Queue de poisson

I loves me a good fish n' chips! I had already eaten at La Queue de Poisson a couple years ago but since I went with my aunt, I didn't write a review. Ya, I can be nice, you know! Anyhoot, Em and I were looking for a nice little lunch spot after gym one day and we didn't have to go very far. 28 steps to be exact. I am lying, of course.

The place is really cute. First of all, you feel like you're on a boat. I will forever remember the 'I'm on a boat' ad for Old Spice. I wanna watch it over and over and OVER. But enough about tv. They have about 30 seats and, as I mentioned, it was like we were in the ocean. Which, btw, is a pretty freaking good place to be. There was no music, but we didn't really care because we were right at the window, so we had some noise happenin' on the street. What's also very cool is that it's basically a fish shop. That's pretty damn awesome.

We shared one order of fish and chips, because a: we're poor and b: we weren't THAT hungry. We had the fried cod: moist AF and oh so tasty! We actually regretted sharing one portion of fish for a moment. Ya, it was THAT good. By the by, the fish was SO fresh: he legit took it from the display at the front and battered it up. The fries were crunchy and crispy and the salad was great. Yep. It's rare that I say that about a salad. It was just so simple and well done: lettuce with some marinated red onions and colored carrots. The carrots and the onions brought a bit of sweetness to it all and the vinaigrette was just present enough. All in all, a great little dish.

Service was OK. Took a while for him to take our order and then a while for us to get our meal. He was the only guy there AND he was taking care of the orders too, so I get it (but I don't). We had water quickly, so at least that's one good thing hahaha. He WAS a nice boy tho, very smiley, which is always appreciated.

And now, les scores!

Food: 9
Service: 6

Awesome fish n' chips: ya, imma be back!

Su

One of the few Turkish restos in Montreal, Su is gaining in popularity in Verdun. And they've BEEN gaining in popularity for a while! This is why, the other day, when ma gurls Mar and Al suggested we go there, I jumped on that sh*t.

The resto itself is bigger than I thought: it looks quite small from the outside! Once you enter, the décor, I found, was somewhat weird: the bar section has these very bright neon lights (I remember calling it hypnotic blue), a part of the restaurant looks more traditional, with lovely lookin' plates on the walls, and another part, looks modern. Quweird. It looked like quite the popular place, which actually surprised me; I had never seen anyone walk in or out of it!

Can you tell I looooved the plates?

The way it works is that they bring you some bread, things to put ON bread and a little salad and you choose your main. Quite satisfying for 16,50$/person!

I had a Turkish tea (black tea) because, well, I don't think I've ever had one before! I loved how it came in a glass! It was quite the warm-me-up!

SO, on the board: honey and kaymak, olives, tomato and ricotta salad, nuts and dried fruits, nut spread, homemade jams, warm bread. The honey and kaymak was perf and hit the spot. Many spots. For some reason, this sounds sexual... I swear it's not! Kaymak is, for a lack of a better explanation, Turkish crème fraîche. Ya, I think that's it. Just the mix of honey and kaymak was damn good, but dipping the chick pea bread in it? Hello. Oh, HELLO! Soft, thick, perf. The apricot jam, although not usually on my to-eat list, was damn fresh. Do we have apricot trees in Verdun? Sure seemed like it. The ricotta was soooooo good!!!! Just salty enough and melt-in-ma-mouth yum! So simple, yet, so good! The jams, although y'all know I ain't usually a fan, were right on and, again, so fresh! I actually ate some... drum roll please... without bread! There was also the tahini and hazelnut spread. Did someone say 'hazelnut'? Yes, yes I believe someone did! Hazelnut's rich and velvety loveliness just took over my mouth! OK, I'm becoming poetic here. Aaaaaand digressing. The nuts and dried fruits: it was more like oh look, there's something else here. Everything else seemed more important.

For my main, I picked the baked eggs and sudjuk (Turkish homemade spicy lamb sausage). I loves me a good sausage. Wait... that sounds like I loooove me a good sausage! Ya, I ain't afraid to say it! But enough about the penis (let's be honest...)! The sausage was great, albeit a tad dry. Reminded me of the Hungarian sausage I buy for my friend Lena when I go see her in the states: spicy and on the dry side. The egg was good, but even if I do prefer a runny egg to a hard one, this was just too runny. Don't get me wrong, it was lovely to dip my bread in, but when it's a runny white, it's too much for this girl.

