Monday, January 30, 2017

Barcola Bistro

I was invited by the owner of Barcola Bistro a couple weeks back. First thing she said was that she'd been reading my blog and loved it. Well, let me get my freaking #2 food blogger in MTL ass down there, and quick! I invited my lunch time buddy, the Asian persuasion man himself, Jer, to join me.

Barcola Bistro is located on Parc, in the mile-end, right at the cusp of Outremont. Just by looking at it from outside, it looked like such a cute place! A place I really wanted to eat at. A place, I'd later find out, I'd be at all the time if it were closer to my apartment. Damn it. A place, by the by, Anne-Marie Lortie has written rave reviews about. What! Anyhoot, the owner/chef is from Trieste, located in the North East of Italy, on the Adriatic coast. Ps, with my new Transat benefits, I'm heading there, pronto! They opened a bit over two years ago. The chef, Fabrizio, is Italian (duh) and his wife, Danielle, is the nicest person EVER. I'm being serious here. She came to greet us and throughout the meal, was very present, and after our meal, came to sit down so we could chat for a good 30 minutes. Now THAT's good customer service!

Barcola's menu changes twice a day. TWICE. It kind of reminded me of my old fave resto (this, obviously, is my new one), Olivieri, in Côte-des-Neiges. Fresh products and fresh ideas. DEEEElicious dishes. To be honest, I totally fell in love with this place.

Inside, it looks great: dark walls, with black and white pictures, big mirrors, long banquettes, vintage lamps and lots of wood. Some soft music was playing, which made it that much more charming.

WOW! This was lovely. LOVELY! We both tasted it and we both went 'mmmm' (X10). It was the perfect dish. I, not being a strong cheese lovah like gorgonzola, decided to have this as somewhat of a challenge. Well, I dsidn't regret it one bit. This dish was full of surprises! Cheese, pistachio, ginger gelée, caramelized pears. WOW! I really can't stop saying that. The pear was perfect and not overly sweet. The bread was perfectly grilled. The gorgonzola was soft and yummy and had a touch of citrus, which made it that much better. Fresh pistachio right on top gave it a nice texture, without being too salty. The ginger jam was not too ...gingery. Just a touch. Now, that was an awesome dish. One to tell the grand kids about. Or, I guess, my nephews and niece :p Seriously, all those ingredients i'd never thought would marry well, did! Hats off, chef. Hats off.
Celeriac purée with green beans. OK, this sounds much better in french! Purée de céleri rave avec haricots verts. Yes, much better. That purée was so soft and smooth. The haricots verts were cooked to perfection and the bread was nice and slightly buttered. A drizzle of oil to finish it off and you've got yourself a winner. The only thing we both found was lacking was a tad bit more salt. That's it that's all.
Artichoke and shrimp risotto. You had me at shrimp. I'm sure you guys would've guessed that one. How beautiful is that risotto? Cooked in artichoke stock, it had taken on the green hue of the vegetable. How many of you can say they've eaten a green risotto? I'm guessing 0.2. My face pretty much lit up when Danielle brought this to our table. With some charred artichoke, some pieces of shrimp and a pinch of parmesan, this dish was flawless. The risotto itself tasted very herbal and a hint of lemon could be detected through all that yumminess (technical term, of course). I would've liked more shrimp, but even if you gimme a mountain of shrimp, I'd still want more.
Cod with purée de pommes de terre and chickory. The cod was nicely charred, and, in all seriousness, was flaking just by looking at it. Cross my heart, hope to die! The potatoes were awesome (what ISN'T awesome here...) and moist but maybe a tad too much liquid had made it's way in there. The chicory, which, by the by, I neva eva run into (on the street, you know), was very earthy, a bit on the hard side, but nice and peppery. Again, every ingredient went very well with one another.
Nocciolino n' coffee. Y'all know I ain't a coffee fan. I've tried it, many a times, and I just cannot dso it. CAN'T do it. But this was different. Nocciolino is basically nutella but WHHHHAY better. You nutella and coffee lovers out there, just imagine your too favourite things, put together. Hello. It was a hazelnut explosion. That's one of the best explosion I know. Actually, the first thing that came to mind when I took my first bite was this: holy f*ck. Yes, I can be very vulgar when it comes to food. Cocoa powder mixed with hazelnut= creamy loveliness. I could drink that all day. ALL. DAY.
Chocolate cake oh ma gawd. This had the perfect level of sweetness. And thickness. The whipped cream was perfect and the chocolate dust on top was just heavenly. Can you tell I liked it? There was some fig purée to add that extra fruity element. We ate this in 2.5 seconds flat.
Panna Cotta with berries and nuts. The layer of berries was just a tad too sweet for me but I loved the nuts that added a nice crunch to it all. The panna cotta was very cold and super smooth. It was the most excellent panna cotta I've ever tasted. Granted I haven't yet tasted 25, but still. The nuts, on top of adding some texture, added another aspect to the dessert that was lovely. The taste of the pistachios in there fit with the fruit. Every ingredient in this dish was welcomed in ma mouth. Even the berries! Ps: I'm not an uber fan of fruits in dessert, so this is a step!


