Monday, September 24, 2018

Café Clarke

Café Clarke is a small and cute little café on Centre street in Pointe St-Charles. Let me make this clear, Pointe St-Charles has, like, one good restaurant worth the detour and that is Machiavelli. There are a couple other good spots like Miel and Bloom, but I wouldn't necessarily come from, let's say, the Plateau to eat there.

The now defunct Boulangerie Clarke in the Mile-End had a little baby. Frank Servedio, the owner, use to work at the boulangerie, which was owned by his parents. This is a big great family story! Café Clarke is basically a sandwich shop that serves awesome coffee (or so I've heard!). What differentiates them from other sandwich shops is the fact that their sh*t is fresh as can be. Sandwiches are made to order AND they cut their own meat. Hello. What a difference that makes!
The place feels very homey and warm. Feels like you want to bring all your friends there, you know? I also really loved the color scheme: green, white, and light, classic brown. Yes, 'classic' brown. It's a thing.
I started with the pasteis de nata, because it was already right there! I was a bit dispointed that it wasn`t A: made in house and B: not supes fresh. Obviously, it was a day old. I just went to Portugal, see. I KNOW what a day old pasteis de Nata tastes like. I am used to the yummy, crunchy, soft, pastry. Not the dry one. Don't get me wrong, it was still OK, but it just wasn't worth it. I got so excited! And then I got so annoyed. At them. For selling me a day old nata :/
La sandwich in a croissant! I loves me a good croissant sandwich! A good looking sandwich, without any fla fla. Dunno if that's a thang in English, but I'm dsoin it. It just means that it is simple. Thinly cut ham, almost like paper: THAT's the dream. The croissant was buttery and right about melted in my mouth. The only negative, if you can call it that, is that the tomato was a tad too juicy.

The only thing I'll say about the service (which was at the counter.. so I won't rate it), was that it took the dude a while to even say hello to me. Just say hello, and tell me I'll have to wait a couple minutes. GEEZ.

And now, le score!

Food: 6.5

Well, I'm bound to go back now, aren't I?! When it's only 15 steps away from where you live, you go back.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Sushi Pro

Everyone knows I'm a sucker for some good sushi. I'd even say that I'm a sucker for OK sushi. But do not fret, I know how to recognize it. I mean, as some of you may know, I rolled sushi for a good five years. For some people, that's, like, a quarter of their life. WHAT! I had a sushi craving the other day, so I hauled my ass supes close to my house to Sushi Pro, on Centre. Basically 200 meters from my place. You know, a long walk :o

I called to order because I was being super lazy: what's better than to order in advance so that everything is already packed and ready to go when you get there? I was ordering an avocado roll, a spicy salmon roll, a salmon nigiri and ---. That woman crushes my sushi dreams when she said 'no avocado roll, we are out'. How? How is that possible? Do NOT tell me that there aren't any more avos! So yes, basically their supplier had brought them unripe avocados. And they were paying the price. I remember, when I worked at Sushi Taxi, and I was ordering our supplies... the avocados were a very tricky game. How many do I want ripe, how many do I want almost ripe, and how many do I want green. They were supposed to have all three but it wasn't rare that they, themselves, didn't have any ripe ones. I had to do all the grocery stores in the area to find avocados. THAT was a pain in the ass.
The nigiri. Since when are nigiris sold separately (by Maden!)? By separately, I mean by unit. Who gets ONE nigiri? Well, except me, hahaha! Didn't they all used to come in a pair? Anyhoot. The salmon was ubes fresh, and the nig was well... nigged :p You could see she knew what she was doing.

The spicy salmon roll. I loves me a good spicy salmon roll! As with the nigiri, the salmon in this was melt-in-your-mouth fresh. And it had just the right amount of spice. I likes me some spice, but sometimes, it's like, dude, don't ruin it with too much.

The salmon kamikaze. Salmon, tempura, avocado, cucumber, goberge (apparently "pollock" in English?!?!), tobiko, some house mayo. House mayo= probs just mayo + sriracha or sambal. Maybe a bit o' yogurt. There wasn't nearly enough salmon in there. If you're not gonna put salmon in it, don't call it a SALMON kamikaze. Geesh! The flavours were all awesome together, and it was well rolled, i.e. it wasn't falling apart like some sushi I buy at the bio grocery store in Galéries du Parc.

And now, le score!

Food: 7

I'll go back next time I'm home and I have a craving, but I would prefer other places!

 
Sushi Pro Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Monday, September 10, 2018

Uncle Tetsu

Uncle Tetsu just recently opened in Montreal and it is EVERYTHING. Maybe not for you, but for someone who follows food trends and what have yous, it's somethin. Uncle Tetsu is over 30 years old and just made its entrance to Montreal, from Japan. Yass. Anything that arrives from Japan, I'm interested in. Well, except Pokémon. Anyhoot, when my friend Laura came over to my house last week, I immediately thought of this.

Uncle Tetsu is located in Montreal's second Chinatown, or Chinatown West, as some would call it. It's only a counter, with a big waiting line. OK, I went at an irregular time, so it wasn't very busy (only about 9 people in front of me), but usually they have a pretty legit waiting line overflowing on the sidewalk right outside.
We could almost say that the cheesecakes are made to order: all day, every day, the little worker bees (really seems like that) make those cheesecakes! Mine was EXTRA fresh because I got it off a new batch that was in the oven. And then they put the cheesecake (1 max per person!!) in a cute little box, and then a cute little bag. Uncle Tetsu's cheesecakes are made of cheese (duh), cream, milk, butta, sugar, flour, and lots of eggs. Actually, when you get inside the shop, it smells of cooked eggs. And then I thought about my past Asian dessert eating experiences and realized that they ARE more eggy than the usual dessert. This is not a regular cheesecake, people. It is a Japanese cheesecake. Basically, you can keep this cake at normal room temp for 24hrs or in the fridge for 72 hrs.
I found it cool, and also a nice touch that they put Uncle Tetsu right on the cake. As Laura said, 'I want him as a grandpa'. It had time to cool down between the time of purchase and the time of eating. I prefer my cheesecake cold anyway! Also, I have a feeling it would've tasted eggier when warm (let's face it, everything tastes more when warm or hot). One thing, out of many more complicated food reactions (OR footions... OR foodactions) of having more eggs in there is the fluffiness. You know what's better than fluffiness when it comes to cake? Nada. It seriously melted in my mouth. I'm totes serious about the melting, mmkay?! It was very tasty and not overly cheesy, and it wasn't as eggy as I would've thought. Or as I was afraid of. I didn't order an egg cake, damn it! Or, I guess that would be called an omelet. We kept on saying 'ok let's stop' or ' that's enough now'. 10 minutes later, it was gone. A gonner. Gonzo! Bebye. I would recommend this, but not to someone thinking they will get the traditional cheesecake. This is NOT the cheesecake you are used too, girl. Dsont dso it. Do it, if you want to try something new (and yummy).

And now, the score!

Le cheesecake: 7.5

I would definitely go back and buy one for a soirée or something like that. You know, to be that cool chick that brings Japanese cheesecake :) Let's face it, I'm ALWAYS that cool girl. OK, I'm not. Geez.

ps: Uncle tetsu also serves honey Madeleines, which looked oh so good (but I was there for le cheese)

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Barros Luco

One of my coworkers, who is Chilean, told me more than once that her and her mama's fave Chilean resto is Barros Lucco. When someone tells you this, you can't ignore it. You GO! And so, I went. With ma girl Clo!
 
Barros Luco is right on the corner of Fairmount and St-Urbain, a very busy intersection. The restaurant still manages to have TWO dining rooms AND a terrace. WHAT! Both rooms and the outdoor space seem kind of run down, or, I guess, were never new to begin with! It was somewhat dirty (ugh, the washroom), and the floor had a layer of I don't know what on top. Yikes!
 
We were going to share everything, because, damn it, that's how we do! We ordered a barros lucco (a typical  Chilean sandwich), the fried fish, and, to top it off, a churro, of course! Name me ONE person that can resist a churro. I dare ya.
The barros luco: beef, avocado, cheese and tomato. I like it when I order something with avocado, and there's actually avocado in it. Not a tiny piece or some kind of fake puree. Meh. The bread was like a cloud of butter. So basically the best kind of cloud. A fattening cloud, but a good cloud. The avocado was just the right amount of ripeness, which is always good in my book! The tomato was too juicy, and the meat was a bit dry. The cheese was a tad on the salty but we still liked it. I like it when it's cheesy. Ya, I'm like that. Although there were good aspects to this sandwich, the whole was a bit on the disappointing side.
Fried fish. It was a smart choice deciding to share this dish. DAMN! There were like 4 portions of fish on the plate. I TEND to exaggerate as you may know. The rice was, well, normal. Nothing to write home about. Salad: same. The fish was very moist, and the batter was thin, which is always appreciated. I felt like it could've been tastier. Again, butter was very present.
The churro! Mama likes her churros. I remember eating those in Spain. Ah, the life. The churro was good but there wasn't nearly enough dulce de leche in there. Obviously, knowing me, you know there's never enough. ALWAYS more dulce de leche please. Always.

Service was somewhat off the ball. Like, the opposite of 'on the ball'. The waitress barely spoke French OR English, so I had fun practicing my Spanish, but even then...At some point I think the language barrier was why we didn't get our churro in a timely fashion. Meh. And by the by, if you're looking for the Chilean mafia, they are located at Barros Luco. Hahaha!!! When I went to the washroom, they were all sitting at a table, whispering in Spanish, probably about killing some member of another clan. OR they were talking about the menu. OK, most likely just the second option. OK, it's 95% the second option.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6.5
Service: 6.5

I probably won't go back, but I AM open to eat more of that Chilean yumminess...somewhere else.
 

Barros Luco Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato