October Round Up

Rounding up the month of October, some good brunches were the highlight.  A couple of close to work revisits that are worth a mention, had a great thai chicken meatball soup at Le Local, always a solid lunch choice and L'Orignal refurbished, rewrote the menu and relaunched.  Had a nice suckling pig dish there one night for dinner.  Here's the rest....

Restaurant Manitoba
I dined here early in the summer but didn't take pics, I was impressed with both what I ate that night and with the excellent personable charm of co-owner Elizabeth Cardin (we drank some gin shots together).  I've been meaning to revisit for brunch, which they recently started serving, but bizarrely they're not open on Saturdays.  This past Sunday Erika and I met there, it was really busy, there was a guy playing the cello and we propped ourselves up at the bar for a few hours.  Some people might find the vibe a little pretentious but I find it charming.  There's been a lot of attention to detail in the set up of the place and I really hope they do well.  It's only a 15 minute walk from my flat so I'll definitely be back again and again.  As for the food, it's really inventive.  A chalkboard on the wall lists the daily changing dishes, we both went for the squash spaghetti with poached egg and mushrooms.  I've honestly never had a dish like it.  Prices are reasonable (I paid around £15 for this and a few cups of herbal tea) and drinks are amazing.  If you're in Montreal, go.  I don't understand why more people don't rave about it already.

Dinette Triple Crown
This place has been on my list since before my first trip to Montreal.  Think fried chicken, mac & cheese, pulled pork etc.  They have a tiny little place in Mile End opposite a park, so in non snowy months you can grab a picnic basket and eat across the street.  They also deliver and, although I'm just outside the delivery zone, one hungover Sunday night they made an exception and came the extra distance to delivery to my place, wooo!  So we knew we had to have the mac & cheese, then we each picked a meat and threes, which is your pick of fried chicken, beef brisket or pulled pork with 3 sides.  We shared everything first up was brisket with mash and gravy, creamy slaw and greens.  So so so good.

The second option was 3 pieces of fried chicken with cornbread, sweet potatoes and hushpuppies.  Had to google the latter, they're like deep fried balls of corn batter served with a garlic dip.  It's obviously all hideously bad for you so a once in a while treat rather than a weekly takeout option but I was really impressed with the food.  Best mac & cheese I've had here so far, we got the small, the large must be massive.  We paid around $50 for this, but there was a lot of food.  We also opted for the pear and ginger pudding which was completely unnecessary but really lovely.  This will definitely be happening again on a cold winter night in the not too distant future.

Bar Bounya
I came here for lunch earlier in the year but didn't blog it because it was just a couple of hours before I flew back to London in July, so I was in a rush and didn't take pics.  Went back last weekend with Erika and Sar for Saturday brunch.   For $12 you get a main dish and a selection of treats including a tomato and ricotta salad (ricotta mixed with feta - so good), bread, jams, nuts, olives and honey with kaymak, a soft butter like spread.  This is such a bargain, can't wait to go back.  It's served sharing style on a board.

The main I opted for was shakshuka, served in the dish it's cooked in, it always suffers from the heat of the dish overcooking the eggs and this is exactly what happened.  2 hard cooked poached eggs is not a good thing.  The sauce of tomato, spinach and onions was nice enough, I ate that with more of the bread, but overcooked eggs is one of my worst things, unforgivable.  I do like the place though and you can't argue with a $12 breakfast, I'd pay that again for the cheese alone.

Juliette et Chocolat
I was invited to the Laval store opening of Juliette et Chocolat.  I'd not yet tried any of their cafes in the city, there are several located throughout Centre Ville and the Plateau, and now they're in Laval too. You can read about their story here.  The menu is obviously chocolate based, think hot chocolate, chocolate fountain, fruit covered chocolate, bars, truffles, mousse, biscuits, even chocolate lipstick.  They have a great range of Halloween based treats, chocolate skull anyone?  People visit for desserts apparently in the evenings, I rather like the idea of popping in after dinner somewhere.  I ate so much chocolate on the night that I felt quite queasy when I left.  Speaks volumes of the quality of the sweet treats on offer here, because I don't have much of a sweet tooth at all. 

Bolo Bolo 
I was also invited to a new restaurant opening on St Laurent in the Plateau.  The deal here is meatballs and cocktails.  The opening night was packed so it was pretty hard to get your hands on a decent drink, but there were plenty of meatballs on offer.  They even have a meatball topped bloody mary.  Best thing sampled on the night was the buffalo meatball, there are all kinds on the menu, it's a great location, more of a bar than a restaurant vibe but that could have been due to the launch party. 

La Societe
Before visiting La Societe, I'd read some negative reviews.  I was skeptical but wanted to check it out anyway and I wish I'd skipped it to be honest.  Many online reports told stories of shoddy service, ours was absolutely fine but the food was pretty poor.  It's the worst meal I've had in Montreal, actually a 4am poutine and 'burger club' at Fameux Viande Fumee probably holds that accolade.  Shudder.  Anyway, back to Societe, Lobster bisque ($13) was overly creamy and pretty tasteless, advertised as coming with truffle oil but there was none.  The New York strip steak ($29) I ordered was undercooked and tasteless and the peppercorn sauce was just awful.  Fries and aioli were good and the cheeseboard was passable.  We had a gin based cocktail which looked radioactive before moving onto white wine.  All the effort here seems to have been put into decorating the room, the floor and ceiling are both impressive, but the food really underwhelming.  I won't be revisiting. 

Restaurant Manitoba
271 Rue St Zotique Oeust
Parc Ex
H2V
9/10



Dinette Triple Crown
6704 Rue Clark
Rosemount
H2S
8/10



Barbounya
243 Laurier Ouest
Outemont
H2T
7/10



Juliette et Chocolat
Centropolis
Laval
H7T

I dined as a guest of Juliette et Chocolat



Bolo Bolo
3540 St Laurent
Plateau
H2X

I dined as a guest of Bolo Bolo



La Societe
1415 Rue de la Montagne
Golden Square Mile
H3G
4/10

August Round Up

Suwu

Sarah and I brunched here on the Osheaga Saturday morning.  I zipped down from Outremont on a Bixi bike which was a brilliant idea.  I love the Bixi bike scheme (Boris equivalent).  Note to self to get an annual pass for next year (they're decommissioned Oct-Mar ish due to the snow).

 

I had the salmon tartare brunch, which consists of tartare, bagel, poached eggs, hollandaise, these weird pink pickled onion slices and a hash brown.  It was very very good.  I've been vocal about my annoyance at the constant appearance on menus of the 4 things Montrealers are crazy about (tartare, lobster, foie gras and oysters) but on this occasion I relented and ordered a tartare as the waitress recommended it. 

Have to say the bloody Caesar was virtually undrinkable, very heavy on the tabasco and I literally had a coughing fit after each sip.  I struggled, got most of it down, I'm not a wimp where these things are concerned either.

Anyway, I loved Suwu.  Had a hunch that I would.  Pretty much everyone in there was proudly sporting their Osheaga 3 jour wristband.  I must return post brunch time to try their mac and cheese grilled cheese.  

 

Les Vin Papillon

 

Em and I popped in for a light lunch one afternoon.  This place is owned by the Joe Beef/Liverpool House team, it's no reservations, you can just show up.  They're really sweet, wine is their thing, it's more wine bar than restaurant, but the menu is no afterthought. We started with some sparkling wine and the vegetable platter with garlic dip.

Doesn't look like much but we loved this.  Topped with fried courgette flowers, the dip really made it, so intensely garlicky.  Really really good.  Then we went for the baked oysters.

Topped with cheesy herby breadcrumbs, we enjoyed another glass of wine and lingered to enjoy to sunny terrasse.  It was a really pleasant low key meal.  I'll definitely be back.  Post on Joe Beef to come soon, I've been twice in as many weeks and it deserves a full write up.  Cheaper and more relaxed, Vin Papillon is definitely going to become a regular haunt.

 

Hotel Herman

 

On a Monday night, one can often get caught out in Montreal, not many restaurants are open.  Hotel Herman is one of them, I booked on the afternoon and opted to sit at the busy bar.  Wines are natural, we went for the interestingly names Pow Blop Wizz sparkling rose.  Loved it.  Oysters were the highlight of the meal, I've went back for more just last night.  2 kinds, from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, they come with lemon wedges, buttermilk and miso accompaniments.

My main on the first visit was this lamb with cauliflower.  I thought it could do with a good dousing of sauce.  The foie gras with brioche was brilliant though.  Never tried their desserts, should probably. I prefer the wines and the oysters though over the main dishes.  Nice jovial environment and servers who really know their menu.  Reasonably priced too, starters for around $12 and mains up to $22.

 

Les Enfants Terribles

Popped here for a really late lunch, I had the steak tartare.  Look at me turning into a walking Montreal food cliche, there's more to me than oysters, foie gras and tartare, y'know.  Pretty plating, I had a couple of glasses of Sancerre with this then ordered some cheese.  This little stretch of Bernard is good for people watching, exactly what I did before a big night out.  

