Sunday, January 28, 2018

Le Well

Le Well is this cute-ass new resto on Wellington in Verdun and it was on THE list! I'm always in for a good brunch. ALWAYS. Especially during the week, when there are barely no brunch options in the city. Hey, mama needs to know she can have brunch any day of the week! So I headed there with ma girl Isa, last week.
The place is quite small, very bright, adorned with lots of greenery. Ceramic counter and wooden tables and chairs. And then, there was the music. Music from the most awesomest show, Broad City. Do you know Broad City? No? Well you should get on that. You're welcome.

The menu looked great, but a couple things jumped out at us. We were hungry. Very hungry. Starving, really.
Grilled cheese with braised beef, Dijon mustard, pickles, swiss cheese. I gotta say, I loves me a good GC. Ya, I'm SO cool, I can abbreviate everythin' now. Before getting this, we asked if it was going to be enough for our very empty stomachs and the waitress laughed a bit. OK, a lot. And she had reason to. When it arrived in front of us, we too laughed. How huge is this??? The meat was ubs tender and juicy, and the bread, perfectly grilled. The egg on top was just runny enough to envelop the whole thang when broken with a fork. Mmmmm... runny egg. The bread was just toasted enough without hurting my teeth (yes, I's gots bad, sensitive teeth), and the mustard gave it a nice tang. Isa wasn't super fond of the mustard being in there but I liked it. The pickles, well, let's face it, they are good in everything. The potatoes were a hit and miss: some were hot, some were not. Some were crispy, some, not so crispy. Basically, what was lacking here was a hot plate. When will people learn? Hey, if my step-dad can heat the plates before serving food, restaurants can. Thank you for listening.
El Pablo: fried chicken, avocado, lettuce, tomato, coriander, and egg on top. The chicken was a tad on the dry side, which is never what you want in chicken. Well, it's never what you want in any meat, really. The romaine was a bit meh, and the tomato sort of made everything a bit soggy. Who likes soggy? Not me, that's fosh (short for fosho, of course!). The coriander was good, as always (I'm sure you know by now that I'm NOT one of those people that find the herb soapy. Pfff, come on!!!) and the egg was perf.

Service was on and off. We got water very quickly and as ALL of you know by now, water is more important than the actual food. But not really. The only girl on the floor looked like she was struggling a bit, and it took a quwhile (yes, it's a word) to get our dishes. As in we actually had to get up to ask her when we would be able to order and then a while before we actually were able to eat. Eating is fundamental, ya see. I'm kidding, but NOT. She was really nice though.

And now, the scores!

Service: 7.5
Food: 7.5

I'm fosho going back. Did I mention it's one of the only brunch spots around ma place during the week? Mmmmyes.

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

Monday, January 15, 2018

Le Diplomate

I was looking for a new restaurant to write about and, let's face it, I really needed one: I like to have a couple reviews on the back burner, and that's how I feel safe. I've had nothin' on that burner for the past week and I was starting to go a bit cray. And so, ma gurl Clo and I decided on Le Diplomate, since it had gotten good reviews from her husband, who isn't a stranger to good food and good times. He IS the head mixologist at the Fairmount Queen E after all!

We headed to le Diplomate, a year and a half old restaurant in nowhere, Montréal. I kid, I kid. But not really. Seriously, it's in front of the Home Depot On Beaubien. AWESOME view. Hahaha! I mean, it is close to St-Laurent and little Italy and all, but for ME, it was waaaaayyy out of my way. This tells you how much I wanted to go! The door is almost camouflaged, and I walked right passed it. Clo stopped and was like dude hello. I gotta say it does not look very inviting from outside. It looks more like, what's the word I'm looking for? A prison. Yep, it looks like a full on prison.
When you enter the resto, it's a different feeling :) A long counter overlooks the kitchen, and only a couple tables surround it. We obviously wanted first dibs on what felt like the chef's table, so sought after in other restaurants . You get to see how the chef works and how everything happens!!! I LOVE that! We sat down and I immediately mentioned the music: 90's music from ma time. That made me very happy.
We started with some wine. Everyone should start a meal with some wine; this should be a universal rule. Almost without looking at the wine list (which is quite extensive, by the way), Clo said "we'll take a glass of orange wine". I was like WTF is orange wine. Turns out it's a thang, man! To sum it up VERY shortly, orange wine is a white wine with tannins. Read up about it here: http://winefolly.com/review/orange-wine/ It was sweet, it was sour. It was almost citrusy. A very nice and new discovery! It's rather hard to get: apparently some SAQ get about a case a week and an orange wine obsessed person just buys the whole thing ASAP. Some restaurants have it but they are quite rare. Orange wine is gaining in popularity, people. Sell it. Sell it good!
Our first bouchée was celeriac with green curry, coconut milk, and peanuts. This was such a great introduction to Le Diplomate!!! We had our first bite and were instantly wowed! That green curry made such an impact on our taste buds! It wasn't over curried, if that's a thing, and it legit tasted refreshing. It was like eating a nice curried noodle, but without the carbs! Such a great mix of flavours. The peanut offered a crunch to counterbalance the celeriac. Everything in this dish was on the damn ball.
Our second bouchée was eggplant, sesame, green onion, and gai choi. This was a hit and miss. Firstly, the colour wasn't ubs (uber, get with it) appetizing: somewhat grey. Grey food is not the best thing for the eyes, ya know? The eggplant was a bit mushy (technical word, of course) and unevenly salted. The rest was great and it was my first time eating gai choi, which, before rereading the menu, I thought was fennel. #dumbass It added the crunch that was much needed with that too-soft eggplant. Needless to say we didn't go cray for this.
We continued with the regular menu next. Brussels sprouts, tamarin and quinoa. This was another wow experience. Have you ever tasted quinoa foam? No? Well, we did! And it was magical. It legit tasted of quinoa and they added some acid and some honey to balance it. The brussel sprouts were perfectly charred. It was such a cute little dish and an awesome one at that. I'd go back every day only to have that bad boy.
Scallop with kohlrabi, daikon and peach. The scallop was raw, which, let's face it, is the best way to eat it. There were also camelina seeds, which are also called gold-of-pleasure. HAHAHA!!! These little balls of heaven taste akin to hazelnut. Mmmmm!!! Scallop and camelina: match made in nutty heaven! I didn't taste the dikon much and the kohlrabi was, on the other hand, a bit too present. Maybe it's because there wasn't enough scallop in there. ALWAYS put more scallop. ALWAYS. Or, you know, in a perfect world. I thought the kohlrabi tasted way too much like the celeriac, even though I am aware they are two different vegetables. The peach also wasn't sweet enough, so the point of putting it in there was sort of lost. All in all, not a big winner.
We had only ordered four dishes and had to order another one because we were still totes hungry. We had the salsify with cucumber, mint and black beans. I think I've eaten salsify once in my life so I had no basis for comparison. This was really good. It was good IN MA MOUTH. I loved the salsify: texture and taste were right on. The mint added a bit of sweetness and the black beans added a bit of a salty side to it all. The cucumber was perfectly cut in a perfect brunoise. It was perf. Did I mention the perfect cut? Mmmmya. All these ingredients went really well together. Who would've thought?
To finish off, obviously, we had to order dessert! They had three choices. We had the carrot semifreddo with spiced cake, chocolate and églantier. OK, apparently, 'églantier., in English is 'dog rose', but that's just weird. Anyway, moving passed it. The eglantine gave a punch of flavor and the semifreddo was just thick and carotty enough! Yum! The actual cake was unfortunately a bit on the dry side and the chocolate would have been much better on top than on the bottom. This way, it would have enveloped everything. Since it was right at the bottom, it was harder to get to while eating the dessert, and in the end, harder to... lick off the plate :)

