Milos

When a restaurant has a lunch special, you go. When a fancy restaurant has a lunch special, y'all have no choice, you freaking go! Actually, Jer bear, Lea and I were totes excited to eat at this Korean resto not far from Milos, but it was closed! Grrr. I hate it when that happens. We started walking towards St-Viateur and noticed Milos. Jer said 'hey, they have a lunch special. And so, Greek food it was!

The place itself is a bit, what's the word I'm looking for, fancy. Yep, it's totes fancy. Someone takes your jacket at the door, waiters wear long white aprons, the lunch table d'hôte is, yikes, 25$. Plus tip, plus taxes. OK, I guess I should've known; it's Milos after all! The place itself seems very grandiose once you get in. I felt a bit out of place (read: a lot). We were all wearing sweatshirts and I was thanking my lucky stars (yes, sometimes I do that) that I had decided against wearing my jogging pants!

They brought us some warm bread to start off with some very good olive oil. I loves dippin' my bread in olive oil.

My entrée was the salmon tartar. So good. So fresh! Perfect cut. Hallelujah! I've had a couple tartars that were cut way too big recently and it is just NOT the same. There was a tiny bit of spice in there; just enough to give it a nice kick. LOVED it. I love me some good kicks, you know? The sesame flat bread was an excellent vessel for the tartar eating. Mmmmmm. I might even go as far as saying that this one might just be one of the best I've had. Eva. Ya. I'm dsoin it.

The main. Now, this was my bad. MA. BAD. My friends laughed at my choice and I think they will, until I dsie. Who eats chicken in a restaurant? Well, in my defense, I hadn't eaten chicken in a whiiiile and I felt like eating just that! In hindsight, I should've chosen either the freaking lamb or the fish, but nooooo, I chose the damn chicken. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but it was still chicken. It was really moist and well charred. The grilled tomato, although a good idea (ish), was meh and left me really wondering why it was on my plate. The fries were a big disappointment: too soft and, well, old. The pita was good and fluffy, although it was a bit too charred. Basically, Jer bear compared this to when I ordered chicken pho: just not the good choice.

The dessert: baklava ice cream. This was very good. Little chuncks of baklava in there with a slight hint of cherry. Yum!

 

Service was right on the whole time. It was actually wow. Water: refilled. Crumbs on table: cleaned up with a ramasse-miettes (a little piece of metal that high end restaurants use to clean the crumbs off of the tables). Dishes: always in a timely manner. I actually wrote in my notes that the service was 'quick-ass'. Yep, that quick.

 

And now, the scores!

 

Service: 9

Food: 7 damn you chicken!

 

I think I'll go back, perhaps for dinner. Try a whole other level of fanciness :)  

Fieldstone

I was invited to try Fieldstone, a very new resto on the increasingly cool St-Laurent strip in the mile-end. This restaurant consists of very interesting and accomplished people: chef Yen worked at the El Bulli Foundation in Spain (HELLO!), and owner Emiliano, who really believes (as he should) that local is the way to go. They've been serving brunch and were inviting bloggers to try out their dinner menu! Don't mind if I do! I brought ma gurl Mar to this because, damn it, it was her turn.

Fieldstone has a floor to ceiling window, which makes you feel like you are entering someone's living room for some reason. Actually, the whole décor is pretty laid back, with some shelves, long mirrors, plants. Un salon, quoi! It was very zen. It was also very quiet when we got there: even making noise with our chairs while we sat down actually made us feel bad. As the evening went on, it got fuller and louder so we felt better about the volume of our voice.

Emilio welcomed us very warmly, especially since it was freaking freezing outside. You know, the first really cold night and your car is parked just far enough (1 block), that your extremities have time to get frostbite? I exaggerate, of course. He asked if we had any allergies and informed us that we would be served a three course meal. Yes. My kinda night out. Since we were both recovering from drinking nights (I had my very boozy Office Christmas partay), we stuck to water for once.

Amuse-bouche. I love that word. As Chandler says in Friends, "It is amuuuusing". Alright guys, I WARNED you that I would quote Friends every opportunity I have. #obsession. Kimchi and nopales dumpling. Ps: Nopales=cactus looking prickly pear. With me, you learn every day. And that's a promise! All this to say that the mix was not a good one. It was weird, but not in a good way. The kimchi was too present, and although I'm a huge kimchi fan, this did not work for me. The dumpling itself was also not on par. The dough was not cooked enough and lacked crispiness.

The entrée: pear and radish salad with sumac, tamarind, oka and pearl millet. Now THIS was quite a hit. The little tiny millet created such a big explosion of flavor in my mouth! Our eyes literally lit up. For serious yo! We immediately asked what it was so that we could organize a shipment :) This was such a weird mix but such a lovely one at the same time! The heat of the radish created quite a contrast to the pear, and the cheese was such a nice addition. The sumac and the tamarind added an extra level of flavor to make this dish one of the best entrees I've had in a while.

Le main: chicken with yucca and a very fine puree of coconut n'curry. My first question was this: oh, what kind of fish is this? HAHAHA!!! I then proceeded to hide my head in the sand. But for serious, it LOOKED like fish. It was boiled chicken. Don't get me wrong, it was the most perf poultry I've had in a while, but who boils chicken? I really liked the flavor of the yuca but wasn't too cray about the texture. It was, hum, filamenteux. Ya, I tried, there are no English translations. The puree right under was bang on. That's right. It tasted perfectly of coconut and curry. OR the best food pairing ever. It was the kind of dish that raised questions in my head. And in Mar's. It was good but we wondered why all these things were together in a dish. Also, why boil the chicken? WHY?

Palate cleanser. Wow, I haven't had one of those in a while! It was quince with some sparkling wine and guava. It was different and very good. I think Mar and I could have had one of those bad boys as an actual dish. For real.

Le dessert. Foie gras ice cream and the rest. Because what's more important than foie gras ice cream? For those of you who care, there was also meringue and some blueberries. The ice cream was super soft and thick and, I was going to add 'just melted in your mouth' but I think we all know ice cream tends to do that. The mix of ingredients had been carefully chosen and everything fit together perfectly.

Service was good as well. It would've made my profs at ITHQ proud. Water was always refilled, and we were asked if we enjoyed our meal a couple times during dinner. The girl seemed a bit weird-ish. She didn't smile much and she seemed even evasive at times. In the end, we did discuss with her about the resto and what they were doing so she seemed more like a human then :)

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 8

I think it's safe to say that we enjoyed our experience. I must say that we were still hungry after so we went to Cacique to eat Tequenos. BTW, this was a whole other WOW experience.

Kem Coba

I've been wanting to try this place ever since it opened...or so I thought! They opened in 2011 but they've only been on my radar since 2016! So whhheird!!! I need to get back into the ice cream game. Anyhoot, last week, I had a little soirée at ma man Chris' house with some lovely girls from work and we had some Kem CoBa ice cream for dessert. Lemme tell you, it was the cherry on top of a great night! Not many things better than eating awesome ribs for dinner and ice cream for dessert. Well, except for lobster

There are two chefs at Kem CoBa: Ngoc is a Vietnamese pastry chef that graduated from ITHQ, and her husband Vincent, a pastry chef from France. They make both sorbet and ice cream. They have about 5 or 6 of each and every week they have a special soft serve, half sorbet, half ice cream. Like raspberry sorbet and chocolate ice cream. Ya. Just imagine how awesome that could taste in yo mouth!

Chris went for the 72% dark chocolate ice cream. Yes AND yes. It was so chocolaty and thick and soft. Mmmmmmmm! The kind of good that when you take a bite, your eyes pop out of your head. Ya, that's right. I wanted more but I have to set myself some limits at SOME point! Of course, Chris added some langues de chat and some sweet raspberries to match the chocolate. Obviously one of the best food matches on earth.

And now, le score!

Food: 9

You don't even need to ask me... I'll fosho be back for their soft serve!!!

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!

Nantha's kitchen @ Fabergé

Fabergé is an awesome breakfast/brunch resto that just happens to have a chef serve up Malaysian food on Friday nights (https://www.facebook.com/nanthaskitchen/?fref=ts). Slow Down Papa is the awesome name Nantha is giving it, and I'll take it! Nantha being the chef, of course! He's been doing this for a couple years: transform an awesome resto into an even awesomer (yes, it's a word, I totes checked) one on Friday evenings.

Fabergé has a chill vibe with chill people. It's chill. Super chill. You feel like you're in a friend's living room kind of chill. It's white, with drawings on the walls, with white seats and lots of wood. The music that's playing is, wait for it... you guessed it... chill! As soon as you enter, you get hit by an Asian wave. You know, that one! That great smelling wave. I could ride that wave all day :p

I was there to take pics of the food in the kitchen and you know, eat the good stuff. Ah, my resto blogging job really does suck. Aaaaaand scene! Of course I'm kidding! I get to be invited to try food at awesome restaurants. Ya, that's pretty much the best damn job in my book.

Pad thai. Nantha made this especially for me: a very thin omelet that was wrapped around the pad thai. Like the most tasty gift ever. He said it took some time so that's why he just can't always do it. Usually, the egg is in there but in pieces. Just as tasty but not as pretty! The omelet itself was so thin, I wondered for a moment if it was a crepe! It was a tad cold which was unfortunate but the pad thai inside was hot and perfect. The noodles were done to perfection, the spices were all there, the coriander and the thai basil were just wow. Well, I'm biased because my all time fave herb is coriander. Ah, coriander and me: a love story. The sprouts were nice and crisp and the shrimp, albeit a bit small for my taste (y'all know I like huge 16-caliber shrimp), were cooked perfectly. The lime added some freshness to it and the level of spice was right on. Seriously: I would not have wanted it spicier nor less spicy. There were also shrimp chips in there! When I was in the kitchen, the cook showed me what they looked like before he threw them in the fryer! Increeeeeedible! All in all, I could say, without reservation, that it was the best pad thai I've ever eaten.

Service was great. As the place was filling up, the only waiter was still super chill! I would have shot myself 8 times in the head by then. He brought me a bottle of water and a glass of wine. The second one, he finished the bottle in my glass. Yes. That's what I like :) He came to check up on me a couple times, which was nice!

And now, the scores!

Food: 9

Service: 9

Awesome food was had. I'm going back next week and the week after that until Nantha can't cook no more.