Service was right on par throughout the meal. We got a great welcome and Danielle explained everything to us and made us taste stuff like the nocciolino, that I would have never tasted otherwise. The wine service was ITHQ grade (there's no other way!) and our water glasses were always full because we had a bottle on our table (oh so important and THE way to do it, in my book). She was just so lovely. I would've put her in my pocket and brought her home with me. We never thought for a moment that we weren't taken care of.
And now, the scores!!
Food: 9.2 (because I can)
Service: a well deserving 10
As I've mentioned, this is hands (AND everything else) down. My new fave resto. And although I rarely go back to the same restaurant, oh, I WILL go back to Barcola!

Barcola Bistro Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Campanelli

My mama and I were going out for breakfast (ya, we cool like dat), and of course, that meant I had to choose a new restaurant. Yay! I chose Campanelli: looked good and it was close. Two things that are musts. Turned out to be a tiny little place for coffee and rustic muffins and not much more but hey, now I know.
Campanelli is a small place with some good indie rock playing. At some point, Jean Leloup played and I was suddenly brought back to my early twenties when I used to over listen to Ballade à Toronto while smoking a nice little joint. And since my mom reads this, joint means unicorn. And smoking means... petting? Wait, am I high now? And in other news...there's not more than 20 seats in the house. I'd describe the décor as being half industrial and half lets-go-to-the-cottage. Let's just do it.

My mom ordered a latte, because she felt fancy (she's usually a straight up coffee kinda gal), and I ordered a hot chocolate. We got a carrot and apple muffin and a chocolate chip muffin.
The hot chocolate was good but not thick enough  for my taste. A bit too watery. The carrot/apple muffin was pretty much out of this world (ya, far out there): it was moist (ugh) and delectable. I could've eaten 8. My mom actually said that it was one of the best muffin she's EVER had. What! The chocolate chip muffin was a tad too dry for both of us. It lacked... well, it lacked apple. Hahaha.

Service was good. The girl warned us which muffins would be too sweet for breakfast ...I can do sweet but not TOO sweet! She brought our stuff to the table and told me that if need be, she could add some sugar in my hot choco.

And now, the scores!

Food (and drinks): 7
Service: 8

Cute little spot to go to if you're lookin' for a good MOIST (ugh!) muffin and a nice coffee, fo shizzle!

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

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Les délices de l'ile Maurice

My friend Alex convinced me (I mean, come on, how much convincing do I need to go to a new restaurant?) to try Les délices de l'île Maurice last week. Plus, it's a BYOW! I was totes down. Down to go out on the town! Aaaand the rhyming has ceased. Alex's dad is actually from there, and she goes on the regular. Well, enough that the owner came to say hi, hugs were exchanged and she knew her by name. I'd say they're in the friend zone.

I can't recall how many times I've passed in front of this cute little restaurant on my way to the gym. I was always intrigued and this gave me the perfect reason to explore this matter further. This very important matter that is a new restaurant. It was going to be brilliant! I swear, I was clairvoyant. And at that moment, I wondered, am I wearing any antiperspirant?  Wow, what a poem! Don't say it, I know I'm gifted.
When you step inside, you are wrapped with a coat of warmth and loveliness and homeyness. It's a very comfortable looking place that feels like someone's living room. It's a small restaurant with about 35 seats gros max. Frames are hanging left and right, up and down, with pictures of the island. I wish I were on a freaking island in the middle of the Indian ocean right about now (#cantwaitforsummer). They even had one, right beside my head, with a dude that is fishing with a really long fishing rod. Ya, I think you know where I'm going here. At first glance it tooootally looked like a huge... pecker. With...two balls! A big Johnson if you will. A wiener, a willie, a .... you catch my drift (big thanks are in order here: Austin Powers baaaaby).

I found it really different that there was garlic oil AND mint oil on the table. Right up my alley! Mmmm, that mint oil on rice: deeelicious! How the menu works is that you choose your protein and then you choose your sauce. There's a lot to choose from: créole, curry, sweet and sour, cajun, garlic butter and honey.
Fried cabbage. Unconventional, but very good! It wasn't overly greasy and I had to stop myself because a: it was fried and b: I needed room in ma stomach for the rest of my meal!
Lentil and coriander soup. This was nice and hearty! Turns out lentil and coriander=perfect match. It didn't taste overly coriandery (ya, it's a thing) and it had just the right level of thickness.
The main. I had the shrimp, obviously. For those of you that know me, you know I always have the shrimp. Even if it ain't on the menu! Ha! This is how it goes when I go to a burger joint: 'What would you like?' Me: 'I'll have the shrimp please' Them: ' Uh, mam, we don't have that on our menu' Me: KAMEHAMEHAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Ok, I agree, that was ridiculous.

I chose the créole sauce because, hello. Qui dit Ile Maurice, dit créole! It was a great choice: tomato, onion and garlic sauce caressing and enveloping the shrimp so. Please, leave us alone so that we can cuddle. Hahaha. I must say that the shrimp size was a tad disappointing. They were the size of a cocktail shrimp, which, in my head, is way too tiny. Then again, I loves me huge motha f*ckin' shrimp. The sauce was just spicy enough, the rice was perfect and you know what I'm gonna say here: put em' together man! The salad, I almost didn't touch because it was not looking very appetizing: iceberg with lots of vinaigrette. You know how I feel about iceberg. It's second in line after that damn mesclun!

Service was great throughout: we got our food in a timely manner and water was refilled. The waitress/owner was really nice and friendly. I guess I was in for a treat since I knew the girl that goes there the most :) When I went to pay the bill, it was about 33$ for the two of us (and that is INCLUDING tip!). Whaaaat? I'll take four please.

I almost forgot; I must also mention the candies. They have big jujubes in a jar when you get in. Probably meant for the kids that go there with their parents. But also meant for me, right? That'll be all.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 8

I'll definitely go back, but I'll definitely try other restos first :)

Délices de l'île Maurice Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Sumi Dojo

I'm continuing my Asian craziness!!! Might as well become an only Asian resto blogger at this point :) My Asian persuasion friend Jer wanted us to go to Sumi Dojo. He goes there for lunch sometimes and said I needed to try it. ALWAYS listen to Jer. Always.
When you enter Sumi Dojo, it almost looks magical. I ain't talkin' unicorn magical, people! I'm talkin little child at Christmas magical. You know! Right? Little lights are dangling from the ceiling and at the (huge) bar, light bulbs of different lengths are also hanging right above it. The whole place is made of dark wood. And I do mean the WHOLE place: the floor, the bars, the stools, the walls...I absolutely loved the fact that there was some Asian music playing until Jer told me it was the equivalent of  Spice Girls in a steak house. Pfff... I still agree with the non-English music. Fo shizzle.

The lunch menu is UBER (yes, uber) cheap there. I'm serious, when I saw the bill, I got weak in the knees. Hey, you want to make me happy? Get me weak in the knees!
The appetizers! I mean, how freaking lovely does this look? You do always eat with your eyes (wow, mental image) first! This was so damn cute! So.... spring roll, miso soup, pickles and salad. Let's start with the spring roll: it was nothing special, really, but it was hot and pleasant in ma mouth. And I love things that go good in ma mouth. Don't get any ideas here. It had carrots and cabbage in there, it was pretty much exactly like the ones we used to sell at Sushi Taxi. Ah, the memories! The soup was hooooot! Duh. It wasn't too salty and the soft tofu just melted in my mouth, which was just loverly. LO-VER-LY. The salad was a: mesclun and b: wilted. Two EXTREMELY bad thangs in my book! The cucumbers were good and vinegar-y (it's a word!) and actually went nicely with the spring roll! Whaaaat? One bite of spring roll/1 cucumber was perfection.
The main. Le pork. Or tonkatsu. The pork was moist and crispy. I'm not an uber fan of fried stuff but this was goo-hood. Jer says it's THE best in Montreal. What!!! The sauce on it was an Asian BBQ sauce (tonkatsu sauce), which can only mean good things. Asian? Good! BBQ? Goooood! Asian BBQ? Un -f*cking- believable! My Canadian self wanted a sh*t load more of sauce to dip my perfectly cooked rice in a pool of Asian BBQ sauce. Mmmmmm. There was shaved cabbage on the side which made me think, for a second, that I was eating all healthy and sh*t. It had a bit of vinegar and a touch of sesame oil on it which gave me that extra sesame taste that I LOVE.
The pork belly. The daikon was packed with flavor it had absorbed in the cooking process. It basically acted like a sponge. A delicious sponge. The shishito, the bitter green pepper, is apparently the most hated vegetable by Japanese children. Kind of like North American kiddies and brussel sprouts. The pork was like a prison of flavor. Ya, I'm deep. So tender, it was breaking up just by looking at it. Totes true. The broth was very tasty and peppery and I would've drank (drunken?) it all. But I need to be somewhat sophisticated. I'm an esteemed food blogger, for God's sake. AND I have a damn business card! That's right. The egg was right on and the Korean chili threads (ito togarashi)added another texture and certainly another taste to the dish.

Service was alright. I know I'm annoying with this but at some point, we had no more water and my mouth was craving it. Our waiter did come back to answer a question we had about the Korean chili threads so that was nice of him.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 6.5

Jer and I already have plans of going back for ramen. The ramen quest continues!

Sumi Dojo Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Friday, January 13, 2017

Koa Lua

I've been waiting a while to eat here. Since before Christmas, Jer Bear and I had been meaning to go and try their poke. Poke is the new resto fad in town right now (as in NOW), just like tacos or meatballs or game (meat). I gottta say, I'm ok with game and tacos, but meatballs, come on! Come. On. Rant done.
I met my Asian persuasion friend Jer(that's him, right there!) at Koa Lua on Union (they have one on Ste-Cat as well), THE new Hawaiian place for poke in Montreal. You just know I can be cool like that. Pfff, I've been to Hawaii, I know what they serve! That is a lie. My dad has been and I wrote a project on Hawaii in grade 4 with a big fat palm tree on the cover page. That is the extent of my knowledge on the most beautiful state in the... states. Mmmmyes. OK, let's get down to business before I start (continue) writing crazy things.
Koa Lua is a tiny, tiny, TINY place on Union. In, the summer, I'm sure it's fun and inviting and cool to stand up to eat or just bring it outside and eat on a bench in Phillip's square but in the winter, iz a whole other thing. I'd say the place has about 22 seats, only 8 of which look totally comfortable (the long table in the middle).  The place itself, although small, was emanating Hawaii! All the colours, the flowers, the palm trees... I almost thought, for a tiny little millisecond, that I had escaped the horrid (yes, horrid!) weather we are having right now. Can you tell I love winter? Ya.

Some Beach Boys (or something resembling them) music was playin' on the radio and everything was irie man. Wait. That's Jamaican. A'ole pilikia! This translates to 'no problem'! OK, enough with Hawaiian 101. I could've seen myself doing the hula in the summer, with a nice lei, but in the winter, with the slush and all-o-that, the place was a bit cold and lacking in space (for our large winter jackets). Don't get me wrong, it was totes cute: light blue dyed wood and festive and flowery cushions on the stools :)
I started with the avocaloha! Lemme tell you somethin': I think I love avocado as much as I love shrimp. Wait. As Joey in Friends would say about girls and jam, 'put em' together!'. Yes, I totally agree. Nothin's good like a shrimp and avocado salad! But enough about my hopes and dreams. Perfectly ripe avocado (nuff' said), crunchy rice pearls, sweet honey sour cream, some masago to add some colour and coriander because HELLO! I found that it was an amazing little starter. The sour cream with that honey just went so well with the avocado and well, let's face it, the whole thing was gone in less than one minute. Jer bear had to pretty much steal a bite before I started biting him.
Poke! Or anti-poke? See, what happened here is that when I saw shrimp on the menu, I started to really want me some shrimp. Shrimp ain't poke. On top of that, to make it even LESS poke-like, I hadn't noticed, but it was served with mâche and freaking iceberg (existential question: which is worse? Iceberg or mesclun? One of the toughest questions of all time, I say!). Arrrghhh, my first poke experience has been ruined. Do you even realise what I've DONE? Ok, imma calm down. I kind of like mâche so that was aight, but I left most of the iceberg there. To rot. Forever! I NEED to calm down! The shrimp were perfect and tasty, the fruits were ripe and Hawaiian-y. Ya that's a thing. The guava vinaigrette was just present enough and added a nice sweetness to the dish.

