Nacarat

Ma girl Clo's husband is none other than the head mixologist at Nacarat. Hello. Obviously, this place was bound to be on my list! We had gone to the official re-opening of the Fairmont Queene a couple weeks prior and I had gotten a glimpse of Nacarat. And I loved it.

Nacarat looks ubs fancy from the outside and, you know what, it's ubs fancy from the inside too! Classic everything. Just classic! Marble counters, elaborate drinks, leather seats. You feel a bit like you are in Mad Men. And that's not a bad place to be! Save for all the cheating and the conniving. You know.

We were ready to be wowed by those awesome drinks we were promised. OK, promised is a big word, but Clo had told me a bit about them and, by looking at the menu beforehand, I was expecting some goodness.

I started with the Mr. White: vodka, apricot, Grand Marnier, vanilla, tonic. This was a perfect drink: sour and sweet at the same time. I drank it in 2.5 seconds AND ate the confied orange on top. Hey, I guess I was hungry too!

The Negrogen: mescal, cognac Hennessy, bitters, vermouth, amaro. What a freaking presentation!!! When it arrived, our mouths legit dropped. It was in this glass box filled with smoke, and when they opened it, it was basically a smoke show. WHAT!

A ribbon of chocolate on the inside of the glass made for an even nicer presentation. It was UBS strong. Wooooow! I drank it very slowly haha. I think the mescal got to me, man. It got to me. With all that alcohol, no wonder these cocktails range from 16$ to 24$ a pop.

Service was great! It sort of works like in a restaurant with the order being taken by the bartender up front and then everyone putting in their ingredient. Exactly like working the line in a kitchen. It works like a charm and it makes for perf drinks every time. Service was quick and professional. The only thing that sucked a bit during this experience was that we were sitting on the 'bad' side of the bar, where all the bottles were. We felt like we didn't get the whole experience.

And now, the scores!

Drinks: 9
Service: 9

Of course I'll be going back. You ALWAYS go back when you know the head bartender :)

Cartel

A couple weeks ago, we were celebrating the fact that a friend of ours was back from Kuwait for 6 weeks (yay!) so we were heading to Voro. Turns out, it was all reserved with about a 45 minute wait. I don’t think so. So, we walked along Fairmount and found Cartel in the Mile End.

There weren’t many people in there so we were hesitant at first but still went in (actually, there were about 5 people). The place has a loungy feel to it. It had ‘happenin’ music’ with about 100 seats. Oh and there seemed to be a couch on the ceiling ?! Weird.

The menu was all over the place: quesadillas, lobster rolls, meat, poutine. It was a mix of Mexican/Japanese/Canadian.  I usually don’t tend to appreciate mixed restaurants (I’m SO restaurantIST), but this one turned out to be ok. And their theme was ‘street food’… so the mix of different foods was understandable. 

I had the duck quesadillas. I see duck on a menu, I have duck. It's that simple. The duck turned out to be a tad dry but there were really good flavors in there and amazing guacamole! Careful, the hot sauce (on the side) is damn hot. I was happy with the portion: it was quite big, for my big appetite!

The service was good. The waitress knew what she was talking about and opened the wine very well (I always look at this part of the service, don't ask). She was friendly and knew her shhtuff. On top of it, when we asked for the bill, it took about 3.5 seconds to get it. I guess the fact that there were about 12 people when we left kind of helped!

And now, the scores!!!

Food: a generous 8
Service: 8,5

Don't be fooled by the fact that there's no one in this restaurant. It's worth a try!!!