was not firm. It fell apart. The cheese slid off, sauce pouring out of every side...it was a mess. Still...presentation is nice to have, but the true test is the taste. The mixture of ground beef and ground pork sausage was...a meat mixture. I couldn't really tell what was in it besides that it was some animal meat. I like the mix of tomato sauce with the béchamel. I'm a sucker for creamy sauces. As for the 6 kind of cheeses...it could have been just one, i wouldn't have known the difference.

The lasagna was pretty good, but not good enough to pay almost double what we pay for a regular lasagna. If the only upside is the béchamel, I could easily just buy béchamel or make my own and pour some on the regular lasagna.

Sorry, not really the Best Ever Meat Lasagna, Mr. President. Try again.

Oyster Festival

Last Thursday was the second to last day of the Oyster Festival in Montreal's Old Port, where six fancy shmancy old port restaurants have a promotional menu for the festival. All six restaurant have a 12 Malpèque oyster for $20 special and a special seafood menu along with their regular menu.

Besides sampling a raw oyster at Loblaws the week before, i had never had a full meal of raw oysters. I was a little curious about it. The only oysters i've had were the cooked ones from Chinatown. They are steamed with the fermented black bean sauce that Chinese peeps love so much. Those oysters are also usually ginormous. I don't know what kind of oysters they are, but i love eating them cooked.

What better partner to bring along than my good friend Anh Thu. She'll try anything once and normally at any price. I let Anh filter out which restaurant she wanted to go. She chose AIX Cuisine du Terroir or Suite 701 - Lounge. I went to AIX last winter for their winter promo, so i knew it was a quiet restaurant and that Suite 701 was noisy and loud as it is upstairs from AIX. So I took the liberty of reserving at AIX. We ordered the "Aixperience" plate; 12 oysters (3 kinds of oysters that I don't remember), 2 Princess scallop ceviche, 6 shrimps, an oyster shooter, and a small lobster tail for $60. Forgive us for not having a picture to show, we were so anxious to try our oysters that we forgot.

Our inexperienced palates could not differentiate the 3 different kinds of oysters. I was also quite disappointed that they were not the big mama oyster we usually have in Chinatown. They were small. We knew we'd still be hungry after the meal. The oysters came with two kinds of sauce: horseradish (blech), and a red wine vinaigrette with french shallots, pepper, Tabasco, and lemon, which was quite nice. Anh Thu preferred using a lot of lemon juice and some Tabasco. The scallops, shrimp, and lobster were you know...ok...nothing to write home about. We're not quite sure what was in the shooter but it had an oyster at the bottom, some kind of alcohol (vodka?) and possibly Tabasco. Not being an alcohol drinker, i'm not quite sure what to think of it. In general, an okay plate. We finished off our meal with the Trio Crème Brulée for $9, my favorite dessert. The trio came with one vanilla, one chocolate, and one Earl Grey tea crème brulée. Anh liked the Earl Grey one, it was quite unique. I much preferred the regular vanilla, why mess with a good thing? Although, good, they missed on a crucial element of a crème brulée, the burned topping. It was b...a...r...e...l...y burned. However, I guess for the portion and price, it was pretty nice.

After our dinner, we felt we could have another meal. So we drove to Restaurant Holders. We once had dinner there together. The Salmon Tartare ($18) is very good. When we got there, they turned us down. The place was packed! So we settled for Restaurant Vallier down the street. They had Salmon Tartare for $9. The portion was not quite as big and delicious as Holders, but it was good bang for our buck. I'll be writing a more extensive post about Salmon Tartare, as i am preparing to make Salmon Tartare at home tonight.

In general, I think it was a good experience. But I probably should not be on anyone's list of people to bring to an oyster bar. It's just not quite my thing.


AIX Cuisine du Terroir/ 711 Côte de la Place d'Armes, Old Montreal/ 514.904.1201

http://www.aixcuisine.com/

Restaurant Holders / 407 McGill street (Metro Square Victoria)/ 514.849.0333

http://restaurantholder.com/

Restaurant Vallier Licencié/ 425 McGill street (Metro Square Victoria)/ 514.842.2905

http://www.restaurantvallier.com/

Ginza vs Odaki vs Kanda

Last week, Kevin, Rachelle, and I called Ginza and reserved a table. The last time we wanted to go eat there (without reservation), we were turned down. The restaurant was booked full on a Friday night. Even though it was only Tuesday night, I decided to be safe and called for reservation. When I first called, I made reservation for two. Kevin decided to join when his plans fell through. I called to change the reservation except there is no record of my reservation. So I had to make one again. That was kind of annoying.

Ginza is much smaller and intimate than Kanda and Odaki. It’s a great quiet place to take a date. I think we got better service than at Kanda and Odaki (Kanda being the worst). Our water was filled frequently and waiter was friendly.

Fried Tofu

The food was good. I seriously cannot remember if we had the fried tofu. As mentioned in my comparison post between Odaki and Kanda, Kanda was still the winner for best fried tofu. I can’t remember if fried tofu was on the Ginza menu or if we ordered it and it was just not memorable. To sum up, I guess Kanda is still the winner for best fried tofu.

Mussels

One of my staples at AYCE sushi places is the mussels. Since Kanda was the first AYCE sushi place I had in MTL, they kind of set the bar. Their mussels are yummy with the spicy mayo. The Odaki mussels had an unanimous thumbs down, for all three varieties. At Ginza, they had two kinds. We only tried one kind; the garlic mussels. Kevin did not like them, I thought they were tasty. However, the garlic mussel was a weird combination with sashimi. Kanda wins for this again.

Sushi and Maki options

Like Odaki, Ginza had a wider variety than Kanda. But Ginza also wins over Odaki for having a sashimi section. If Ginza had mackerel sashimi, it would be a hands down win for me. I love mackerel. Odaki has Mackerel sushi, but the last time I went they put some weird prune sauce on top of it instead of shallots and ginger. It was quite strange. Ginza’s presentation is much nicer than Kanda and Odaki. My salmon sushi was placed in a way to look like a rose. The raw fish was very fresh as well. They also had spicy salmon sashimi, which I liked a lot. I believe Ginza wins in this section.

Cooked foods

Ginza offers a much wider variety than Kanda and Odaki. Like Odaki, they offer yummy fried soft shell crab. They offer the basic stuff…tempura, teriyaki…they also offer a few different variety of Miso soup and salads, but we only sampled the regular miso, which was pretty standard. One of the things I like about the cooked foods at Ginza is that they arrive at your table piping hot. I almost burned my tongue from biting into the Shrimp Tempura. Ginza wins for large variety and freshly prepared cooked foods.

Service

I didn’t know what subtitle to put for this section. At Kanda, they prepare your food according to the section: sashimi/sushi, maki, cooked food. So if you order a gazillion makis, they bring it to you all at once. And you end up with a table full, but usually you’re halfway done with your makis before your cooked food arrives. Last time we went to Odaki, we ordered a lot of food. We just didn’t realize it until it was spread out onto two tables. They all came at the same time. Just seeing all that food made Kevin want to puke. At Ginza, they pace you. Perhaps this is why you get your food hot. They bring out only a few plates at a time, we didn’t have to move things around because a new plate always arrived minutes after we finish the dishes on our table. This got a thumbs up from Kev.

Portions

Kanda and Ginza are really good at portions. The menu tells you how many pieces you get. Odaki does not. One order of grilled scallops could be anything.

Dessert

Kanda and Odaki does not have AYCE desserts. Ginza had fried banana, green tea ice cream and Pina Colada ice cream. Enough said.

The Verdict

I believe Ginza wins. I would definitely go back even though it’s far from where I live. However, I’d keep going to Kanda just because my favorite fried tofu and mussels are there, and there’s a Kanda conveniently 5 min away from our place.

Restaurant Ginza

4593 Saint-Denis (north of Mont-Royal st.), 514.904.0079, www.restoginza.com

Le Fuschia

Last Thursday, Kev and I finally got a chance to have a date. W'eve been busy running around all summer. In August, we bought tickets to see Blue Man Group at the Bell Center. I have previously seen them in Las Vegas and it was a really good show. Kevin had never seen them. For dinner, we didn't know where to eat. I was on Facebook and a friend of mine had on her status that she was going to Le Fuschia. I've been to Le Fuschia before. Actually, I was the one who took her there years ago.

Le Fuschia is one of those word of mouth eateries that nobody really knows about because it's hidden in the basement of Lasalle College on Ste-Catherine (near metro Atwater). Le Fuschia offers fine cuisine prepared and served by students of Lasalle College, who are learning the culinary arts of French cuisine.

The restaurant is not open every day and every evening. The opening hours depend on student availability. During my visit, the opening hours were as follows: Mon-Friday Lunch 11:30-1:30 and Wed-Friday Evening 5:30-8:15pm. However, I recommend calling the restaurant to learn about their opening hours. Large group might need reservations so that students may be prepared for such a large party.

The Table d'Hote was very good. You get to pick between 4 choices of appetizers, main dishes, and desserts + coffee/tea for $9.95 (tax included). For appetizer, Kevin and I picked the same thing; the duck springroll. I'm not at all surprised, since we both love duck. The plate came with two spring rolls with duck confit, vermicelli, and cucumber wrapped in a piece of green lettuce nestled on a pieces of crisp nori. On the side, we had a peanut sauce. Kevin usually does not like peanut sauce, but he enjoyed it a lot.



For the main course, I picked the salmon. Kevin had a difficult time deciding between the lamb or the deer. Since he had never had deer before, he decided this would be a good time to try it because the price is so affordable. He probably wouldn't have another chance to try it. I wouldn't buy it, and having deer at a regular restaurant would probably cost a bundle. My salmon came back cooked medium with a sweet and tangy glaze. Kevin's bacon wrapped deer medallion-style, came with mashed sweet potatoes (yams). My salmon was delicious. The middle looked a bit raw, color-wise, but i was able to flake it with my fork. I usually do not like eating salmon cooked...most restaurants tend to overcook it. But if you have a nice fresh piece of fish, it's ok to have it medium, I suppose. I usually like my salmon raw, sashimi-style preferrably. lol I wasn't a huge fan of the deer meat. Kevin thought it was ok. He mentioned that the bacon wasn't crispy and kind of chewy.

For dessert, I ordered the Lemon Meringue tart. Kevin ordered the Tropical Cheesecake. This was my first time eating meringue. I am not a big fan of it. It's almost like eating the foam that comes on top of a cappucino...like eating air. The tart filling was too sour...it could ahve used a bit more sugar. Kevin's cheesecake arrived in a coffee mug, garnished with fresh fruits. The crustless cheesecake was chocolate with coconut flakes mixed in. He did not like it, but i liked it better than my dessert. The dessert course was the disappointment of the entire dinner, but i've probably had much worse.

The portions at Le Fuschia are the same as all French restaurants; small. The presentation is nice, and the food is good for what you pay for. I would go back.

Our meal came up to $26.00 inclusing tax and tip.

Le Fuschia
2000, rue Ste-Catherine O, corner Du Fort

Montreal, Quebec

Tel.: 514.939.4408

Shish Tandoori

Last Friday was our 21^st month anniversary. We normally don’t go out and celebrate every month, but we try to be together on the 12^th of every month. I’m starting to lose track of how many months. Last month (August 12), I woke and kissed Kevin good morning, as I usually do, and exclaimed “Happy 21^st month!” and he looked at me with his eyebrows all scrunched up and said “21?” I had to count on my fingers to realize that it was actually 20 months. Lol Maybe it’s like kids…after 18 months, you start saying a year and half, two years, two years and a half…

Since it was Friday and a special day, we decided to eat out. Our choice was Hymies on the Grill in Dollard-des-Ormeaux. When we pulled into the parking lot, it was nearly empty. The restaurant looked dark. It was closed…we don’t know why? I looked around the entire front door and there was no sign or anything like that. So we had to pick another place to eat. We finally ended up going to Shish Tandoori. It’s an Indian restaurant in D.D.O. We’ve had lunch there once before and it was mediocre. But it was close to Hymies and we didn’t want to drive around looking for something else.

When we entered, there was only a table with 2 people. We stood at the entrance waiting to be seated for a few minutes, before we finally decided to seat ourselves. After we seated ourselves, it took another couple of minutes for our waiter to realize we were there. Despite the wait, the waiter was nice and friendly. We both chose their special. The food took a while to arrive. For $16.95, we each had a piece of Onion Bhaji and a type of Pakora to start with Tamarind sauce (love that stuff). For the main course, we had vegetable curry, a choice of Lamb Curry or Butter Chicken, Tandoori chicken, basmati rice, and Naan bread. Kevin chose the lamb curry; I’m not a big fan of lamb, so I picked butter chicken (yummy!). When all the food was brought to our table, the veggie curry, lamb, and butter chicken were in their own little bowls. It didn’t look like much. But it’s a lot of food! We didn’t even touch the tandoori chicken. We were so full. Everything was simply delicious. Kevin usually doesn’t eat enough veggies, he nearly ate all the veggies by himself. The butter chicken was absolutely heavenly. For dessert, we had a choice of coffee or masala tea.

The ambiance is quite unusual. They play Indian pop music. And their décor is odd. The walls are metal. It has a jungle feel to it. They have a car in the wall. Christmas lights…it was just a jumble of different themes.

Despite the bad service at the beginning, we were very well served throughout the meal. They made sure everything was good several times during the meal. In general, I think the meal was well priced and delicious. I would definitely go back for their dinner special.

Shish Tandoori

4886A boul. Des Sources, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, 514.472.0144

Odaki vs Kanda

Last night, my cousin B and his GF P invited us to have dinner at Odaki. I love sushi, but I didn't know there were different all-you-can-eat sushi places in Montreal besides Kanda. Here's my attempt to compare both places.

Ambiance
Kanda is a family friendly restaurant. It has brighter lighting and much noisier. Kanda is also bigger. Odaki is a good place for a first date. :) It has a lounge feel. Even when busy, it remains relatively quiet and classy. The lights are dimmed. It's probably not the best place to take family with children.

Sushi and Maki options
Now moving on to the important section of comparison, the FOOD! ;p I found that I prefer Kanda over Odaki simply because Kanda has a sashimi section, Odaki does not. However, during our dinner, the waitress brought us a beautifully decorated plate of sashimi. "On the boss", she said. We still have no clue why we got that freebie. On that plate, there was white tuna, salmon, scallop, octopus, squid, shrimps...it was quite nice. I also found that I cannot properly judge the Maki selection because they had a whole section of special Makis that are only available for weekend dinner time. They had fancier stuff than Kanda. Although Odaki didn't have a sashimi selection, they did have mackerel sushi, which i absolutely love. Odaki also had beef sashimi, which I ate all on my own. If Odaki had sashimi, and the masago on cucumber, they'd win hands down.

Cooked Foods
At Kanda, my absolutely favorites are the mussels and the fried tofu. I was excited to see that Odaki had not one, but three different mussel choices (cheese, crab mixture, stir fry). I ordered two of eat to try. I was quite dissapointed. The cheese mussel was too cheesy and weird. The crab mixture was bland and crumbly. The stir fry was just a dollop of garlic black bean sauce on top of the mussel. Kanda wins in the mussel battle. The fried tofu at Odaki looked bigger, but the batter fell apart when i tried to eat it. The taste was okay. Kanda's bite size tofu is the perfect size, with the perfect batter, and the sauce is much tastier. Kanda wins again. However, Odaki wasn't a complete disappointment. They had yummy Wakame salad. And a very delicious fried soft shell crab. Odaki had a much larger selection of cooked food, with different Udon noodles, scallop yakitori, teriyakis...Odaki would be a better place for people who like Japanese food without the raw stuff.

The Verdict
I find it difficult to choose which one is better. Kanda is a safety zone for me. I know what I like there, when I go to a different all-you-can-eat sushi place, I want to have what I can have at Kanda and much more. When I realize they don't have what I like at Kanda, it's a bit of a disappointment. But things they have that Kanda doesn't, makes up for it. I guess the choice between the two would depend on whether you're going by car (parking issues), or on the company you are having (sushi lovers vs cooked food lovers). Kanda has opened many branches around the city. There's one 5 min drive from our place in the WI. Odaki hasn't expanded yet, the one on St-Laurent remains the only one in the city.

I believe one of the things that would contribute to the restaurants yumminess would be a dessert selection. That would probably seal some deals.

Next place to try is Ginza on St-Denis.

Odaki Restaurant Japonais
3977 St-Laurent Blvd. corner Napoleon
Tel.: 514.282.1268

Au Pied de Cochon

Picture courtesy of http://flickr.com/photos/bonequinha_sf/2516571419

Some time last year, on a rainy day, my good friend A. came to visit Montreal and we all decided to try something new. My brother suggested Au Pied de Cochon and I’ve heard him talk about the “Duck in a can”. I love duck. They put a piece of Duck breast, along with a piece of artery clogging foid gras, cabbage, carrots, thyme and all sorts of spices. They seal it, and boil the whole can. The can acts as a pressure cooker. At your table, they bring you a plate with a nicely toasted piece of toast and open the can at your table. The whole content of the can is poured on top of the toast. The result looks nasty, but it was delicious. I remember finishing off that meal with a crème brulée that I reluctantly shared with Kev. Crème brulée is not shareable unless you have two. The duck in a can itself costs $36…but for duck and fois gras, I guess it’s not too bad. However, it’s not a meal you should have too often.

Ever since having that wonderfully fattening meal, I have dreamed of going back for seconds. That time was this past Tuesday, another rainy day. My friend A2 and I decided to meet up for dinner and I suggested several places, this one seemed like a good place since she worked close by. It was a Tuesday, I decided that we didn’t need to make reservation. Wrong! Always make reservation for APDC. The hostess told us we could have the table until 7pm.

I ordered the Soupe a L’Oignon gratinee and A2 ordered the Crispy PDC salad. My soup was a little disappointing. When the waiter put down my soup, my face was attacked by a pungent smell of cheese. The soup was a mess of smelly melted cheese. The soup tasted like it was probably made with some type of alcohol. I’m not a fan of that. Lots of onions and a few pieces of pork at the bottom. Not quite worth the $6.00. I only managed to eat a third of it. A2 salad looked quite tasty with arugula and a nice mixture of stir fried pork on top. The salad could have been a meal.

When our Duck in a can arrived, my mouth started to water. It was yummy, but not quite as yummy as I remembered it to be. What’s this? I can’t finish it? I do not know if the soup just cut my appetite or if the fois gras just ended up being too heavy for me to finish. A meal of fois gras is not for the weak. And so I asked the waiter to kindly pack it up for me. A2 thought the fois gras was a little undercooked for her taste. She likes her fois gras cooked to a pasty texture so she can spread it on bread. I thought melt-in-your-mouth fois gras was just great. Now I regret not ordering the fois gras poutine. Perhaps next time…

Au Pied de Cochon

Website: http://www.restaurantaupieddecochon.ca/

536 East Duluth

Tel: 514.281.1114
Fax: 514.281.1116