Service was awesome, throughout the meal: seated right away, great waitress, explanations, answers, asks if we are pleased, water. As you may have noticed, I just felt like putting words together in a random order. Hahahaha. Don't judge, it's 5am right now.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 8.5

I might go back, you never know! Obviously, I still have 2500 brunch places to hit before I go back to the same one :)

 

 

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.

Les Street Monkeys

This restaurant JUST opened up on Wellington. And you KNOW I needed to go! Hello, a new Asian resto, a 6 minute bike ride from my place? Uh, YES! I was QUITE excited to try this gem. See, I knew it was going to be a gem because my fave boy from CEGEP, Mike, told me it was THE best Cambodian in town. Oh, did I mention he is Cambodian? Mmmya. So off I went with ma girl Margo!

This place is nothing like the other places on Wellington in Verdun: it's hip, it's cool, it's happenin'! It has roughly about 60 seats, with cement floors and a long bar. They serve up tapas style dishes. I loves me some good tapas because I like tasting every damn thing on the menu. OK, I MAY be exaggerating! Sheesh, I ain't THAT rich (I wish!).

We had to start with a drink, duh. They have a very nice, very original cocktail list so that pleased us right away. I likes me a good cocktail! I had the Mango Monkey Mojito. The triple M! OK, no, that's not what they call it. Although it was a tad too much on the sweet side, it was lovely nonetheless. The Thai basil in there was so refreshing and the mango flavor was oh-so present!

Shrimp ceviche with wasabi. Wow oh WOW! Did I say wow? Yes, yes I believe I did. As soon as we took the first bite, our eyes started watering, and Margo's cold went straight out the window. I believe I actually wrote this in my notes: "Margo is dying". F*ck that was HOT!!! Just thinking about it now, my eyes are watering. I SWEAR! The shrimp were perfect (y'all know I loves my shrimp!) and the wasabi was a perfect match.

Poisson Amok. Le fish. Oh. My. Bejesus. This was like a gift sent down from heaven. Heaven I say!! It was crunchy, yet soft. It was oh so tasteful with the lemongrass hitting your palate like a ton of bricks. Ya, that much. The fried taro on the side added crunch and even if it was fried, it wasn't oily at all. Just the way I like eating fried stuff! I HATE it, nay, I LOATHE it when it's oily. Ew.

Chicken skewers with Khmer spices. You know when you eat peeeerfectly cooked chicken? Do you even know how good that is? OH, iz good! Perfectly grilled, perfectly cooked, perfectly chickened! The spices were perfect too. Oh, did you notice I wrote 'perfect' more than once? That's because it was damn PERFECT! Juicy, tasty chicken that literally melts in your mouth!

Beef laab. Yes AND yes! A little lime vinaigrette, thai basil, rice powder, galanga, dried peppers and fish sauce. Mmmmmmmm! That's what I'm talking about! All those flavours together definitely equaled a big win in ma mouth. So fresh. The lime brought out all the flavours, the rice powder gave another texture to the dish and the galanga was just a great surprise that my taste buds appreciated to the fullest. Everything went well together. Ah man, I want to eat more. NOW!

Beef skewers with Khmer spices. Super tender and super well seasoned. Oh, those Khmer spices, how I love thee.

Portions were a bit small, we thought. Yes, they are tapas, but the shrimp and the beef laab were way too small. And when it is SO good, you always want more!

Service was very good at first: we were seated in a moment, quickly got water and our waitress was uber nice and had a huge smile on her face. And then it got later and later and the restaurant got fuller and fuller and the service got slower and slower. That's the big challenge: how to maintain the same quality of service throughout the evening.

And now, the scores!

Food: 9
Service: 7

Duh, I'm going back fo shizzle! AND I'm telling all my friends.

 

J'm la frite

Sometimes, I just need some good fries. And where else to go but J'M la Frite? OK, that's a stupid question... there are a LOT of places to hit up some good fries in Montreal. In Verdun and Pointe St-Charles only, there are about 12. I am not even kidding.

As soon as I entered the resto, I somewhat regretted it. Everything was soooo old. And dusty. AND old. The décor is really lovely though. OK, I'm clearly kidding. Everything should be changed. Everything. Ugh. I'm sorry, but those fake flowers have been there fore roughly 10 to 20 years. They have accumulated so much dust that the dust has become an extension of said flower. The peach walls hurt my eyes, and the frames on the walls were so damaged by the sun and time that the pictures had almost disappeared. True story. Everything is rickety and the whole place would need a hell of a makeover. Example: when the guy sitting in the booth in front of me moved, I moved. Yish!

I was there to eat the fries of course. I tried to order merguez sausages but they didn't have em'. You know when you want to order something and you're excited about it and they're out? Sucks.

So, I had le burger and les fries. The potatoes were perfect. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside! The meat was a bit dry and it was a basic, really basic, uber basic burger. Oh and to top it off, a nice little Kraft Single in there. Aaaand I was 5 years old again. Needless to say the burg (ya, I'm using 'burg' now) was a letdown.

Service was ok. I guess. The guy clearly did not belong there. I would have seen him more as a bell boy for the Ritz. He was forty ish and French and, well, I don't know why, but it was whhheird. He was not very present and seemed to spend most of his time either in the kitchen or seated in a booth at the entrance.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6 Fries save the day again!
Service: 5.5

I can tell you I shant go back. I don't even need to think about it.

Ruff Haus

Ruff Haus is the new dog café in Verdun (so new that they don't have a real sign yet...). I happen to be good friends with the owner of the first one in Montreal, Le Doggy Café, so it was great to be able to compare them. I loves me a good resto comparison. I strive on it. I live for it. I'm totally exaggerating. Big time.

Ruff Haus is located in the old Jo Blo, which had a very eclectic décor. Well, you know what? Ruff Haus kept the EXACT same décor. Jo Blo was somewhat of a steak house with very dark walls (some might call them black), big couches, two life size horses with stuff written on them like the name of the old restaurant, and frames on the walls of pin up girls and what have you. The only dogs on the wall were at the front and they were, well, ugly. I'm sorry, I don't like ALL dogs and they were those small dogs that just do nothing, you know! Anyhoot, needless to say that this wasn't my most liked decorated place.

They have a liquor license, by the way, which they probably also kept from Jo blo, hehehe. I'm kidding, you can't do that! Oh and I must mention that it was written on their facebook page AND on google that they were opening at 10am but they ended up changing it to noon. Lucky me, I passed by after gym, saw it was still closed at 10h30am and called closer to noon when someone picked up. When I got there, at least 4 or 5 people were waiting up front. Not cool. 

Comparison to be made: at Le Doggy Café, dogs can roam around freely, they can make new doggy buddies and frolic around like it's 1999. In this resto, dogs have to be kept on a leash, which makes things a tad less exciting. I thought this was about laws and licenses and what not but my friend told me it's a choice! What fun is it for a dog to be amongst other dogs if they can't play together? What was nice though is that as soon as you sit down, they bring a little bowl of water for the doggies. We were there for a while and they never asked once if the dogs should go outside to pee. Actually, we saw them pick up the pee of a couple dogs. It happens, I know. It would happen less if they would mention the outdoor peeing.

Their menu is all over the place. I'm talking like Italian meets Korean, or Chinese meets Caribbean. Ya, ALL over the place! Example: they have an item on the menu that comprises of fried chicken and waffles AND mac n' cheese. What? They have bagels, they have crepes, they have the popular avocado-on-toast and then they have lentil soup, hummus, corn dogs and sides of marinade, extra veggies, extra fruits, and smoked meat? I just don't get it. I had an even weirder dish...

Polenta with a poached egg, ham, cheese and red pepper coulis. Weird sounding, right? Right. There were some crunchy parsnips on top which were sweet but a tad over fried. Parsnips are SO in right now. The egg was perfect. I loves me a perfectly seasoned egg! The coulis was a bit grainy although it strangely went well with the rest of the dish. The polenta was a PLENTY. Dsamn! I swear, this is how it went down: 1st guy: 'How much polenta should we put on the plate?' 2nd guy: 'THIS much.' 1st guy: 'A tower of polenta it is then!' Ya, a tower. I swear it was 6 inches high. And by 'I swear', I mean 'around' 6 inches. The polenta was cheesy and crunchy on the edges but there was just too much of it! On the other hand, there wasn't nearly enough ham. There were only tiny little pieces of it. Meh.

Service was good. They checked on us, they brought us AND the dogs water and they were patient enough to wait for us to order because we were waiting for a friend.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7

Service: 8

Obviously, I'm biased (and damn it, I tried not to be!) but I'll go back to Le Doggy Café before I return to Ruff Haus.

 

Sweet Lee's

Last week, I was sick as a dsawg. You know why? Because I hang out with cute-ass kiddies that go to daycare. OK, those kids are my nephews. I just can't stop myself from sharing food, getting/giving kisses or anything else that includes germs. Every time I get serious sicknesses, I know who to blame. Coincidentally, I can always trace it back to a couple days prior, when I saw them last.  Oh, and did I mention I'm almost out of sick days at work because of those cuties? Yep.

After going to the clinic last week, I felt like eating something, but I didn't really know what to put in my mouth. NO, that was not sexual. You never know. So I thought maybe something sweet would make my stomach happy. I googled 'patisseries in Verdun' and the first thing that popped up was Sweet Lee's. Sounds sweet enough!

This cute little place is located pretty much right in front metro de l'Eglise, not far from my second home, le gym. You go in and they have a counter for dem pastries and one for coffee. It's St-Henri coffee so that's AWESOME.... apparently. I dislike coffee to the highest level of hate so I can't say nothin' bout that, but I KNOW peeps go cray for this coffee. What I was looking for were pastries.

The coconut meringue. Coconut? Yes. Meringue? YES! It was soft and flaky although I like my meringue EXTRA flaky! My grand-mother used to make the perfect chocolate chip meringue. Ah, the memories! I have a feeling the coconut made it a bit stale for some reason. Maybe not stale, but at least dry. I mean, it was nice, and y'all know how much I like coconut, but it wasn't my all time fave meringue.

The dark chocolate, maple, cranberry fondant. Imma say yes. Imma say a BIG yes. Imma... you get it. I absolutely LOVE fondants. Love em, love em, love em. Although the girl at the counter warmed it up, it still wasn't hot enough for my liking. But who CARES! OK, I did a little bit, but the flavours more than made up for it. The sweetness of the chocolate and the tartness of the cranberries were a marriage in pastry heaven. A perfect match, one might say. The crust was right on and the maple syrup, not overpowering. It was heavy as shiz but I didn't expect anything less from a fondant.

Service was good. Well, it was counter service. She DID come to my table to bring me my fondant. And for that, I will LOVE HER FOREVER.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 9

Before you ask, yes, I'll totes go back. Perhaps for a different fondant! Who knows!?

Jackie et France

I'm on a mission. Well, let's face it, I have many missions when it comes to restaurants: finding the best ramen in Montreal, and visiting every Asian resto in the city. But I'm also on a mission to eat at all the breakfast spots in Verdun/Pointe St-Charles/St-Henri. I go out quite a lot with my dad for breakfast and I always choose a new spot :) Well, it was Jackie and France's turn!

Looks SO empty. Of course, I had to take a picture of the only tables without patrons.

I asked around to see where we should go, mostly because I'm running out of restaurants in the area. Jackie et France is a very homey, Acadian (yay!) breakfast and brunch place on Bannantyne. We arrived at around 8, you know, the normal breakfast time for my dad and I. We had a very nice welcome by the waitress (I wouldn't expect anything less in an Acadian establishment) and were seated right away. The place could use a little sprucin' up, with the old curtains, tables, chairs. The walls also looked a bit on the yellow side. Perhaps a new coat of paint? Looking around, all the clients looked like regulars, and I know there are a lot. Actually, the people that I know that have been there are ALL regulars.

The ham omelet. Run of the mill. You know what, I've become quite the difficult breakfaster-bruncher. Not uber fond of the 'regular' foods aka simple omelet, potatoes and a couple slices of fruits. I'd rather eat original breakfasts, you know? My friend Jer DID mention that they sell 'guédilles', which, I must admit, I had not noticed on the REALLY BIG menu (seriously, it was like a menu with 98 choices from an Asian resto). Aight, so, the omelet was a tad on the dry side o' things BUT hey, I was happy with the quantity of ham in there! The beans were p-e-r-f-e-c-t! I'm a sucker for good beans, like any good Québécois should be! The cretons were smooth and stuck to the roof of my mouth like any good cretons should! Mmmmm! I ate mine AND my dad's. Yes, I'll eat MY food and YOUR food! They reminded me of tante Berthe's cretons: you had to be there (my dad's ex' aunt from Québec city from, like, 25 years ago!). The potatoes were perfect until I ate a hard one and it got stuck in ma teeth. Uncooked potato ain't cool man. Not cool.

Service was good. Food came out extremely fast. So fast that I wondered how in the holy hell they had put those dishes together that rapidly. She did not ask whether we liked our food or not and we had to ask for water. Grrr. There was only one waitress for the whole dining room so shizzle was left on tables for a while. Dunno how I feel about dirty plates at the next table chilling there for 30 minutes.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6.5
Service: 6.5

I'm on a quest to try every breakfast hot spot in Verdun. And THAT is exactly what imam gonna dso.

Viet Express

I was walking along Wellington Street in Verdun the other day, you know, shoppin'. And by shoppin', y'all KNOW I mean looking for restaurants. I don't necessarily want/need to go to the most popular/talked about restaurants. Actually, most of the times, I just want to do they opposite! Hey, I became the number TWO blogger by going to random restaurants and not by going to the newest places or the ones with celebrity chefs. That's just the way I dso shiz.

Viet Express is one of the new babies on Wellington, a very bustling and ever-developing street in Verdun (ps: Verdun rocks). It's almost like Notre-Dame West where there's a new restaurant every freaking week (ya, that's a fact). Anyhoot, I found this tiny place and, being half-Asian and all, I was automatically drawn to it. Tiny: 4 seats and very narrow. They have a tiny altar for Buddha and his friends on the ground, that is actually embedded in the counter. Wow, Buddha be special. They sell other things like Pocky (yes!) and Pringles (what?).

I knew exactly what I was having: something I had many times before at marché Hung Phat (oh how I love thee): grilled chicken with vermicelli + veggies with some nuoc mâm (a fermented fish based sauce). YES. For me this is some kind of heaven. I gotta say it was not nearly as good here. Don't get me wrong, it was aight, but the meat, although nicely grilled and tender, lacked in flavor and seemed a couple hours too old. The vermicelli, a tad on the overcooked side. The veggies were nice and crunchy and slightly marinated which was AWESOME in ma mouth. The green onions, like the chicken, seemed a bit on the old side. I loved all the different textures though. I just love putting everything together and mixin' it up. THAT is what I like. And then, drizzling that lovely sauce on top. YES!

Service was good. I had it as take out because of 2 reasons: a: I was in a hurry and b: I think I would've taken up the whole sitting space with my gym stuff. Took about 10 minutes to get my food. I just kept on looking at the girl preparing it, with her long black hair dangling over my food. Ugh. Trust me when I say I looked for hair while I was eating.

And now, le score!

Food: 6.5

Lots of places to try. Yep.

Baguette Cali

I would eat banh mi every freaking day if it weren't for the massive (yes, I'm going there) amount of carbs in that bread. DAMN that bread! Baguette Cali is strangely located: in a Thai Express. Except for the fact that both are Asian (I should write 'ish' for Thai Express), they have absolutely nada in common. NADA! I would NEVER eat at Thai Express (Disclosure 1: I've eaten there once, never again. Disclosure 2: also why I didn't want a pic of the resto!).

I spotted this place when walking to and fro the gym. Located on Wellington, it's about 2 blocks from my gym. Ever notice how I always describe restos in Verdun with how many blocks from the Énergie Cardio they are located? Yes, I'm that obsessed. So, you enter the restaurant and you look to the back, far far away. And then you see a little Asian woman and she has the cutest, most welcoming smile. Go to her. Oh, you go to her.

They have other stuff but I was there for dem banh mi. They do have quite the selection so I asked the woman what I should have. She said they are all good. I refused. She then suggested the Spécial Cali.

Pâté, ham and pork. Double pig; I love it. Obviously, there was the usual coriander, daikon, carrots and some mayo type sauce. Let's just say that for a girl that watches her carb intake, I did NOT watch my banh mi intake. I pretty much inhaled it. As in 'breathe in, breathe out'. Apart from the fact that there was a tad too much sauce in there, it was amazeballs. That's correct. She had asked if I wanted it spicy. How is that a real question? But seriously. She put some hot peppers in there and as I was eating my way through the sandwich, I found that the couple peppers were few and far between. And then, I hit the motherload. Tears came a-flowin'. But apart from the tears, all the other ingredients were perfect. The slightly marinated carrots and daikon were pretty much out of this world (yes, I'll go that far) and the meat was awesome. I can't say for sure which meat was what but I do know it tasted good. The meat that was most likely pork (I need a meat class) was a tad too fatty for me but added a sh*t load of flavor in there. Oh and there was cucumber that added a nice crunch and some freshness to it all. We DO like it fresh!