Service was at the counter and very quick. Water was in pitchers and we could serve ourselves. All the people behind the counter were very nice and smily. I like it when people smile, it puts me in a good mood :) 

And now, the scores!

Food: 6.5 #avocadoandshrimplove
Service: 8

Well, I have to go back now, don't I? I need to eat a real flinging flanging poke bowl!

Koa Lua Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Sunday, January 8, 2017

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Haru Hana

If you haven't noticed, I'm part Asian. OK, I'm not. But I swear my great great great great GREAT grand mother was half Asian. OK, that's a lie too. I'm sure I was Asian in another life. You know. My friend Jer from the real Asian persuasion said we should hit up Haru Hana, this Korean resto in the village. And when Jer says we should try a place, I'm always in. You hear that Jer, always. Cue creepy music.
Haru Hana is a tiny restaurant on Maisonneuve right next to Berri Uqàm metro station. It's a good thing I had the address because I would have missed it fo shizzle. It's a very modest place, with two workers, a small counter, some shaky fake wooden tables that seated  around 23 and mix matched chairs. The menu was written on a black board on the wall although they also gave us the paper one. Hey, it's nice to have options. Every time someone would open the door, I'd brace myself for the cold because they didn't have that thang most Montreal (read: Québec. Nay, anything from here to the north pole) have when they don't have a second door. Somewhat of an indoor abris Tempo sorta thang. THAT was lacking. Brrrr. You know when you just can't warm up? That's how I felt. But enough about my body temperature.

They brought us hot water, which was nice considering it was -8000 outside (and inside :p). At some point during the meal I would have preferred some cold water though. Anyhoot, we were warmly (haha) welcomed by a very nice waitress/possible owner/possible cook. I'm somehwat of a creature of habit so I just had to have me the bibimbap. Jer also chose a little somethin' for us to eat before. I never question his decisions when it comes to Asian food. Well, except when he wants to order body parts and such. That's a no. I just can't do urine tasting(kidney) and/or cartilage. I just can't.
Pajeon: Korean savoury pancake with seafood and green onions. It was kind of crêpe-y, dough-y, egg-y, omelet-y. I really liked it but Jer said that usually, it is less dough-y and that this one was a tad undercooked. It should've been golden brown instead of light yellow. Listen to Jer. He knows. I really liked the onions in there and I could taste the mussels but the rest of the seafood was kind of lost on me. Just didn't taste it. The simple soya based sauce was lovely and I could have drank it all. But that's just not good table manners. I found it just fluffy enough and quite tasty! But Jer was right, it should've been cooked a bit more.
Ah, kimchi, my love. Last year, I made my own kimchi (cause I'm cool like that) and I have to toot my own horn here by saying that it was deeeee-licious!!! Well, obviously, this one was better, but gimme a break, it was my first try! This kimchi was amazing. It was fermented goodness! Just spicy enough, it went very well with every bite of my bibimbap!
Le bibimbap. First thought was that they served it in a cold bowl. Oh no. No. It should always be served in a steaming hot bowl. I loved the pickled veggies, the egg was just cooked right for my taste, and the rice was also perfect. The red peppers, I didn't necessarily care for and the meat was a bit tasteless. Seasoning people, seasoning. All in all, I've had better bibimbaps.

Service was nice. As soon as I entered, I got water and menus. She also brought us a pitcher (of hot water...) and took down our order quite quickly. She did not check to see if we liked it and only asked at the end of our meal.

And now, the 악곡! Yes, that's score in Korean. Sheesh! (Hopefully, it's the right kinda score...)

Food: 6.5
Service: 6.5

Many more Asian restos in Montreal! You know where I'm going with this...


Haru Hana Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Friday, January 6, 2017

Pub St-Paul

Disclaimer: I AM aware that the pics suck. I just couldn't transform them all and put everyone on Instagram through this.

I got invited to eat at Pub St-Paul right before Christmas. It was a nice little invite that explained precisely what was included in our free invite. Believe it or not, this is nice because I don't know how many times I got to a resto invitation and it was all confusing and baffling and complicated. And yes, I am aware that all those words mean pretty much the same damn thang.

I brought one of my faves, Daiz, and we waited. And waited some more. AND some more. Finally, the people that looked like the owners came to say that it was really busy with all the Christmas parties and what not and that we would be seated at the bar. Yay. And yes, if you are wondering, that IS sarcastic.

The place looks huge, with lots of televisions (it IS a sports bar after all) and screaming people everywhere. Still had a nice ambiance. I mean, let's face it, peeps be drinkin'. Everything seemed to be made of wood. I bet that even the toilet bowls were made of wood. Hahaha. Let's be serious here. There were pool tables, casino games and foosball. Un vrai bar, quoi!

We sat at the bar and for a good 5 minutes and nothing happened. Except the waitress just not talking to us. I'll hand it to her, she was uber busy. I get it. Duh. But, damn it, I got invited, serve me food. Please? On top of it, we were starving. And eating at that bar was not seeming very comfy. Argh. I hate not being comfortable when I eat, you know? Riiiight? Kinda felt like those old McDonalds with the super hard plastic seats that made you want to leave within 20 minutes of sitting down. Those.

We could get one drink FO free, so we both had a glass of wine. Basically, you have the house wine, that is, let's face it, made for sangria, and then you have the others. I usually don't like the house wine and Daiz either so we opted for a glass of white (for me) and red (for her). I'm not sure if they mixed it up or something but that wine tasted like no crap i've ever tasted before. I kid. But not really.
We ordered minestrone as a pre-entree. Remind me to never buy canned minestrone. Ya, it was canned. Canned soup. They gave us canned soup. Nuff' said. The only good thing about that soup was that it was hot.
As an entree, I got the crevettes gratinées au fromage avec ail. Y'all know how I feel about shrimp; they are simply the loves of my life. And I do appreciate a nice garlic shrimp now and again. But this was overly garlicky and, if it's possible, overly cheesy. I mean, I could pull a string of cheese for a meter before it broke. Too cheesy. Oh, and I had bad breath for 8 days. I MAY be exaggerating.
Daiz had the calamari. She was excited. It quickly faded. They tasted like they'd been deep fried 3 times and they were quite greasy. Also, they were cooked unevenly, which meant that some were good and some had the consistence of plastic. Mmmmm, plaaaaastic. And by the by, this was too bif for an appetizer. Cut it in half; there's your appetizer!
Daiz got the flank steak. And she'd been waiting for that flank steak. Her mouth was watering, people. And then, they bring out.... drum roll please...an uber thin filet of beef. You should've seen the disappointment on her face, poor little one. On top of it, when she ordered the steak, they actually asked her how she liked it. She said she liked it rare.  That piece of meat, as soon as it hit the pan, was over cooked because it was so thin. No such thing as rare here. There was a pepper sauce that was not as bad as anticipated but still had some chunks of I don't know what in there. Ugh.
I had the ribs. Ah, ribs. I make a mean rack o' ribs. You know what, they kind of saved the night. The sauce was too thick and too sweet for my taste but they were better than anything I had tasted in the evening. The ribs could have stood a bit more time in the oven to make them more tender. The caesar salad was too cheesy and the croutons were too hard. The fries were not bad but could have been a tad crispier. To be honest, I didn't even finish my ribs. That's how awesome the food was. And YES, I'm being sarcastic.
Dessert! It was bound to save the day! I believe they had three or four choices. One was  pudding chomeur... so... no. Daiz had the VERY store-bought (I'm talkin' grocery store here) cheese cake. It was OK. Not good, not narsty. The whipped cream saved the day. Let's face it, whipped cream always does. It was a very dense cake that could have broken a brick if thrown correctly. I swear.
I ordered the fondant mainly because I hadn't had one since my Juliette et Chocolat days. Aaaaaaand, nothing was fondant. Nothin'. The supposed melting part in the middle was just hard chocolate. Argh. Take the extra couple minutes and melt the damn thing.

Service was below par all evening. We sat and we waited. And then, we waited some more for the waitress/bartender who was right in front, to notice us. It took her a while to find the drinks menu and even longer to find the food menu. Hey, it's a good thing I'm on Tinder because at least we could look at the choice of ladies in Montreal while waiting for our 'food' to come out. Tinder: you might find the girl of dreams while waiting an eternity for your food. That's a bad slogan. Hey, I'm on flu meds and feeling woozy. Don't judge me. Our water was barely refilled throughout the evening and although I totes understood the fact that they were really busy, I feel like the girl was not doing such a great job. Oh, and I should've been advised that there were going to be a sh*t load of Christmas parties because we would have picked another evening. I felt so bad: when we were leaving, the owner said he was sorry it was so busy and how did we enjoy the food. Yish.

And now, the scores!

Food: a very nice 4.5
Service: an even nicer 5.5

No.


Pub St-Paul Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato