Friday, February 19, 2016

Griffintown Café

Lea was doing everything in her power to beat the competition during Poutine week so she was piling on the participating restaurants! Griffintown café was one of them with their clam chowder poutine. Sounds whhhheird if you ask me! And that is why I went but did NOT have the poutine. I'm a sucker for brunch so THAT'S why I was going!
Griffintown café is in an old building with really REALLY old wooden floors. The kind that you might be afraid to walk on if you weighed over 200 pounds. It was noisy, but a nice kind of noisy, and the ambiance was nice and chill and happy! The place made me think of a hall of some sort. Brick walls made it look authentic and a whole wall was painted on with graffiti type drawings.

Let's get down to the point: the food!
Heovos divorciados. Basically, it's two eggs that are 'divorced' because they are separated on the plate (not in this case) and have different sauces like salsa roja or salsa verde (not in this case). So, basically, this was not huevos divorciados. In the original recipe, it is made with fried eggs but at Griffintwon Café, they serve the dish with poached eggs, which was just fine and dandy with me. Oh but they didn't 'have' poached eggs right now, so I had to settle for regular, pan cooked eggs. I don't really get how you can 'run out' of poached eggs. Just take a couple minutes, bring the water to a high simmer, create a whirlpool, drop the egg. A couple minutes and blamo, you's got a poached egg! Sheesh! The tortilla was good, but nothing special, the tomato was bland and the salad was.... mesclun (or mixed salad)! Who in the holy F still serves mesclun? WHOOOOOO? I demand to know. There should be a written rule damn it! The eggs were nicely seasoned and the chili was OK but it sort of tasted like it had just been taken out of a can. I mean, who puts green peas in their chili? No one, that's who! The best things on my plate were the yummy, fresh, smooth guacamole and the refreshing crema (ok, I'm pretty certain it was just plain ol' sour cream. And yes, there IS a difference!). I always like having a colder component when eating something hot.

Service was not the bestest (dudes, I swear that's a word!): the hostess/waitress who welcomed us did not even crack a smile and I don't even recall if she said hello or not! Our waiter was alright but again, not the friendliest. Water was brought to our table quickly and we got our dishes in a pretty timely fashion, which is always awesomeballs.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6.5
Service: 6

Perhaps I would try going back a second time. But I tells you what, it best not be out of a can :p

Griffintown Café Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Friday, February 12, 2016

Station W

You know how the story goes (or how MY story goes): restaurant exists, I hear good things about said restaurant, I want to go to restaurant. Station W, on top of it, is right in front of my gym. A I-have-only-that-10-dollars-left-from-my-last-pâycheck kind of place. And it was right there, right in front of the Énergie Cardio in Verdun! So a couple days ago, I walked the 12 steps (Ok, I'm exaggerating, 15. I may still be exaggerating) from my home (the gym) to Station W.
This über cute café is oh-so-popular amongst students and has no doubt many regulars that live in the neighbourhood. There's a big table at the back with plugs and what have you for their computer needs, counters at the windows and many 2-person tables. A bit too many in my opinion. I get the need to have more clients=more money but it can get tight in there; as in, 'oops, I just stepped on your foot AND hit your friend simultaneously' kinda tight. It does have a very comfy feel and a very chill vibe, and all of this, with no music!  

I was rather surprised and oh so pleased that Station W turned out to be the grilled cheese nation! Uh, hello, I absolutely love grilled cheeeses. And if I get to eat bread, imma gonna make it a damn grilled cheese. Back to the 'nation': they have around 8 kinds of grilled cheeses to choose from. Whaaaaat!!! Heaven. I chose the yummiest looking one of course: raclette, caramelized onions and cranberries. Yes aaaand yes! They also have cheddar and kimchi (which I'm totes going back for), provolone and prosciutto, goat cheese, apricot, thyme and black pepper and some others that are just as mouth watering.
Obviously, I had to start off with a hot chocolate! In a glass no less! And, you know what? It stayed hot as long as it would have in a cup. Revelation of the day. First of all, look how cuuuute it looks; they made me a heart! Aaaaaw! Ok, enough! It was thick, silky and seriously, one of the best I've had. Creamy and airy; I had to control myself not to lick the foam in the end. I still have the desire to be socially acceptable, you know!
The grilled cheese. Enter Homer Simpson drooling sound. Hot and crunchy bread made for a great start! The onions were perfect and the cranberries added some nice sweetness. With the raclette, the flavors totally complimented each other. Cheese was obviously awesome, not too salty but still flavourful, but it was funny how in one half, there was a shiz load and in the other half, not nearly enough, making it just a grilled.... Hahaha! All in all, I'd totally go back to eat one of those bad boys!

Service was quick and efficient, as it should be in a busy café. I would have liked some water but I also could have asked for it (I'm a real lazy person ;) ). 

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 8

I'm fosho going back. And soon!


Station W Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato