Monday, December 26, 2016

3734

I was looking for a new brunch place. A cheap (ish) one. I found it in Restaurant 3734. Btw, I don't know how OK I am with restos naming themselves after their address. I mean, how original IS that? Anyhoot, prices seemed aight and the food looked more than aight so I headed there with my friend T last weekend.

Turns out there was this big kid's birthday party. Whatever happened to good ol' McDonalds? It was good enough for me, it should be good enough for your kids, damn it! So, they took up half the resto and their parents took up the other half. There were only a couple tables left.
The place itself is very bright and with that very chill music playing, has a very nice vibe. It has very high ceilings and is surrounded by floor to ceiling windows which made it even brighter. The wooden floors and wooden countertop at the bar with the white tiles on the wall gave a very mellow feel to the place. Don't ask me why I think wood plus tiles equals mellow, that's just the way it is. There was also a Christmas tree in the corner when you came in. I just loved the oranges in there. You pass by it, you feel hungry, just take an orange. Why not? Kind of like Céline Dion and her 'take a kayak' thang. Makes sense right? Mmmmmright.

I was QUITE hungry, with having been to the gym beforehand and only having eaten an egg. ONE egg damn it! I already knew what I wanted to eat and was just waiting for T so that we could order. I was a tad disappointed -to say the least- that they did not have what I had chosen to eat prior to getting there. Grrrr. Why? Why would you put something on your website and not put it on your menu. I cry. Because I'm a big foodie baby.
I had the tartine: poached egg with beets and some romaine. I'll say somethin' I will rarely say:  I really liked that romaine. Tis true. It had a mix of what tasted like soft cheese and crème fraîche with some chives on top. So simple, yet, so good. It was fresh and crunchy. The beets were perfectly cooked and there were two kinds on the plate: some full ones and some in spirals. Beets n' eggs: they got it. The egg was cooked to perfection and seasoned to perfection as well. Mmmmmegg! The bread was good but under grilled I found. I would've liked more crunch and more charred taste to it. There was also a mix of cheddar and mozza on it and that was just lovely. Lovely, I say! Just salty enough and when spread on the bread, with the egg yolk on it, oh yes. Oh. Yes.

Service was good. Water was on the table pretty quickly, and although, when I got there, with the birthday party happenin', I got kind of scared (yes, scared) that service was gonna suck for us, it didn't. Yes, it might have been better without the party, but hey, what can you do? Our waitress was very smiley but did not ask us how we liked our meal. Just to recap, these are the most important things to me when I'm getting waited on:

1- I must always have water.
2- Always check if I like my meal.
3- Know your menu.
4- Perfect wine service.
5- Don't take a plate away unless everyone is done.

Pretty much sums it up.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 7.5

Loved that romaine but there are so many places to eat at! I might go back but not any time soon.

3734 Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Arthur's

I've had my eye on Arthur's nosh bar pretty much since they opened up. What a quaint little place, I thought. And, damn it, I was right! I went there last week for breakfast, bright and early, with my my dad.

This new-ish Jewish (see what I did there?) resto, right smack in the heart of St-Henri, also known as the place where restaurants grow out of thin air, is so cute. SO cuAte! It has an old style to it with brown leather, green walls and tiled floor AND tiled walls whaaaat. It feels very cozy, especially with that chill music playing. The tables were made of grey marble and little Christmas (or Hannukah?) lights were hanging near the kitchen.  
My dad loved it as soon as we stepped in. I LOVED that he loved it! He's quite hard to please, that man! :)
The friendly waiter came to take our order and literally, two minutes later, he was back with my dad's coffee AND a freshly pressed.... or you know...pressed...orange juice AND some kind of cookie/cake. What! Free stuff? Whaaaaaaaaaaat? Ha, I am DEFINETELY goin' back there! That little cake was DE-licious! It was spongy (OK, I think it WAS a sponge cake) and not dry at all. The icing wasn't overly sweet and not too thick. Just enough for a morning dessert!
Avo toast: smashed avocado, sliced tomato, fried egg, sprouts, house hot sauce. HOUSE hot sauce? Exqueeeeze me? Oh, hells yes! That was one good dish! The only thing was that the egg was cold by the time it got to me. Meh. Oh, but my dad said that I took SO long taking pics of my food that the egg had time to get cold. Sheesh, way to stick up for me, dad! Hahaha, I kid! The sprouts were a bit overwhelming. How can one take a bite? Apart from that and the cold egg, the bread was crunchy, and the avocado was on the uber-amazing-awesome side, with some lemon and that house hot sauce. Damn that was one good hot sauce. I'd eat that on everything: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks... you catch my drift. The egg was seasoned perfectly and y'all know how much of a stickler I am for good seasoning!

Service was great! The waiter called my dad 'good sir' so I think that did it for him: my dad was in waiter love. We had water on the table and food came in a timely manner. All in all, wonderful, friendly service.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 9

I am definitely goin' back there. And I don't say that of many restaurants!


Arthur's Nosh Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Ichifuku

I am continuing my best ramen in Montreal quest!!!! Now, this.. THIS is a quest I like! My Asian persuasion friend Jer and I decided on Ichifuku on Ste-Catherine. We headed there last week with Em and Jadster (short for Jadsteramasterooniepoo, no joke).