Service was fast AND happy! Not much more to say... I had it as take-out.

And now, le score!

Food: 8.5

Knowing myself, I'll try other banh mi places but this place was too good for me not to go back!

Palais d'Ajit

NOT my best pic

Every time I went to an Indian resto, I always went back to the same one: Bombay Mahal on Jean-Talon. Every.Time. And I call myself a restaurant blogger! Pfff! I've been eating lots of Korean food, Japanase food, Chinese food, but Indian food? Scarcely. Yes. I used the word 'scarcely'. And I LOVE Indian food. On top of it, it's really like I'm doing it on purpose to not eat at Indian restaurants, because I have two perfectly good ones about a two minute walk from my place. I really do try.

Alex from work has visited le Palais d'Ajit a couple times and suggested we went there so I was totes in. I had a MAJOR butter chicken craving. And that ain't a craving you shake off. As soon as you enter, you notice that A: there are too many tables and that B: they are understaffed. OH, they are staffed good (I can say that!) for now, but in 10 minutes, when it'll get busy, they'll be in sh*t. And I'm all for 'the more tables we have, the more money we'll make but there's a limit to the madness. It was so tight that I had no room to get out from behind the table at the end of my meal. It was either go under the table and play peekaboo with Alex (which, in hindsight, could've been fun :p), or put my ass in someone's plate. Let's face it, neither my ass nor the people eating would have appreciated that. Thank goodness our neighbours were nice enough to get up and let me pass on their side!

The place itself looks like a lot of the Indian restaurants out there: kind of run down, yellow and brown with some more yellow-ish tones on the walls, a tv or two and some quick and rather bad service. Elephants, and lots of Hindu type-o-things (let's face it, not sure what those things are) hung out on the counter at the far end of the restaurant where you pay. Oh, but this place. This place had somethin' else. This place had Bollywood. Oh yes it did! Alex was right in front of the tv and pretty much had her mouth opened in awe the whole time. Because of this, I almost had my head permanently turned, which is probably how I got this crick in my neck :p But seriously, dem peeps are skilled fo shizzle! That choreography! Those 150 backup dancers!

I had what I've had many times: the non-vegetarian tali. Which, I must point out, was about 9 bucks or something ridiculously cheap like that. Basically, a mix of Indian goodness. You've got le butter chicken (for me, the pièce de résistance), the tandoori chicken, potatoes in a yummy stock, rice, salad (oh-so not necessary), nan bread (hello!) AND papadum, my favourite new thing. Let's start from the lower left and make our way clock wise! They were heavy, but that's how I always feel 'bout potatoes. They were bathing in some kind of stock which made them quite tasty. The perfect level of seasoning was used. Tandoori chicken was tasty but was slightly dry. The butter chicken didn't really meet my expectations, sadly. I mean, I LIVE for butta chicken when I go to Indian restos. The chicken wasn't... buttery enough. Not rich enough. Not good enough, damn it! The nan was heavenly. OK, so there's heaven, right? And then, well, there's the nan bread. And THEN, you put em' together! I had to stop myself #carboverload. It was just so fluffy and soft and, well, absorbant! Hahaha! What's better than nan bread? Dipped nan bread! Oh, and there was papadum. It is crisp, very thin, made of flour and chickpeas. This one had fennel seeds in there. It was quite lovely. Especially dipped in shtuff like the butta sauce! The rice was a tad dry and since I was apparently going cray cray on nan, I wasn't gonna eat that much rice #supercarboverload. That salad was there for no reason, like most small, tasteless salads made of iceberg and cabbage. USELESS. OK, I'm OK.

Service was meh. So meh that Alex gave it a 2 but I thought that was a tad exaggerated. First of all they shifted us twice because they had bigger groups coming. Second of all, the waiter gave me my thali while the plate was f*cking burning hot. Thanks for that second degree burn. The wait staff was not  looking very happy. Understandably... they were two for, at some point, about 60 people. I would not be smiling either. As Alex put it: the experience could be summed up like this: awesome Bollywood, very precious water. Hahaha!!! We had to run after the waiter with our hands up to get more. I hate asking for water, and you know it!

And now, the scores!

Food: 6
Service: 5

I really enjoy Indian food. Not sure if I'll go back because as much as I enjoy it, I do NOT enjoy bad service.