Could have done with more egg, always, the tartare itself was nice, a good kick from the red sauce.  I'll be back to try brunch, it's literally at the end of my block.  Nice little local.

La Banquise

Uh oh, I did it.  And I wasn't even drunk.  I was severely hungover though, and this was on Em's to do list.  So we had to.  My first poutine in Canada.........and I liked it.

Granted, it looks absolutely foul, but it was exactly what I needed, followed by a lie down in the park.  Poutine is chips, gravy and cheese curds.  Banquise take it to the next level by chucking all manner of hideous sounding toppings into the mix.  I went for the la taquise with sour cream, guacamole and tomatoes.  I liked the fries, and the curds, the gravy I could do without, it's pretty tasteless, but I was pleasantly surprised.  This is a huge thing here, even McDonalds do poutine, I might just be a convert.  About $10 for a 'small'.

Van Horne

One of the biggest disappointments so far was this meal at Van Horne.  I originally booked for a Saturday night, they called me and the place was booked out for a private event, fine, we switched to the Wednesday with the promise of free wine for the inconvenience, which never materialized.  

I had high hopes, after reading this, the owner says all the right things, albeit in a slightly self indulgent tone.  We wanted the tasting menu, it's only available on weekends, shame.  The menu is very small, 4 options for starter and main and only 2 desserts to choose from.  Neither of which appealed.  I just felt the flavours weren't very sophisticated.

This lamb main was pretty dry and I didn't like the dry charred greens.  A little amuse of mustard seed and foie gras (I think...) on a delicate crumbly biscuit was exquisite but my chilled green tomato gazpacho with prawns was nice but a little too tart for my tastes.  The bread was lovely, but the whole thing was underwhelming.  I probably won't return.

Lawrence

Some revisits this month include Lawrence, I've been back for brunch (baked eggs, hello!) and for a dinner collaboration with London's very own Giorgio Ravelli from Upstairs at the Ten Bells.  When I found out this was happening, I was BEYOND excited, one of my London favourites and one of my Montreal favourites cooking together!!  Too much.  The food was exceptional, the starter of hen broth, egg and liver toast is one of the best dishes I've eaten all year.  There was a lot of food, I left very happy.

Pizzeria Magpie

Brunch pizza!  Asparagus, egg, bacon, cheese and tomato.  Why didn't I know brunch pizza is a thing?!  This was brilliant.  Also had a normal bloody caesar, everything was as it should be.  Very good Magpie.  Still need to try Gema. 

 

Suwu

3581 Saint Laurent

Plateau

H2X

7/10

 

 

Les Vin Papillon

 2519 Notre Dame

Little Burgundy

H3J

9/10

Hotel Herman

5171 Saint Laurent

Plateau

H2T

6/10

Les Enfants Terribles

1257 Bernard Avenue

Outremont

H2V

6.5/10

La Banquise

994 Rue Rachel

Plateau

H2J

8/10

Van Horne

1268 Van Horne

Outremont

H2V

6/10

January Round Up

January should be a quiet month really, but everything has kicked off for me.  Work is crazy, I need to find a new place to live in an exciting new city and I have so much still to see of London and my friends and family before I go.  I've been trying to eat myself out of the clutches of the January blues.

Rita's
Starting with Rita's.  Art and I were meant to go here in December and I had to cancel because of work.  Before that, I'd intended to go to their former restaurant in Stoke Newington, but never did.  Highlights of the meal were the chilli mac & cheese (£4.50), really excellent, and the mega stinky fried cheese (munster, £4.50) served with celeriac and chutney.  Special mention to the bacon brittle, so addictive. 

Not so good things about it were that we had to wait about 20 mins for a pre booked table drinking frozen 'ritas that weren't properly frozen.  Oh and when we were seated, we were downstairs in the corner next to the loos.  More good than bad though and best thing of all is that absolutely everything, except the mac & cheese was laden with coriander. Cheap, fun and great for large groups of people, I imagine.

The Ape & Bird
I'm trying to get my fill of Sunday roasts before I leave the UK in March.  I booked last minute for Russell Norman's latest venture, The Ape & Bird, and we turned up just after noon and literally had the run of the place.  It was a really rainy day (will there ever be any others?) and it was Chinese New Year but literally, it was empty the whole time we were there.  This makes me sad because the roast was great.  Duck with kale, roast potatoes, amazing roasted onions, gravy and more gravy in a little jug.  It was dreamy.  So was the cauliflower cheese side.  Not cheap, at around £17 but absolutely worth the spend.

Check On Roast @ Dead Doll's House
My friend Molly invited me along to a chicken Sunday, one of the Check On Roast events.  I'd never been to the Hoxton Square venue before but it's a lovely place, the sun even came out for some roof terrace japes at one point.  Very decent roast chicken too.  There are plenty more events coming up, beef and pork Sunday's are also running and tickets are still available, it's really good value at £25 for 4 courses and it was a brilliant atmosphere.

Kimchinary @ Catch
Kerb regular Hanna, of Kimchinary fame, was kind enough to invite me along to the launch night of her pop up at Catch Bar in Shoreditch.  I've loved Hanna's work since the rice pudding days and am so pleased that the rest of London are now fans of her Korean tacos.  She's brilliant, you should go, you won't even have to queue!  My shock favourites on the night were the veggie tacos and you absolutely must try to Dukbokki, it comes with nduja now, even better.  I'm planning a revisit next week.  Tacos are around £6.50 for 2.

I'm genuinely not one for blowing my own trumpet, but I am proud to say that I appear in the February issue of Olive magazine which hit shelves earlier this month, with my recommendations for best value London restaurants in which to spend £10, £20 and £30.  Franco Manca, Koya Bar and Brasserie Zedel.

I've had a few of my old favourites this month too, beginning with one of my Olive recommendations, the Ile Flottante shared with Bel at Brasserie Zedel.

MeatMarket's chicken wings, a London classic, reminds me I must have monkey fingers before I go!

Not a favourite but I tried Honest's Comte, bacon ketchup and smoked onion ring special burger (£12), better than it looks here but I struggled to detect the comte, big shame.

January '14 also marked my inaugural poutine experience at Little Social, where it happened to be on the specials menu.  Hopefully plenty more where that came from in Montreal.  For those who don't know, it's Quebec's answer to the kebab.  I'm not yet convinced as this one featured not only the usual chips, gravy and curds but also jalapenos and sausage.  I promise to stick with it. 

Rita's
175 mare St
Hackney
E8
8/10



The Ape & Bird
142 Shaftesbiry Avenue
Covent Garden
WC2H
7.5/10


Check On @ Dead Dolls House
35 Hoxton Square
N1
7/10

Kimchinary @ Catch
22 Kingsland Road
Shoreditch
E2

I dined as a guest of Kimchinary.

December Round Up

December being party month, as is only right, I ate my fair share of celebratory meals.  Things started off nicely with a long boozy lunch with Sarah and Hannah.

Berner's Tavern

We knew we were there for the long run and arrived for lunch at 1:15, leaving at around 10pm having propped up the bar long after we ought to have called it a night.  But it was Christmas, sort of.  The meal was excellent, my starter of potato and parsley soup with snails and black pudding (£7.50) was befitting of the setting, stunning.  Best of all was the breville toastie accompaniment.  Cheese and more black pudding lurked within.  The girls both went for the popular egg, ham and peas which looked incredible.

Fish mains all round, I had the pan roasted halibut with squid ink risotto, crispy garlic squid and rainbow chard (£24).  Each of the many components was brilliant.  I was very happy, the delicate fish was the star but was the squid ink risotto was a wonderful match.  Even better than the Fino version.

Winning dessert was Sarah's chocolate filled doughnut with cinnamon sugar and milk ice cream (£7) but special mention to the chocolate and orange rice pudding.  We were all less keen on the eclair but couldn't resist the lure of salted caramel ice cream.

We drank a lot of wine, and then a lot of cocktails.  The meal was obviously pricey, but the room is so elegant and grand that it only seems right to be paying a lot for it.  We had a ball and I love everything about the place.  Long may the Atherton empire reign.

Aqua Shard
Christmas meal number 2, this one with my Mum and Sister, we head to Aqua at the Shard for lunch with a view. 

First off I have to say that I found the service a little baffling, we were kept waiting for half an hour as they were over booked, when I asked how much longer we would be waiting, we were whisked off to a quiet area of the restaurant (where there were several other free tables for the duration of our stay) and given a bottle of champagne which was subsequently taken away.  They were all over the place.

Anyway, on to the food, we were given 3 servings of bread, which was very good, 2 kinds of butter, salted and smoked.  My starter of green pea custard with foie gras (£14) was nice but not wow.  The kid's salmon and crab (£12) and my Mum's beet and curd salad (£7.50) looked better.

My scallop main was very pretty but for £28 I thought it lacked something.  There was a liberal use of pea shoots on most dishes, I felt for the prices they're charging, the food was not quite up to scratch.  Other mains of lamb saddle (£29) and pearl barley risotto (£16) were better, I think I ordered badly.  We skipped dessert as we had well and truly filled up on bread, but all had coffees. 

I had expected an all day brunch type menu, I find it odd ordering from an a la carte menu at 2pm on a Saturday, but again, maybe it's just me.  Most people rave about this place, but for me, the jury's out.  I would like to revisit before writing it off but I found the meal instantly forgettable.  Shame given that it was such a special meal with my fam. 

Karpo
A completely different experience followed, a really excellent meal which perhaps shouldn't have, but did take me by surprise.  Sarah, Hannah and I were invited to dine at the all day brasserie venue in King's Cross.  None of us had eaten there before and didn't have much of an idea what to expect.

My quail starter was excellent, served on pumpkin (mashed and roasted) with pancetta and sage.  Breast and leg were both cooked to perfection, it was an exciting start to the meal.

I was even happier with my venison main course, served with red cabbage, cauliflower and peppercorn sauce, again the meat was cooked perfectly and each ingredient combined to make a well thought out dish which really delivered on flavour.  I was happy.

Things ended on an even higher note with the Vacherin cheesecake.  I'm not typically a cheesecake kind of girl, but we were all digging into this and largely ignoring the hot chocolate pot.  It was incredible.

It's refreshing to have such a good dinner at a place that had previously not been on my radar.  I'd be interested to try breakfast here too, the menu reads very well.

We dined as guests of Karpo

Boopshi's
I managed to bag a table for 2 on opening night for a try of the schnitzel and spritz on offer at Boopshi's.  So it's a little niche, I went thinking if they're offering such a limited menu, it had better be good, and authentic.  And it was.

We went wiener with the schnitzel for £14.50, I wanted to add an egg, as I always would if the option is there, but this is not authentic, I'm told.  The meat was thin, the breadcrumb crisp and I love a netted lemon.  The bratwurst (£6) tasted just as I remember them in Bavaria, though it was luke warm and would have benefitted from a little longer on the grill.  Bonus points for serving sweet mustard with it though.

Sides of kasespaetzle (£3.50) sauerkraut mit speck (£4.50) and potato salad (£3.50) were all good, and the spritz' are excellent, and huge priced between £7.50 and £9.50.  They also have prosecco on tap, excellent.  Desserts are few, kaiserschmarrn (£6) was almost there but not quite how I recall it, it needed caster sugar and a lot more icing sugar and I've had it a splodge of cream alongside the fruit which I think it benefits from.  Love what they're doing.  I hope they do well and will be interested to see where they take the menu in future.

One Leicester Street
Having taken over the venue from the St Johns Hotel, I've seen lots of snaps on Instagram recently of amazing looking dishes in the restaurant here, and even better looking drinks in the upstairs bar.  Art and I headed there for our last meal together in 2013 on a shockingly rainy night.  Sheltering from the weather upstairs we ordered gin martinis which were eventually served down at our table.  They're sort of self assemble though, which threw us off a bit.  We know how to drink them, but when it comes to mixology, we're happy to leave it to the pros. 

Onto the food, my starter of crab, fennel and rye cracker (£9.50) was great.  Lots of dark meat and a smattering of dill.  Couple of bits of shell in my first few mouthfuls.  Art's ham was also good and a generous portion.

I was very pleased with my choice of main, venison, white bean and kale (£20).  It was perfect for a dismally dark evening, the beans beat me though.  Art's chicken and leek pie (£17.50) was equally good, really tasty.  So far, so hearty.

I knew I needed the brown butter tart (£7) for dessert, there was never any doubt, and Art preferred the chocolate, honeycomb and violet (£8.50) which worked out very well for us both.  

The menu is very short and a tad confusing, separated into fish, offal/meat and veg with small and large plates categorised by main ingredient.  I guess I ought to loosen up but I prefer a more traditional structure.  You know where you are with starters and mains.

Service was a little brisk and the restaurant was not full, unlike the bar upstairs which was packed.  I'm glad I've ticked it off the list, but wouldn't rush back.

Berner's Tavern
The London Edition
Berner's St
W1T
9/10



Aqua Shard
The Shard, St Thomas St
London Bridge
SE1
5/10



Karpo
23 Euston Road
King's Cross
NW1
We dined as guests of Karpo 



Boopshi's
31 Windmill Street
Fitzrovia
W1T
7.5/10



One Leicester Street
1 Leicester St
Leicester Square
WC2H
6.5/10