Service was awesome when we first got in and as soon as it filled up, it became a bit slower. No wonder... they were only two! The woman was really sweet and smiley and the chef seemed really calm even when the resto filled up. He just did his thang. I give him props for bringing out dishes in such a timely fashion. We were asked if we liked our food and were offered dessert at the end of our meal. They answered all questions we had about our dishes.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 7.5

It's so out of my way that I don't see myself going back right now. Perhaps in the summer time when I won't wait FORTY minutes for the bus. Ew.


Restaurant Le Diplomate Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Friday, January 5, 2018

La Binerie Mont-Royal

Jer Bear absolutely wanted to go to La Binerie, since, like, the dawn of time. This was me all summer: 'dude, let's wait until it's colder'. Finally, as soon as the temperature hit 0 C, Jer wrote to me and said 'let's go!'. And so, to the binerie we went!
You get inside and man is it ever small. There are people seated at the counter on the right and people at the very small two-person tables on the left. We got the only free spot. This place could not be more traditional, with its rigodon music, and everything old, I swear it was almost like we were dining in les Filles de Caleb. OK, I said 'almost'. But it was seriously like we were going back in time.
I started with a nice pea soup. Yep, I was planning on farting all day. Oh, by the the way, I need to say 'I'm sorry' to my coworkers. Sooooo sorry. It was hooooot! It had the perfect texture and it had just enough salt to not be tasteless. Trop réconfortant! I got Jer to finish it for one reason only: the farts.
Meatball stew. Ragoût de boulettes. There aren't that many things more Québécois than this, I tells you. Mashed potatoes, veggies  and ragout de boulettes (with lots and lots and LOTS of gravy). The meat was perfectly moist (cringe-damn that word!) and the sauce, although a tad too thick (seriously, I think it was nearing the solid state) had a bit of cinnamon in it which was ubs nice. The potatoes were silky and buttery: just god damn perfect, really. The veggies were kind of an afterthought for me: why would you eat these if you can pig out on meat and gravy? Let's face it, not the most appetizing plate but damn it was it good (and filling).

My main Asian boy said 'jveux juste des fèves au lard'. The man looked at him like, dude, come on. And he then he offered him a piece of tourtière and his eyes lit up. By the way they make some mean beans. With a name like 'La Binerie', they have to, right? And that tourtière. DAMN! I think we both could've handled another piece of that heavenly meat pie. The spices were just right, the crust was perfect, and the meat was spot on. Basically all words that mean the same thing. Hahaha.
Pouding chomeur. This is a very important part of Québec's culinary history. Very. You find this in all the sugar shacks. Lemme just tell you that if it's not on the menu, it is not a real cabane à sucre. This was, hands down, the best pouding chomeur I've had. Eva. It was ubs sweet, just the way it should be! After all, it's not called pouding minceur, it's called pouding chomeur. get it? Ya, that was stoopid. Right after, the waiter brought us... cream! OK, it was 10% and not 35% (thank the little baby jesus). He said something like 'some people like it on their pudding'. I gave him AND Jer the evil eye and poured it all over. I likes me some cream on everything, yo!

Service was alright. Big smiles, very old school. Very. VERY. He didn't check up on us during the meal and our water was not refilled. But we did get our menu and food in a timely manner. AND, I mean, the cuteness on this old man was overwhelming.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 7

With the amount of farting that came out of this meal, I cannot guarantee I'll go back soon, but I will. Go back.


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