Wow, it feels like an eternity since I went to Montreal!! Last time I actually went visit was in october 2011...ah, the nostalgic feeling of returning to a place you used to call home, and feel everything but home... There was way too many things I wanted to do and I ended up missing on good opportunities in the end. Was supposed to meet up with a friend and was too hangover so I stayed home; bought a clubbing dress since I hadn't brought any and ended up not going clubbing; missed out on a second time Karaoke session (clearly, once in a week is not enough); never ended up going to get myself Rolopan (god I was so stupid, how long will I crave for this thing now eh?) and did not spend enough time just plain chilling with my BFF. I am sure I am missing out on some of the things I wanted to do but meh, reading about another person complaining is not necessarily that interesting.
Now...
Odaki
What I DID get though is Japanese food. The first evening I got to Montreal Rosemary was out eating so I went with my friend Youngjin to eat sashimi at Odaki. Oh damn, talking about japanese food makes me remember that I missed out on going to Imadake as well... damn. Imadake is good.
My friend remembered how I craved sashimi in my hometown so we went there. Better than Kanda, though I like Takara better - closed on Sundays if I remember well... did not want to go all the way there to find it closed. So Odaki it was.
One thing I've always been wondering about is why next to all Japanese restaurant are Chinese owned. I mean yes, people CAN get bored of eating always the same chinese food - and there are really a lot of chinese people in Montreal so there would be a lot more Chinese restaurant in Montreal if they opened them but.... the thing is that there is actually so much to chinese food than what they make it in most Chinese restaurants! While most people do know that there is almost nothing chinese in a chinese buffet, we don't have that many chinese restaurants that show us anything else. And I am not even mentioning Taiwan! Hmmmmm so much awesomeness in Taiwanese food and snacks.
Really, they should show us what they can do instead of opening all those japanese inspired restaurants.
I suppose I am done rambling on Japanese/Chinese restaurants in Montreal. All in all, I actually haven't said anything relevent anyways for people who would want to know more about either cuisine... ha ha. Okay, one more, there is on Saint-Laurent (I think) a restaurant called Osaka that is supposed to have legit good Japanese cuisine (japanese owned restaurant - wow) so go try it out...
L'Avenue Mont-Royal
In the first days I spent in Montreal, I met up with Mika, an old childhood friend - pretty much an older sister to me - who set up a breakfast date in Mont-Royal. She asked her friends around for the best breakfast place in town and they all pretty much said to go to L'Avenue Mont-Royal. The link I put in is an guy's review on the place, did not find their official website and the rest was pretty much nothing and in French so I went for this one instead.
I liked the place, though I admit it is super duper noisy. We were lucky because our seat was just beside a nice window by the end of the restaurant, and the window gave on a backstreet that was full of greens and trees - hard to believe it was still downtown. TBH, I haven't appreciated the place half as I would have normally. I had had a drink the night before, and I ordered stuff that was wayyy too creamy for my stomac to digest (note that I had forgone eating the bananas they give us because I remember a bad hangover that ended up in a puking shift at work because of a banana.... did you know that the banana is one of the most, if not the most demanding to your stomac when it comes to digestion? Now you do). The place looks cool. Super kitsh and still has a sense of "we actually want it to look this way, and you do too".
Anyways, I had an amazing benedict egg plate, if I remember it was called "Pancetta ton tour". Bacon, parmesan, cream etc... and a cappuccino. The service is pretty quick, and they make sure that if you are here for the first time, the you get a good spot and enjoy the place as one should. I'll have to go back when I am not having stomac problems... wow. I feel so old. Oh, also, the uniform has a black shirt, and most of the waiters are good looking. This is a plus for me anyways.
OH!! Super important thing here... in the Burger section of the menu the talk about the awesomeness of Kobe beef... Damn I haven't finished my blog on Kobe beef.... whatever I'll repeat myself there. Kobe beef is a Japanese beef from Kansai - Kobe, where they actually take a really great care of the animal making its meat into some sort of blissful-tear-bringing-I-can-die-happy sort of taste. In the menu they talk about the beef and then go: here, try our 100% Kobe beef burger that so many people want to try!
-> Hello? This is bullshit. I am sure their beef is good. But Kobe beef HAS NEVER EVER BEEN EXPORTED and thus, sold out of Japan. I don't know if those people risk being sued for lying, but in any case, sorry guys, it is not Kobe beef. So a reminder here: if you ever eat awesome beef, and they make you pay like SUPER big money for it since it's "Kobe Beef" well you've been cheated.
Ruby Rouge - Dimsum
Right after the breakfast at L'Avenue, I went to meet up with Jessica and Rosemary for Dimsum - Jess was craving it since she does not have those back in Bermuda. I was still feeling a bit weird stomac-wise, but the walk I took in between both meals helped and I felt alright to have a bite. I took what I always take: Baby squids, shrimp dumplings and touhua (sweet tofu soup with syrup). Dimsum is much much much better in Asia. To be honest, whatever they make here, is a pale imitation of it. Now that being said. Canadian Dimsum is not bad-tasting. Let us just not compare both. The only thing I've ever reproached Dimsum is the amount of 'paste' there is in everything, makes you feel fat when you done eating. Still, I like that much better than fast-food such as McDonald.
Confusion - Tapas du Monde
Okay now we talk. A friend at work told me to try this restaurant. She told me it's downtown, and that you eat siting on swings. That was enough for me. I mean, swings? OMFG that is sooo the kind of random thing I love. What I did not know is that the place is actually a legit fancy tapas place where they have both a great selection of whisky and wine. I went with my friend Marie on a date there and we shared two tapas: salmon tartar and dates filed with goat cheese, with bacon rolled around it. Had it with half a bottle of Pouilly Fumé. I took a picture to remember the name of the wine, but the quality sucked and I did not notice. Shame on me.
They suggest each person taking three to 5 tapas for a meal: I beg to differ. I have a relatively small appetite, but splitting two in half with a friend was plenty for me so I doubt that having more than two each would be reasonable... in any case, what we chose was perfect for our needs and we paid some $30 each. Siting on swings :)
The salmon tartar was really tasty, served on a croquet of risotto, making the meal a tasty experience for my tasting buds, as it was a nice mixture of taste and texture. Definitely want to try their Foie Gras next time, as they have a big selection of it and it looks awesome.
Shabu Shabu - Korean BBQ
I went to my friend Youngjin's restaurant to get Korean BBQ for my last dinner in Montreal (should have been my next-to-last one, but I got sick the next day so did not eat at all so meh, yah, bad drinking karma). Since I was going for the first time, we ended up ordering much much too much food. It was amazing. Got spicy cold noodles, seafood pancake, porc loin and legs, steamed eggs and galbi <3 (I can never seem to remember which part of the beef galbi is from... oh well).
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| Happy Youngjin before awesome food |
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| Porc Loin |
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| Galbi |
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