Le Petit Sao

Le Petit Sao is the new little baby in Pointe St-Charles. You know how much I love babies! Well, AND new restaurants :) It's not the BEST location, located almost at the end of rue Centre in PSC. It used to be no man's land, but it's getting a bit more popular. A bit.

The place itself is supes cute, with a bit of a tropical feel (the best kind of feel!), vibrant colours and plants on tables and along the walls. It was empty when I went because, like an old lady, I was eating dinner at 5pm. What??? I was hungry!

I had the table d'hôte, which included a soup, an imperial roll, and a grilled chicken 'bun bowl'. I loves me a good Viet bowl. The soup was pumped with MSG, like my colleague Margo would say, but hey, no one ever died from MSG consumption. It tasted so damn good! It kinda created a layer on my palate, you know, the way McDonald's does?! Mmmya. The chicken was perfection, and the green onions added a bit of a tang :) I just love myself some good green onions. The noodles were also perf, not overly cooked. I hate overly cooked noodles. I also hate underly cooked noodles. Bah.

The roll was hot, but not scorching. It brought me back to my young days in St-Laurent, when my mom used to bring us to Chez Lien. OK, I would never go back there in a million years, but Chez Lien used to be good (and clean), once upon a time. The grilled chicken was perf and tender and, cringe, moist. I actually wrote in my notes that it was like meat candy. Haha. I could've done without the salad and I wanted more mint. Mint is such a key ingredient when it comes to Vietnamese goodness like this bowl! This is what you have to tell yourself: ALWAYS more mint. Always. I think you get the point. I really loved the marinated veggies and also appreciated the hot n' cold aspect of this dish. Mama likes a good mix! I asked for more nuoc cham, and the guy said 'sure, I'll bring more fish sauce'... and I was like, wait a second. He just needs to learn a bit more about the culture and the food, it's ok. HAHAHA, said the expert. OK, there IS fish sauce in there, but to just call it 'fish sauce' would be a mistake. AND I'm OUT! The noodles were good and, mixed in with that sauce, were even better. I'd put that sauce on anything: noodles, meat, boobs. You know.

Service was supes quick, but I only got water refilled at the end of my meal. The waitress even joked about the fact that she was refilling it at the end of my visit. Why? WHY would you joke about my water? GOD! Hahaha. I kid. But not really. Also, she kept on calling me 'ma chère dame'. Honey, I am not 70. I appreciated the politeness but it was too much!

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 7

I went back yesterday for a sick day lunch and it was quite satisfying! Can't say I won't go back a third time :)

Nouilles épicées/Spicy Noodles

I was hungover. I needed grease. The restaurants under the building where I work are limited. I went for some noodles. Thank you for reading this review. Goodbye. But seriously, this will be short n' not-so-sweet.

 

Not very much looks good at Spicy Noodles. What? I gots to be real here. My stomach didn't need the healthy stuff from Eden, the bio source of Galléries du Parc. It needed bad stuff. Very bad.

Vermicelli n' shrimp. There were no veggies. OK, there were 3 bean sprouts. Approximately. On the picture, there were lots of them. Damn it! The shrimp that were actually present, and there weren't many, were tiny and overcooked. Whyyyyyy? I asked for it to be spicy and at least they delivered on that front :) One good thing was the egg. It had a great flavor and totally went with that spicy side of it.

 

And now, the score! I KNOW you've all been waiting for it.

 

4.5

 

Every time someone at the office comes back with take out from this place, it doesn't look too good so I just don't know what came over me. So, no, I won't be going back.

Ps: A friend at work just told me that once, she actually brought the food back and asked for a refund. Ya, that happened.

Pho Bac 97

When you're sick, you need a couple things: your mommy, Perrier, lemon and ginger tea and a good soup. This is why, when I was sick as a dsawg last week, I went for some pho. I asked my Asian persuasion friend, Jer, who, coincidentally, is in Vietnam right now, where I should head for some good pho. He mentioned that Pho Bang New York is a fave but HIS fave (in Chinatown) is Pho Bac 97.

Pho Bac 97 is located at the end of Chinatown on St-Laurent. OK, saying it's the end of Chinatown ain't sayin' much; it's so small that it's like pretty much when you get in, you're out again. The place itself is like a lot of Asian restos: lots of tables, a tad crammed, pots on tables with chop sticks/napkins/sauces, no music. Basically, get in and get OUT!

The fillers, as I like to call them. Or... the garnishes? Whatever. That! The essentials, basically. Thai basil, bean sprouts, chilis and lime.

I had the #7, or the beef pho. The broth was just awesome and so damn meaty and oniony. You KNOW how I feel about ma onions! The meat had had too much time to cook in there, damn it! It would have been even better with it being a tad less cooked. The noodles were cooked to perfection: not quite al dente and not soggy either. Oh, and I practiced my noodle slurping technique! I believe Jer would have been oh-so-proud. The coriander was oh-so-fresh, which made it oh-so-yummy. Putting the thai basil, the bean sprouts, the hint of lime in there was just the cherry on top. Oh and don't forget the hint/heat of sriracha. YA BABY! What better thang to help my sickness? NOTHING! I obviously added some sriracha in there to make it spicy and also to sweat out all the sick! And it worked btw.

Service was very quick. It's like, you turn around and BAM, there's tea. BAM, garnishes. BAAAAM, your meal is there. Very efficient. It would have been nice to have water tho. I only thought about it at the end of the meal. I think tea is like water to Asians. And yes, I'm very deep. Totes. Oh I must also mention that when I went to pay, the man at the counter told me they only accepted cash and I was like DANG! He told me I could either take out some money at their ATM with mucho dinero charges OR come back another day! Uh, what? 152 points for niceness right there! Actually, going back tomorrow to pay the nice man. And trust me when I say I'll be giving a GENEROUS tip!

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 7.5

Well, obviously I'm going back. To pay AND to eat some more amazing pho!