What better way to summarize the past two months in food than to collage my top 9 most mouth-watering meals?
A brief description of each, along with a few background stories (from left to right, top to bottom):
A brief description of each, along with a few background stories (from left to right, top to bottom):
1. Who goes to Montreal without eating poutine? No one. I ate so much poutine (and fries in general) that I didn't want to see another potato by the end of my trip. La Banquise, open 24 hours, is the king of poutine in MTL. Anything edible you could possibly imagine, combined with fries and gravy and cheese curds. I ordered "La Danse" which was poutine with chicken, onions, bacon, and pepper sauce.
2. After Mass at Notre Dame, we went to Eggspectation with high expectations (hahaha). I ordered the avocado egg benny. The avocado texture was a novel change from the normal english muffin. May be a little overwhelming for some because avocado has a heavier aftertaste but its perfect for avocado lovers like myself!
3. Smoked meat is another Montreal must-try food. We went to Schwartz's on a rainy weekday so we managed to miss the usual massive line-up. The picture of the amount of smoked meat looks overwhelming compared to the two little pieces of rye bread but it was absolutely delicious. I found myself craving for it only a few days after my first visit. Sidenote, there is a competing restaurant right across from Schwartz's called Main Deli Steak House. It also sells smoked meat and I tried it a week after. The verdict is that I can't taste the difference between the two; therefore, both were equally good! Schwartz is a must-experience tourist diner but if you want to skip the line-up, go to Main Deli. Same quality smoked meat in a roomier, quieter dining area.
4. The Montreal style bagel is often compared to the New York style bagel. I've never had NY style bagels so I can only comment on the MTL one I had from St. Viateur Bagel. The bagel had a crunchier texture than what I normally have at Tim Hortons. My Poulet St Viateur came with basil dressing and a macaroni salad. I had a bite of Joel's BLT and the bacon made the bagel 10x better. His was comparably more delicious so I know what I'm getting next time! St. Viateur competes with Fairmont Bagel for Montreal's best bagel title but the two bakeries are relatively different. The former sells savory bagel sandwiches whereas the latter (which I also tried) has more varieties of bagels but they only come with the choice of cream cheese. Fairmont Bagel, however, is open 24 hours!
5. We attempted to go to L'Avenue three times before finally succeeding. The first time was on a Sunday late afternoon (closed). The second time was on a weekday for dinner (we thought it was all-day brunch). Third times the charm. Except we waited two hours in line. Mmm Sunday brunch, probably not the best idea. But it was THE. Best. Brunch. Ever. The seasoned potatoes and the chorizo egg benny was heavenly. Ugh the egg benny was seriously perfection. My mouth is watering as I reminisce on its taste. I'd definitely hit up L'Avenue if I were in town again, except maaaaaybe not on a Sunday.
6. I was a frequent visitor at Juliette et Chocolat, a cozy and at the same time spacious dessert house where servers wear adorable red hats. There are two locations (St. Denis & St. Laurent) in downtown MTL but I ended up always going to the latter because it was a tad bit closer to West Rez. I had the crepe in the picture above on my 2nd visit here. White chocolate filling with hazelnut ice-cream, top with a plethora of fresh fruit. What a spectacular combination. Derek and I shared this and we were both so, so satisfied! I've also had the milk chocolate fondue and another crepe, which were both equally delicious. The ingredients are rich and of high quality. I love this dessert house and wish it was open in other parts of Canada!
7. La Taqueria is literally one of those hole in the wall restaurants. Its on Hastings so its location is a bit sketchy but once inside, I was greeted with a busy line-up with taco enthusiasts. It was 4 for $9 so Derek and I both chose 3 meat tacos and 1 vegetarian taco each and ended up sharing all 8. The corn tortillas came with generous toppings and there were jalapeno peppers and carrots in a separate basket on the table. The tacos were juicy and fresh; however, it was a little difficult to distinguish between the different tacos. ("I think that was the fish one..." "No, wait...THIS one is definitely fish..." "Are you sure? I swear its chicken...") The tiny restaurant was packed by the time we left and on our way out, the guy behind the counter yelled "Bye Isabel!" with a big smile. Haha he remembered my name!!! I made fun of Derek because he didn't say his name. +1000 points. Favourite restaurant ever.
8. I searched up this easy recipe online and added a few ingredients of my own. At Isa's kitchen (lol), I cut the chicken breast in half and stuffed it with red bell peppers and parmesan cheese. Then, I spreaded mayo on the top and bottom of the chicken, and put it in the oven. I found these cute looking assorted coloured baby potatoes at Save-On and spread them with butter before putting them in the oven along with the chicken mid-way. I love boiled veggies because of the softer texture so I put the carrots and broccoli in boiling water for 10 minutes while chicken was cooking. It wasn't a time-consuming meal and it tasted great. The light veggies on the side balanced out the rich, cheesy mayo chicken. Yay for the first time using the oven on my own!
9. By the end of July, I was harsh craving some quality sushi. I heard good reviews on Tokyo Joes so I went to give it a try. There is unlimited self-serve miso soup, and you can never go wrong with miso soup. The size of the specialty roll in the photo above was huge! Among the 3 of us, we had 4 orders and at the end of the meal, we were stuffed. Tokyo Joes' decor is less formal than that of Charcoal or Mega Sushi (my two fave sushi restaurants) but its price is more affordable and the sushi quality isn't any less than the two.
I started this post more than 3 weeks ago and abandoned it until now. I would suck at deadlines. Top 9 places visited this summer coming next. Hopefully the post won't take as long. Hehe but I doubt it.
2. After Mass at Notre Dame, we went to Eggspectation with high expectations (hahaha). I ordered the avocado egg benny. The avocado texture was a novel change from the normal english muffin. May be a little overwhelming for some because avocado has a heavier aftertaste but its perfect for avocado lovers like myself!
3. Smoked meat is another Montreal must-try food. We went to Schwartz's on a rainy weekday so we managed to miss the usual massive line-up. The picture of the amount of smoked meat looks overwhelming compared to the two little pieces of rye bread but it was absolutely delicious. I found myself craving for it only a few days after my first visit. Sidenote, there is a competing restaurant right across from Schwartz's called Main Deli Steak House. It also sells smoked meat and I tried it a week after. The verdict is that I can't taste the difference between the two; therefore, both were equally good! Schwartz is a must-experience tourist diner but if you want to skip the line-up, go to Main Deli. Same quality smoked meat in a roomier, quieter dining area.
4. The Montreal style bagel is often compared to the New York style bagel. I've never had NY style bagels so I can only comment on the MTL one I had from St. Viateur Bagel. The bagel had a crunchier texture than what I normally have at Tim Hortons. My Poulet St Viateur came with basil dressing and a macaroni salad. I had a bite of Joel's BLT and the bacon made the bagel 10x better. His was comparably more delicious so I know what I'm getting next time! St. Viateur competes with Fairmont Bagel for Montreal's best bagel title but the two bakeries are relatively different. The former sells savory bagel sandwiches whereas the latter (which I also tried) has more varieties of bagels but they only come with the choice of cream cheese. Fairmont Bagel, however, is open 24 hours!
5. We attempted to go to L'Avenue three times before finally succeeding. The first time was on a Sunday late afternoon (closed). The second time was on a weekday for dinner (we thought it was all-day brunch). Third times the charm. Except we waited two hours in line. Mmm Sunday brunch, probably not the best idea. But it was THE. Best. Brunch. Ever. The seasoned potatoes and the chorizo egg benny was heavenly. Ugh the egg benny was seriously perfection. My mouth is watering as I reminisce on its taste. I'd definitely hit up L'Avenue if I were in town again, except maaaaaybe not on a Sunday.
6. I was a frequent visitor at Juliette et Chocolat, a cozy and at the same time spacious dessert house where servers wear adorable red hats. There are two locations (St. Denis & St. Laurent) in downtown MTL but I ended up always going to the latter because it was a tad bit closer to West Rez. I had the crepe in the picture above on my 2nd visit here. White chocolate filling with hazelnut ice-cream, top with a plethora of fresh fruit. What a spectacular combination. Derek and I shared this and we were both so, so satisfied! I've also had the milk chocolate fondue and another crepe, which were both equally delicious. The ingredients are rich and of high quality. I love this dessert house and wish it was open in other parts of Canada!
7. La Taqueria is literally one of those hole in the wall restaurants. Its on Hastings so its location is a bit sketchy but once inside, I was greeted with a busy line-up with taco enthusiasts. It was 4 for $9 so Derek and I both chose 3 meat tacos and 1 vegetarian taco each and ended up sharing all 8. The corn tortillas came with generous toppings and there were jalapeno peppers and carrots in a separate basket on the table. The tacos were juicy and fresh; however, it was a little difficult to distinguish between the different tacos. ("I think that was the fish one..." "No, wait...THIS one is definitely fish..." "Are you sure? I swear its chicken...") The tiny restaurant was packed by the time we left and on our way out, the guy behind the counter yelled "Bye Isabel!" with a big smile. Haha he remembered my name!!! I made fun of Derek because he didn't say his name. +1000 points. Favourite restaurant ever.
8. I searched up this easy recipe online and added a few ingredients of my own. At Isa's kitchen (lol), I cut the chicken breast in half and stuffed it with red bell peppers and parmesan cheese. Then, I spreaded mayo on the top and bottom of the chicken, and put it in the oven. I found these cute looking assorted coloured baby potatoes at Save-On and spread them with butter before putting them in the oven along with the chicken mid-way. I love boiled veggies because of the softer texture so I put the carrots and broccoli in boiling water for 10 minutes while chicken was cooking. It wasn't a time-consuming meal and it tasted great. The light veggies on the side balanced out the rich, cheesy mayo chicken. Yay for the first time using the oven on my own!
9. By the end of July, I was harsh craving some quality sushi. I heard good reviews on Tokyo Joes so I went to give it a try. There is unlimited self-serve miso soup, and you can never go wrong with miso soup. The size of the specialty roll in the photo above was huge! Among the 3 of us, we had 4 orders and at the end of the meal, we were stuffed. Tokyo Joes' decor is less formal than that of Charcoal or Mega Sushi (my two fave sushi restaurants) but its price is more affordable and the sushi quality isn't any less than the two.
I started this post more than 3 weeks ago and abandoned it until now. I would suck at deadlines. Top 9 places visited this summer coming next. Hopefully the post won't take as long. Hehe but I doubt it.
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