Sumac

When Art came to stay we nipped over to St Henri and had lunch at Sumac.  Think ‘middle Eastern’ cuisine along the lines of Yalla Yalla or Comptoir Libanais in London.  Until Sumac opened there was really nothing like this available in Montreal.  Cutting to the chase, everything was awesome and I already can’t wait to go back.

The menu is on a big board, you order at the counter before finding a table, which feels a tad too casual but it’s really busy come lunchtimes so I see why they do it.  Will be heading back for dinner soon to check out if things are any different in the evening.

We shared the falafel ($12) and the beef kefta ($14) plates which come with your choice of 2 salads from the pretty extensive salad menu, the best pita I've ever had, hummus and pickles.  The main dishes (falafs, keftas, chicken shawarma and a veggie aubergine option) can also be ordered as a pita or 'family style' (I'm not sure what this means exactly).  We also shared sumac fries, having been advised that the hummus fries are huge and would push us over the edge.  Prices are very reasonable and portions are large.  This is North America after all!

Just looking at these pictures and thinking about how good the food was is making me want to get back down there today, and look at this, they even have a website, something of a rarity in Montreal.  Good work Sumac.

Sumac

3618 Notre Dame O.

St Henri

H4C 1P5
9/10

September Round Up

September really was the month where I did a sweep of places Anthony Bourdain visited during his 24hr layover.  Also it's been a breakfasty/brunchy/lunchy kind of month...

Beauty's Luncheonette
Starting with Beauty's.  Went for brunch ahead of #oysterfest and Hymie Sckolnick was there to seat us.  Absolute legend that he is.  I copied Bourdain and opted for the Beauty's special bagel with a side of eggs.  You know when you go somewhere, and they ask exactly the right questions when you order?  As in, me - "I'll have a side of eggs please", them- "scrambled or fried, sunny side up or easy over", Craig - "I'll have the Superbeauty's 2 please", them - "bread, toast, brown, wholegrain, rye or white, butter or margarine".  They've got this down.  We even had the same waitress as Bourdain.  It's touristy and unlikely to become one of my regular haunts but I loved the experience.

Also make your own bloody Mary's is a thing.  Gotta love that.  Cheap food but $$$ drinks.

Pastaga
Had a boozy night out with Grace one Sunday (reeeeally regretted that decision when my alarm went off at 7am on Monday morning) including a martini fuelled dinner at Pastaga.  Jury's still out for me on this place and I feel I certainly need to revisit and give a few of the other dishes a try.  We had a nice courgette and burrata starter (above) and a lovely fois gras and veal main but the third dish of crab was forgettable and I felt like everything lacked punch and could have done with a bit more seasoning.  People rave about Martin Juneau’s cooking though, so I will persevere and revisit, I really liked the atmos, decor and the service was nice.  No bread again though, seriously people?

Maison Christian Faure
Erika and I had brunch here, they're mostly known as a patisserie, the front counter houses a fine selection of pastries, cakes and macaroons.  The brunch special for $20 is massive.  Pastry, fruit salad, french toast and eggs bene/royale, I opted for salmon.  My choice of hot drink was earl grey, obvs.  This place is close to work and a fairly well kept secret as it's down a little side street in Old Montreal.  I'll definitely bring my Mum here when she visits later in the year, it's so cute.  When I arrived they were pumping out some classical music, which seamlessly segwayed into Morcheeba.  Blast from the past.

Sparrow
I've spent a few evenings drinking cocktails at Sparrow this summer, including the night England spectacularly crashed out of the World Cup, the drinks are generally excellent.  Which is why I was seriously annoyed with their piss poor Bloody Caesar.  It was watery and pretty flavourless, I think the tomato juice itself is the issue, but these should be a lot better.  I visited for brunch and I was also disappointed by the fact they'd sold out of the shakshuka, there aren't tonnes of options and I really wanted the shakshuka.  Instead I had the 2 fried eggs with home fries, bacon and sourdough.  It was good, but it wasn't baked eggs.

Titanic
Special mention is way overdue for Titanic.  This has been lunchtime mecca for me and the girls from work, we go all the time and I firmly believe that they miss us when we don't go for a couple of days.  Sandwiches, salads, soups, mac & cheese is their thing (this is a mac & cheese grilled cheese).  I usually try to be healthy and opt for the tuna salad, they mix up what comes with the main ingredient, salad leaves are always involved, sometimes roasted veggies, one time, a small portion of their legendary mac & cheese, imagine the joy.  The menu is ever changing, the mushroom soup was amazing a couple of weeks ago but hasn't reappeared since.  Their dessert counter tempts as it's time to pay, the carrot cake and chocolate pot look amazing.  I'll be caving come winter when I need the extra calories!  Love the place. 

Hof Kelsten
Another Montreal fave of mine is Hof Kelsten, I've been popping in most weekends to pick up an iced coffee, love their coffee.  Was yet to try the gravalax sandwich until this week, what was I thinking?  It's brilliant.  Close second to Lawrence, who still hold the sandwich top spot with their porchetta bun.  Lots of love for both places though. 

Beauty's Luncheonette
93 Mont Royal West
Plateau
H2T
7.5



Pastaga
6389 St Laurent
Mile End
H2S
6/10



Maison Christian Faure
355 Place Royale
Old Montreal
H2Y
7/10



Sparrow (no website, annoying)
5322 St Laurent
Plateau
H2T
6/10



Titanic
445 Rue St Pierre
Old Montreal
H2Y
8/10



Hof Kelsten
4524 St Laurent
Plateau
H2T
9/10

May Round Up

Eeeeek, I’ve neglected my blog.  Apologies.  It’s been all go.  A whirlwind trip to London during which I was Maid of Honour at my sister’s wedding, it was one of the best days of my life, it, and the trip, when far too quickly. 

So, here’s a quick round up of things I ate in May before I head off.

Biiru

Love love loved Biiru, went for an impromptu dinner on one of the first really hot summer days in Montreal.  I am beginning to see what people meant when they spoke of a seasonal transformation.  It has really come alive now the snow has gone, and I’m falling for the charm of the place.  Anyway. 

Biiru is a recent opening in the Downtown area and it’s great.  An Izakaya, it’s the kind of menu that’s really difficult to pick from, they have ramen, yakitori, sushi, japadogs etc. etc.  In London these things are generally offered at separate restaurants.  I like to know where I am with a menu. 

I opted for the mushroom and truffle okonomiyaki ($14) and chicken thigh yakitori ($6) and both were brilliantly done.  I wish I’d been braver with the yakitori and had hearts or livers, next time.   

I also got to try the agedashi tofu and the sesame edamame, always winners.

Biiru

1433 Rue City Councillors

Latin Quarter

H3A

8/10

Restaurant Helena

Had a speedy 3 courser here with a work buddy.  Lovely corn soup with chunks of chorizo inside to start and paella for main.  Some weird fruity thing for pud which I didn’t like but for $22 it’s an after thought. 

I blagged my way onto a table in the heaving dining room with no booking.  It’s really popular here, solid unfussy cooking.  Better for lunch than dinner due to the excellent value of the offer.  It's round the corner from my office, I'll definitely be back, vibe is workers with clients on lunchbreak. 

Restaurant Helena

438 McGill Ave

Old Montreal

H2Y

7/10

Kaza Maza

I tried this place with Grace, Patrick and Margharita one Sunday.  Really enjoyable ‘middle Eastern’ mezze type menu with small sharing plate.  Cold dishes only early in the day and a fuller menu available for dinner.  Hummus was as good as expected.  

Cheese plate with rose water jam and the mouhammara, a dip containing ground walnuts with pomegranate molasses, were the highlights.

There are olives and unlimited flat breads.  The beetroot dip was excellent too.  Cheap lunch, I think we paid around $30 each and outstayed our welcome.  Everything is well spiced and fragrant.  The earthenware dishes are nice, the service lovely and the room open and airy.  I think they have belly dancing nights, too so I’ll obviously be back.

Kaza Maza

4629 Park Avenue

Plateau

H2V

7.5/10

Trius Winery

A few of us took a holiday weekend road trip to the Ontario wine region.  I did a bit of research and found Trius Winery to be the most lauded eatery in and around Niagara-on-the-Lake.  I booked us in for the tasting menu with wine pairings on the Saturday night.  The gewurtztramier was the stand out wine of the night, surprise surprise, always a fave of mine.  The size of their wine glasses was astonishing, one used to serve a red fit an entire bottle, we made them test it.  Some of the dishes I had.

 Frozen lollipop canape, beetroot and chocolate. 

Can't pretend I liked starting the meal with chocolate.

Chicken wings with scallops on a sweetcorn puree, very nice.

 Dish of the night was the beef fillet with heritage carrots.  Lovely.

Highlight of the evening was a drunken cellar tour.  They were ever so nice, and patient with us.  The food wasn’t great to be honest, some fails, including a cold hard boiled quails egg with asparagus and balsamic, and the desserts were too frozen to cut with a spoon, but this is wine country, just go there for the wine.  5 course tasting menu was $75 and the showcase (not just any old) wine pairings was $45 each.  45 DOLLARS!!  So good.

Trius Estate
1249 Niagara Stone Rd  
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Ontario
6/10

February Round Up

This has been my last full month in London.  I’m off to Canada on 20^th March, exciting.  I’ve tried to cram as much as physically possible into my final few months.  Here’s a quick round up of some February eats.

40 Maltby Street

Early in the month Art and I head to Maltby Street market in search of doughnuts and general treats.  St John Bakery came up trumps, imitations of these are everywhere at the moment.  This one was chocolate filled.  #idontevenlikedoughnuts but I love these things.

Then we ate at 40 Maltby Street.  I have one word for you - HAM.  Go there and eat it.  The lamb broth and champers by the glass were equally pleasing.  Really liked the place.  Very interesting wine list.  Spent around £40 each I think.  The toasts were also amazing, seen in front of the ham, anchovy paste and rare roast beef. 

40 Maltby St

Maltby St Market

SE1

8/10

Polpetto

After a long wait, I finally made it to Polpetto.  I never went to the French House incarnation, which is a shame as I love the bar.  Anyway, Russell, Florence and co are now permanently based on Berwick and I've been twice already *smug*.

Highlights for me have included the hare papardelle (£8) and the scallop, cauliflower and lardo (£12.50).  The service was still somewhat green.  There were some breakages on one visit, we weren’t given napkins or cutlery and we were very rushed.  We had to repeatedly tell the guys behind the bar that we weren’t finished yet as they tried to clean away the plates with food left on them.  Annoying.  Early days though.  They’d run out of the rhubarb and rose mix so we couldn’t have the drink we wanted.  I went back for lunch and things were much better.  And Russell was there both times!

Spent about £55 each for dinner and half that at lunch

Polpetto

11 Berwick St

Soho

W1F

7.5/10 

Casse Croute

Much earlier in the month I practised my French by visiting Casse Croute on Bermondsey Street.  There were 3 of us, and there are 3 options for each course on the daily changing chalkboard menu.  Highlights were the terrine de foie gras (£8) and the confit de canard with confit potatoes (£14.50).  The place is small but the food is really excellent and the service friendly.  It’s really good value cooking and a perfect local if you live in the area.

  

Casse Croute

109 Bermondsey St

SE1

9/10 

Brindisa

I went for lunch with AV to Brindisa Soho last week.  I’ve been to Tramontana, but never any of the other venues so was keen to try.  I was really impressed with everything we ate.  Lovely padron peppers (none hot though, do these exist anymore), brilliant cheese croquettes, iberico ham was awesome.  Bloody massive bloody olives were a highlight, stuffed with lemon.  The garlic prawns were good too, leaving behind a nice garlicky oil for dunking bread.  Tip – the room to the rear near the open kitchen is where you want to be.  The front end feels cramped and dark in comparison.  Guilt inducing deep fried goatscheese with honey was also excellent, loved the place.  Cost around £40 each for all this and a few cheeky lunchtime bevs.  Cava and rose.  

Brindisa Soho

46 Broadwick St

Soho

W1F 

8/10

Pizza East – K-Town

Bel, Lisa and I head to Pizza East one Saturday night before a night out in Camden.  We wanted Chicken Shop really but they were full and we didn’t fancy a 2 hour wait.  We sat at the bar overlooking the kitchen and I ordered the 4 cheese pizza (£9) with a side of mac & cheese.  Ha!  Really liked the pizza.  Service was efficient and happy, I really like the place.  The fact that I live a mere 5 minute walk away is a bonus, I hope to complete the trio and visit Chicken Shop in a couple of weeks (already been to Dirty Burger).  Pizzas are less than £10 and they have loads of other stuff on the menu.  The salads next to us on the bar looked interesting, as did the whacking great hunk of pork.

Pizza East Kentish Town

79 Highgate Road

NW5

7/10

Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels (CVS)

Valentines night with my girly friend in a romantic wine bar was much fun.  Not in the least bit depressing that there were a million couples in there!  We got stuck into the champagne and wines by the glass and after a slow start got plenty of food throughout the evening.  Highlight was always going to be the croque madame.  It was a cheese heavy affair with the cheeseboard, the burrata and the curds and crudité all making an appearance.  Really liked the place.  All very nice, more French practise. 

Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels (CVS)

10 Neals Yard

Covent Garden

WC2H

8/10

 

And onto the first of my eating adventures in Montreal.  I went for a week at the beginning of the month.  Most things I ate were inspired by this article, on the 35 must eat sandwiches in the city, seemed like a good place to start.

Schwartz’s

Starting with the main event, Schwarz’ Hebrew Delicatessen for all your smoked meat needs.  I asked what to have and it was this, obvs….

Schwartz's

3985 Boulevard Saint-Laurent

Plateau

10/10

Olive et Gourmando

Sandwich disappointment followed at Olive & Gourmando, they’d sold out of the Cubain but it’s very close to my office, so I’ll be back for it in a few weeks.  I had to have the mac & cheese instead, which was awful for me.  Truffle mushroom mac & cheese with a herb and nut salad.  It’s a hard life.  I counterbalanced this fatfest with a pot of peppermint tea.  Very good.

Olive et Gourmando

351 Saint Paul W

Notre Dame (ish)

6/10

November Round Up

How is it December already?  Absolute madness.  November was a good eating month, my wallet and my waistband are really bearing the brunt of me trying to make the most of my few remaining months in London.

F.A.T Residency @ Sharps X Dunne Frankowski
That's a mouthful.  I'd read Lizzie's post about this place and immediately planned a trip.  Bel and I met for lunch, there was a dog roaming around, the smell of toasted cheese wafting about the place, we knew we'd love it.  We Both opted for the stilton and kimchi but everything on the menu appealed and is under a fiver, there's also a daily special, a hotdog and a french dip beef roll.  Loved it.  Will be back, it's so fun and the coffee's pretty great too.

Coal Vaults
This place has only just started opening for lunch, we were outnumber 3:1 by the staff and were the only diners in there for the hour, I didn't expect much but was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the beef stew.  It's pretty good quality for £7.50 though a tad small, the accompanying garlic mash was excellent.  The lunch menu is very compact, a soup, a terrine, 2 sandwiches and this and slightly overboard on the garnish here guys, but I hope they do well, the service was really nice.

Drakes Tabanco
I went through a phase a while back of eating at Copita a lot, the people behind it have recently opened Drakes Tabanco, a sherry bar with large barrels of the stuff behind the front bar, on Windmill Street, just a few doors down from Dunne Frankowski @ Sharp's as it happens.  The food was great, there seemed to be a mix up with our booking so we ended up staying at the bar rather than eating in the small room at the back.  We shared the chacuterie board to start for £17.50, it was packed with meat and we had 2 lots of bread.  Highlight was the goose rillettes.  Best plate of the night goes to the pig cheeks with hazelnuts and mash (£15).  Such a lovely combo.  We also had the beef short rib with parsnip mash (£14).  We sampled a variety of sherries throughout the evening.  Nice little place.

Foxlow
I was a little disappointed with Foxlow to be honest.  Granted our booking was late, 9:30 (leaving plenty of time for a pre dinner stop off at Zetter) but the menu is pretty short and they had sold out of the thing I wanted to order, the Iberico pluma and also my 2nd choice bacon rib.  I was pretty annoyed.  I ended up going for the 200g deckle steak (£22), a cut I'd not heard of before, it's a part of the ribeye apparently.  It was very nice, but it wasn't what I wanted. 

I haven't mauled it pre photo, it came cut like this.  The peppercorn sauce was nice.  If you're going, have the 10 hour beef shortrib with kimchi (£16), it's incredible, Art ordered this and I have a stupid thing about not ordering the same main course as your fellow diners, I should have made an exception for this, it's really bloody amazing.   Special mention to my starter of crispy five pepper squid with lime (£7), it was excellent. 

Mash
Hannah, Sarah and I took advantage of the 50% off steak first birthday offer from Mash (Modern American Steakhouse) early in the month.  I had the American ribeye with peppercorn sauce and we had an impressive array of sides, fries, mac & cheese, creamed spinach and mushrooms.

We had 2 lots of a good nice baguette and a bottle of red, recommended to us by the waiter.  The room is absolutely enormous and it was heaving due to the offer being on for the week.  I prefer steak at Goodman and Hawksmoor but who can resist the lure of 50% off your meat?  We abandoned an idea to head to nearby Gelupo for pud as we couldn't find room.  Keep meaning to go there, perhaps for a hot chocolate....

Street Feast
Rounded the month off nicely with a trip to Street Feast at Hawker House.  I'd foolishly eaten a late lunch at MEATmarket so wasn't up to much, a few Street Feast Fizz's and some brilliant pasta from The Cooking Cooks and I was a goner.  Their fettuccine with white Bolognese was incredible as was the beetroot conchiglie in cheese sauce.  Mmmmm.  So so good.

Not the greatest picture I've ever taken, but there were mounds of Parmesan and excellent hand made pasta.  Loved it.  They're at Netil Market most Saturdays, check them out. 


F.A.T Residency @ Sharps X Dunne Frankowski
Sharps
9 Windmill St
Fitzrovia
W1T
9/10

Coal Vaults
187b Wardour St
Soho
6/10



Drakes Tabanco
3 Windmill St
Fitzrovia
W1T
7/10



Foxlow
69 St Johns St
Clerkenwell
EC1M
6.5/10



MASH
77 Brewer St
Soho
W1F
6/10