Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Dinette Triple Crown

Another flash review! You know what? I loveS them because once in a while you want to enjoy your food but you also want to enjoy the company (especially when you don't see that person a lot!) !




This place is TINY. Like, tiny, tiny!!! And oh so cute with jars everywhere! What's fun is that you order and then they put your food in a picnic basket so you can eat accross the street, in the park! SO cute!

Sweet potatoes

-A tad burnt (but good burnt, you know?)
-Nice texture
-Moist
-Added cinnamon made it that much better

Macaroni and cheese

-Cheesy (uh, duh!)
-Creamy, yet dry :/

Fried chicken

-Great spices
-Good crunch
-Crispiness galore
-A tad dry

Sauces

-Some were too vinegary and the one in the styrofoam cup set too quickly, it was whhhheird. On the other hand, the BBQ sauces were dsamn great!

And now, the scores!

Food: 8 (my prof drank a lovely lemonade with some ginger in there)
Service: 9 (True, we didn't deal with the waitress that much but she was nice and explained the dishes very well)

Such a cute place to go to! I mean, when do you get to say you ate 'at a restaurant, picnic style, in the park' ?



Dinette Triple Crown on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Newtown

I got invited to go to Newtown by the same [really nice] gentleman that invited me to Atelier d'Argentine and Decca 77. This time, I invited Isa and she was more than happy to join me :)
We got there and the hostess was nice enough to let us choose our seats. Well, there was practically no one. Newtown has two floors-1 is the lounge, 1 is the restaurant and then there's a big rooftop terrasse! It used to be owned by Jacques Villeneuve (hence Newtown) but was bought out five years ago.

We got a nice explaination of the menu from the maître d', Rafaël and our waitress. We decided that instead of picking our own dishes, we would let Raf (ya, we're THAT close) pick for us.

But first, we got some drinks, of course! The one on the right was La limonade royale: very tasty and quite sweet with prosecco and vodka. The one on the left was the Brazilian: watermelon with lots of alcohol. It was very strong and limy but it was still yummy!
Raf started us up with a spinach salad with fennel, bits of candied prosciutto, mozzarella di buffala and a maple vinaigrette. I thought that the salad was a tad on the over portioned size and there was too much spinach. The first couple nibs of prosciutto were too hard but I ate a couple at the end which were quite nice. A good salty punch. The cheese was marvellous, mmm so soft and delicious! And the vinaigrette, although made of maple syrup, was surprisingly not overly sweet.

Then we got the nicest piece of tuna! It was perfectly seared and seasoned and just so beautiful---I almost (ALMOST!) cried. A little tomato salad and some ratatouille were present on the plate as well, although I would have been pleased just by having more tuna :p I have to say though that the ratatouille was brilliantly cut and that the tomatoes gave a refreshing aspect to the dish. 

-sorry about the bad pic...
For the beginning of our main course, we had the risotto with deer (or stag?!). The meat was at the perfect temperature and it was nicely grilled. The risotto was cooked to perfection and was darn dideli creamy but there was something missing. And the plate was cold! Why? Whhhyyyyy? Ok that's enough.

Bah, again bad picture
After that we had, from what Raf told us, one of their most popular plate on the menu: cauliflower taboulé. The asperagus were great and the watercress fit actually really well (I usually find watercress a tad too bitter). The taboulé itself... meh. I certainly don't know why it's the most popular dish. To be honest, it didn't taste much. We even needed to ask for salt. There were much better things on the menu!
Three deserts on one plate? Hells yes to the yes! On the left, we have a deep fried (hello!) chocolate ball (well, hello there!). It was a bit chewy but had great flavours nonetheless. The middle one is a chocolate cookie that was a bit too dry but the onctious chocolate sauce made up for it. And last but certainly not least, the chocolate mousse. Mooouuuuusssseeee! It was chocolaty, it was soft, it was airy and it wasn't too TOO sweet.

Let's discuss service! Well Raf was great: he took good care of us and at the end, he even showed us the other floor and the terrasse (other floor is closed on Mondays). The waitress was really sweet and friendly and as previously mentioned, since we were practically the ones there, she was all ours :) The only bad thing I guess was that the water refills were too far and few between.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 9

A very nice place to go with friends or even on a date. They offer food at reasonable prices. Just don't have the cauliflower taboulé.



Le Newtown on Urbanspoon

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Mikado

Flash review alert!

My friend Lena was in town from Vermont and so we decided to go to Grenadine. We got there and two things came up. 1: the hostess/maîte d' was a friend from school and we were super excited to see each other (we met in Session 5 at ITHQ and you know when you meet someone at the last minute and you're sad that you didn't have the time you needed with her?) and 2: it was full :(

Therefore, we headed to Mikado. You can't go wrong with Mikado! I had been there once before and everyone I know loves this place. Seriously in the top Sushi restaurants in MTL.


Edamame
-tender
-tasty
-way better than most I've had

Dumplings
-Sweet sauce
-Did not fall apart
-Mmmmmmm


Sushi
-Avocado was soft and silky
-Tuna and salmon rolls were 'solid' like Lena said
-Well rolled or 'tight' like I said
-Crab futomaki was good but a tad dry
-Delightful like lena mentioned

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 6  Our waiter was not very present

Go there. That's it. Best sushi in town.


Mikado St-Denis on Urbanspoon


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Café Presto

Flash review alert! Lunch with papa today and we decided to enter this tiny Italian restaurant on Stanley. At first I was like meh but then I was like yeh!
The waiter/owner came outside to get us and spoke italian. Basically, this got us all confused so we just HAD to go inside :) Small place with around 30 seats and Elvis posters!It was very cute and very popular!

My dad's 'poulet chasseur'.

-Well cooked
-Colourful (tomatoes and peppers)
-Juicy
-Very generous portion

My Eggplant Parmigiana

-Very cheesy
-Underseasoned tomato sauce (but still good)
-Nice mix of flavours
-Good sized portion

Service was really quick. Quicker than this and you die. DIE! Seriously. We ordered and about 2 minutes later (I'm not kidding), the food was in front of us!

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 8

If you want a good, quick lunch, prego( I did take some italian classes in high school) go there! Grazie :p


Cafe Presto on Urbanspoon