Ichifuku is new (not even a year) on Montreal's ramen scene (it's a thing). According to Jer Bear, the resto used to be a Bubble Tea place. Hey, Asian for Asian, am I right? The place itself is quite long but narrow. So narrow that if two people were to hold hands and stretch out, they could totes touch both walls. It is basically pinkish walls and lots of wood: wooden counter, wooden tables, wooden recipients for chop sticks and what have you.
There were around 26 seats in the house plus 12 at the counter. The music was all over the place. It was wheeeiiird. One second, we (I) were singing along to the Spice Girls and then Savage Garden came on and I started to cry a bit. Hahaha. Ah, Savage Garden. Bad. BAD Savage Garden!
Karaage. OR not karaage. The green onions and the sesame seeds were good but that's about it. The too big pieces were not crunchy and lacked flavour. They were more like wet and flavourless. Meh.
Vegetarian dumplings. After that karaage, I gotta say, I wasn't uber excited for these. But they were yummy. Oh, they were yummy! They were boiled with one fried side. Hey, who said having options isn't nice? The sauce was plummy but had a tad too much vinegar. The dumplings were full of awesome veggie flavour and quite moist indeed! It never gets old, every single time I write that word (m*ist), I flinch a bit.
Ichifuku has many kinds of ramen, one more interesting than the other! How exciting!!! I had the tan-tan men: spicy sesame pork (oh GOD yes!) in chicken broth with some snap peas, bean sprouts and tralala mushrooms. Oh, and HOME MADE noodles. Ya boy! That's what I'm talkin' about!!! There's something about home made noodles! This specific ramen originates from Chinese Sichuan cuisine: the minced pork, the chili oil and the spices.

Let's start with the broth. Ah man, that broth! I gots to say, it was close to being the best broth in the quest, but again, Yokato won out. It was nice and thick and oh-so-ooooozing with flavour! The noodles were right on: not overly cooked and not underly (hey, if I say it's a word, it's a word!) cooked either. The pork was just wow. As in I'd wanna eat that pork over and over again until, well, pretty much until the end of time. I mean, it was like the chef had taken the pork and shot it full of spices. With a spice gun, of course. The snap peas and the bean sprouts fit really well in there and added some crunch and some freshness to the dish. The wood ear mushrooms (or kikurage in Japanese---YES, I researched it!) added some earthiness to the ramen. On top of it, they absorbed all that lovely broth! That made them twice as awesome! In hindsight, I should've ordered a boiled egg to go atop the ramen but hey, what are you gonna dso?

Service was aight. I got there and my friends were drinkin' so I already had water and they had ordered the appetizers. It took a while for our waitress to actually take our main course order but, then again, our ramen arrived pretty damn fast after ordering. Our water glasses were always full which is a good thing because sh*t got spicy!

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 8

So many ramen restaurants (there's actually another one a couple doors down from Ichifuku), so little time!

Ramen Japonais Ichifuku Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Le Red Tiger

I went to Le Red Tiger (Btw, LOVE the name: I just imagine this very french person saying it with an big accent. I loves it) last winter (ugh, winter) for a birthday and loved it. I HAD to go back and write me a review!

I got some peeps together: my awesome gym girl, Vanes, and my awesome work girl, Clo. It was gonna be, wait for it, awesome! I realised that I hadn't eaten anything Asian in at least 3 weeks. Possibly THE longest time I've gone without it. It's like a drug, you know. Dem Asians know how to pull you back in.
We got there for 6h30 pm and it was already getting full damn it! They had a bunch of reservations so we got stuck at the bar, and then we got even MORE stuck because there was a reservation right beside us. This meant that the waiter had to bring us another stool and that one of us (I'm sorry Clo), had to be in the corner, with barely enough room to eat. Nobody puts Baby in a corner. Nobody. Ah, Dirty Dancing! But seriously, that sucked. Nevertheless, the place was happenin' and we could see all the hustling and bustling in the kitchen.
Grilled pork sausage spring roll à la viet! This was very.... leafy! Hoisin sauce accompanying the dish was lovely. I just LOVE that sweetness! That pork sausage was a tad dry but still awesomeballz. I just wished there would've been more of it!

Pork and shrimp Vietnamese crepes. I really loved these! Little bites of loveliness, really! The mix of pork and shrimp was right on and the fact that it tasted like coconut was just right up my alley. My coconut alley. The green onions added a certain tang to it, which I love in any dish. Well, except dessert: I usually don't need green onions in ma dessert.
5 spice pork chops. Yes. AND yes. The meat was falling off the bone and uber tender! I'm a fan of fall-off-the-bone-goodness. I totes dug (yes, I speak like I'm a Cali surfer now) the spices and the addition of peanut made it even better. I love to have a crunch and the peanuts gave me just that!
Pork and shrimp fried wonton. These were super crunchy but did not hold enough stuff. It kind of felt like we were only eating wonton. So basically, I was eating only the fried stuff. Not a fan of just eating a ball of fried shizzle.

Service was alright. In my opinion, we were sitting in a position where we should've had better service. Water wasn't always full and you just KNOW how high on my priority list this is. Water is what you need to live, damn it! The food came at a great pace so that was a plus. Points for YOU!

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 7

I'll go back, but I'll make a reservation next time!


Le Red Tiger Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato