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!

Montreal Pool Room

It was time for lunch with ma Jer bear again and he suggested Montreal Pool Room, 'Montreal's classy greasy goodness'. I am not a HUGE fan of the whole pataterie craze, but as he said, they were the FIRST one in Montreal, opened since 1912! Dang! It was definitely worth the go then! I was convinced in 2.5 minutes.

Montreal Pool Room has how many pool tables, you ask? Zero. None. Nil. Apparently they used to have some in the good ol' days but those days are long gone and they kept the name. As soon as you enter, you KNOW they've been there for a while. And you KNOW you'll get a good dog. Yes, I'm so cool that I call a 'hot dog', a 'dog' now.

This place looks uber popular amongst everyone, of every age. Old guys that used to go there with their parents in 1945, teens that are hanging out near that corner, middle-aged adults, and I'm sure you'll see some prostitutes and strippers at some point during the day/night! It has lovely pastel walls with frames that have been there for a long while, maybe since forever even. Maybe since the dawn of time, who knows.

I think the coolest thing there was THE CLAW!!! You know, like in Toy Story! What? I like a good kids' movie, ok?

I had one hot dog steamé because I damn had to, and also because when I told Jer I was gonna have two grilled and he judged me with his eyes first and then he judged me verbally. SO, I had one grilled, one steamé and some French fries. Well, they were the best hot dogs I've had in a long time. The grilled one was nice and crunchy and the steamé one, dare I say it, was nice and steamy. The fries were really perfect, especially when we added paprika (didn't know that was a thing!) and a bit of vinegar! The onion rings that Jer bear had were crunchy and onion-ring-perfection but there weren't enough, I found. We saw some men that were obviously regulars that would put a fry or two right ON their hot dog. Hum. Obviously, we had to try it. And I think this should be on the menu. Or, you know, you can just take a fry, add a fry :p

Service was grumpy, but I expected nothing less. Just crack a little smile, will ya? No? Oh, okay.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 5.5

I've tried it and now we can move on to another restaurant :)

Dirty Dogs

Another day, another lunch date with Jer bear. This time, we decided to go non-Asian. I know, I know, it's suuuuper surprising! We wanted to go to the Just For Laughs restaurant on St-Laurent BUT it was closed. We have such luck with restaurants: some are closed for private events, some... are just closed.

Dirty dogs is a new-ish sort of cantine/pataterie. It has vibrant red chairs, a chill ambiance and Bob Marley playing. My kind of place. The only thing missing was the wacky tobacky (yes, I can call it that because I'm OLD).

One of the best thing was a wall filled with celebrities eating hotdogs and hamburgers, including our beloved little Canadian megastar (I think it's safe to call him that), Justin Bieber. We obviously had to take a pic.

The menu is quite extensive, offering up lots of burgers, hot dogs, fries, onion rings, etc. Staples with a twist. I had Le Boss: Dr Pepper chili, chopped onions, orange cheddar, coleslaw, sausage, and Dirty Dogs mustard. Because what good pataterie doesn't make their own condiment? The fries were nearly perfect: hot and crunchy!! The coleslaw was a tad too sweet for me (and for Jer bear) and the mustard was great and not too hot, although I do appreciate a hot mustard from time to time. Yes, I like it HOT. The chili was on the awesome side of things: the Dr Pepper made it a bit sweet and the meat was very well seasoned. The pork sausage was very moist and not dry at all (hello, opposites!). I just hate a dry sausage. Wait, this sh*t just got sexual. I retrieve my last comment. I thought that the bread could have been grilled; it would've made the whole thing much better. I mean, who likes eating soggy bread? WHO? I demand to know! With all the juices in there, it started falling apart quite quickly.

Service was meh. We were seated right away, but let's face it... not too hard to do when there's only one occupied table. We didn't get our water refilled and the service was quite slow when it came to getting our food. Did I mention only 2 tables (including ours) were occupied? Yes, yes I did.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 6.5


 

Archibald

Life is hard and Daiz and I were heading to Brussels to see our home girl Ju on my passes. Yes, I'm THAT person now. We used to be so annoyed at my bro for working for Air Canada and travelling around the world left and right. Well, baby, now it's my turn!

We had quite a while before our flight and Daiz was starving (and I can always eat), so we decided to hit up Archibald because it looked so damn charming from the outside. It was like entering a nice middle-of-the-woods cottage. It was borderline Christmasy for me but I ignored that fact. There were (hopefully fake) moose heads, some tartan placed here and there, big comfy sofa chairs and wooden walls. You know, like a real cottage. Very warm. Very cozy. It was a very big restaurant. Huge, really.

We started with a deer tataki. Fitting, right? See a deer, eat a deer. It was very fresh (which is usually what you want in a tataki) but pepper was a bit too present and I had a hard time breaking down the bigger pieces because of too much sinew in the meat. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't le best. Good thing about this dish was that mesclun (argh) was nowhere to be found, it was arugula. YES! I win! The peppery taste of the arugula went very well with the peppery sauce on the deer. Deeeeeeeeeeer. I just love me some good game meat, you know? OK, I'm sorry, vegetarians. I feel some comments coming my way.

I had the frites cochonnes or dirty fries. Diiiiirty. Between you and I (and everyone that reads this blog), nothing about this dish screamed 'dirty'. The fries were, for a lack of a better word, mushy, the peppers were too big, even for a giant, the lardons were good but few and far between, and there was a pool of grease under all this shtuff. There were two different mayos: regular and spicy. But the fries were so on the opposite realm of crunchy that dipping them just made them even more unpleasant. Oh and they put sage in there. Who puts sage in anything but meat? Who puts sage in anything, for that matter?  Daiz said that it would be the thing you'd eat if you were dying of hunger. Yish.

Fondant au fromage. This was good: crunchy on the outside, uber soft and cheesy on the inside. It reminded me of when I was in love with parmesan fondue. Ah, the good ol' days.

Service was good. We were quickly seated at the first table by the entrance which was just perfect. He checked on us, gave us water and was a good little boy. Hahaha! Sorry, but I felt like we were being served by an adolescent.

And now, the scores!!

Food: 6.5
Service: 8

Well, I'll be at the airport more and more since I get to go on reaaaaaaaaaaally cheap trips with my new job BUT I'll pick another resto next time.

 

Romados

Last time I visited Romados, it was before the fire of 2013. I lived on the plateau at that time(ah, the good old days!), only a couple blocks away. I'd go there all like a floating cartoon following a smell. Mmmm!

So, when my cousin Gen and I decided to go out together for lunch, I totes suggested Romados! Why? Well, I wanted to see the new digs. But most of all, I wanted that awesome chicken back where it belongs; my mouth.

Romados is this magical place that sells Portugal. Seriously. That piri-piri, that chicken, those pasteis de nata!!! Basically, there are about 25 seats, a counter for the pastries and other loveliness and a counter for le chicken.

The chicken. With salad and fries. I said yes to some extra spice in the piri piri (I mean, who doesn't like spicy?) and had the quarter leg. Okay, let's start with the salad. Okay, we're done talking about the salad. The fries were perfect. Who says you need ketchup? They were hot as f*ck, really well seasoned, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Le chicken. Ah, le chicken! It was juicy, it had crunchy skin, it had awesome piri-piri sauce on it, it just fell off the damn bone. Basically, chicken heaven!

Pasteis de nata. Hello. Hello you! When I went to Portugal, I couldn't get enough of these (and gained 5 pounds probably). These were just as lovely. Custard-y goodness. Mmmm. Soft, flaky, everything you should have in a pasteis!

Service was good. Everyone smiled, everyone was happy. It's nice to go somewhere where people are happy. I guess selling 300 to SIX HUNDRED (yes, this is a fact) chickens a day makes you happy as can be! It was counter service but still worth mentioning!

And now, the scores!

Food: 9
Service: 9

There's no doubt in my mind that I'll be going back.

Pub St-Paul

Disclaimer: I AM aware that the pics suck. I just couldn't transform them all and put everyone on Instagram through this.

I got invited to eat at Pub St-Paul right before Christmas. It was a nice little invite that explained precisely what was included in our free invite. Believe it or not, this is nice because I don't know how many times I got to a resto invitation and it was all confusing and baffling and complicated. And yes, I am aware that all those words mean pretty much the same damn thang.

I brought one of my faves, Daiz, and we waited. And waited some more. AND some more. Finally, the people that looked like the owners came to say that it was really busy with all the Christmas parties and what not and that we would be seated at the bar. Yay. And yes, if you are wondering, that IS sarcastic.

The place looks huge, with lots of televisions (it IS a sports bar after all) and screaming people everywhere. Still had a nice ambiance. I mean, let's face it, peeps be drinkin'. Everything seemed to be made of wood. I bet that even the toilet bowls were made of wood. Hahaha. Let's be serious here. There were pool tables, casino games and foosball. Un vrai bar, quoi!

We sat at the bar and for a good 5 minutes and nothing happened. Except the waitress just not talking to us. I'll hand it to her, she was uber busy. I get it. Duh. But, damn it, I got invited, serve me food. Please? On top of it, we were starving. And eating at that bar was not seeming very comfy. Argh. I hate not being comfortable when I eat, you know? Riiiight? Kinda felt like those old McDonalds with the super hard plastic seats that made you want to leave within 20 minutes of sitting down. Those.

We could get one drink FO free, so we both had a glass of wine. Basically, you have the house wine, that is, let's face it, made for sangria, and then you have the others. I usually don't like the house wine and Daiz either so we opted for a glass of white (for me) and red (for her). I'm not sure if they mixed it up or something but that wine tasted like no crap i've ever tasted before. I kid. But not really.

We ordered minestrone as a pre-entree. Remind me to never buy canned minestrone. Ya, it was canned. Canned soup. They gave us canned soup. Nuff' said. The only good thing about that soup was that it was hot.

As an entree, I got the crevettes gratinées au fromage avec ail. Y'all know how I feel about shrimp; they are simply the loves of my life. And I do appreciate a nice garlic shrimp now and again. But this was overly garlicky and, if it's possible, overly cheesy. I mean, I could pull a string of cheese for a meter before it broke. Too cheesy. Oh, and I had bad breath for 8 days. I MAY be exaggerating.

Daiz had the calamari. She was excited. It quickly faded. They tasted like they'd been deep fried 3 times and they were quite greasy. Also, they were cooked unevenly, which meant that some were good and some had the consistence of plastic. Mmmmm, plaaaaastic. And by the by, this was too bif for an appetizer. Cut it in half; there's your appetizer!

Daiz got the flank steak. And she'd been waiting for that flank steak. Her mouth was watering, people. And then, they bring out.... drum roll please...an uber thin filet of beef. You should've seen the disappointment on her face, poor little one. On top of it, when she ordered the steak, they actually asked her how she liked it. She said she liked it rare.  That piece of meat, as soon as it hit the pan, was over cooked because it was so thin. No such thing as rare here. There was a pepper sauce that was not as bad as anticipated but still had some chunks of I don't know what in there. Ugh.

I had the ribs. Ah, ribs. I make a mean rack o' ribs. You know what, they kind of saved the night. The sauce was too thick and too sweet for my taste but they were better than anything I had tasted in the evening. The ribs could have stood a bit more time in the oven to make them more tender. The caesar salad was too cheesy and the croutons were too hard. The fries were not bad but could have been a tad crispier. To be honest, I didn't even finish my ribs. That's how awesome the food was. And YES, I'm being sarcastic.

Dessert! It was bound to save the day! I believe they had three or four choices. One was  pudding chomeur... so... no. Daiz had the VERY store-bought (I'm talkin' grocery store here) cheese cake. It was OK. Not good, not narsty. The whipped cream saved the day. Let's face it, whipped cream always does. It was a very dense cake that could have broken a brick if thrown correctly. I swear.

I ordered the fondant mainly because I hadn't had one since my Juliette et Chocolat days. Aaaaaaand, nothing was fondant. Nothin'. The supposed melting part in the middle was just hard chocolate. Argh. Take the extra couple minutes and melt the damn thing.

Service was below par all evening. We sat and we waited. And then, we waited some more for the waitress/bartender who was right in front, to notice us. It took her a while to find the drinks menu and even longer to find the food menu. Hey, it's a good thing I'm on Tinder because at least we could look at the choice of ladies in Montreal while waiting for our 'food' to come out. Tinder: you might find the girl of dreams while waiting an eternity for your food. That's a bad slogan. Hey, I'm on flu meds and feeling woozy. Don't judge me. Our water was barely refilled throughout the evening and although I totes understood the fact that they were really busy, I feel like the girl was not doing such a great job. Oh, and I should've been advised that there were going to be a sh*t load of Christmas parties because we would have picked another evening. I felt so bad: when we were leaving, the owner said he was sorry it was so busy and how did we enjoy the food. Yish.

And now, the scores!

Food: a very nice 4.5

Service: an even nicer 5.5

No.

Tacos Victor

Tacos are all the rage in St-Henri/Petite Bourgogne right now. Basically the whole south-west of Monteal is Mexicanising itself. And what do you need most when you go for tacos? A Mexican!!! Lucky for me, I know a good one :)

Gus and I headed to Tacos Victor on a very rainy Saturday. Ugh, you know, one of those days. The place is small with about 15 seats. It's all wood: walls, tables, ceiling! You get the Mexican vibe with the deco in there and it does give out a nice warmth, especially when it was so crappy outside. There was a tiny piñata in the window that was just screaming for customers to come in and have some good fun.

Jamaica water made with hibiscus and Horchata water made with rice. I felt like both could have been colder. The rice one was too thick for me although it was really good with hints of cinnamon. The hibiscus juice was special (I don't drink that every day!) and not overly sweet but not really my cup-o-tea.

Shrimp taco and flank steak taco were my two choices. Gustavo quickly informed me that in Mexico, they almost never serve tacos con camarones (shrimp) because it is too expensive and tacos should be made with stuff that dson't cost much. I like how they think.

The shrimp were perfectly grilled and had absorbed some great flavours. The tortillas (there were 3!) were on the soggy side  and not even that awesome coriander could save the dish. It was good but not super, you know?

The flank steak one had the same tortilla problem. The meat itself was on the dry side (booooo!) The onions were awesome in there, adding a tangy side.

And now, the potatoes. Why? Why put more carbs on top of carbs I ask? You should have seen Gus' face when they brought us our tacos! I mean, they were OK, but not the best and wtf were they doing in there. I wonder. Someone, please, gimme an answer.

They brought us pan de muerto to celebrate dia de los muertos. It looked great! The four lines were meant to be bones. Uh, awesome! You could actually SEE the sugar on that baby! Hahaha! It was very good and a lovely dessert! We obviously didn't eat all of it but it was very considerate of them to give us that dish! Actually, I then read that their first 50 customers on that day would get one for free!!! Ya boy!

Service was, for a lack of a better word, smily! She was such a cutie pie and frowned big time when Gus, in his severe voice, told her in Spanish that it was not that good. Poor little one!

And now, the scores!

Food: 6.5

Service: 9

So many taco places, so little time! I'll try another one next time :)

Greenspot

Who should be your best friend when you're hungover? Well, the fastest, most greasiest food, of course! And if you think McDonald's is your only option (it IS a good option), think again.

Greenspot must be close to 70 years old. Iz old. And it LOOKS old. And a tad dingy. They have done some small renos but the seats and tables are screaming out for more. Screaming. Out. "Heeeelp me!" Anyway, they should totes do something. The noise from dishes being cleaned and polished and put away was loud enough to a: make me wonder if there was any music playing at all and b: feed my headache.

I got in and waited at least 2 or 3 minutes before one of the 5 or 6 waitresses noticed me and sent me to a table that was only to be cleaned about 5 minutes after that. And by cleaned I mean she got to my table, took the paper placemat and gave me the 'unused' one that was in front with those utensils. Guys, it's possible I ate with used cutlery. Bah.

I finally got the menu from the unsmiling waitress. She actually looked a bit mean. Maybe it was a bad day. Oh, and the menu was right next to me. Hahaha! The whole time, I was fuming because she wasn't giving me a menu and then BAM: proof that my hungover self ain't the smartest cat in the world.

I ordered what every hungover-in-need-of-grease person would: fries and hotdogs! The fries were really awesome and big and hand cut. Ah, hand cut fries, a lost art. They were near perfect: only lacking a bit of salt. I obviously didn't eat half of them because if I had, well, I would have gained a good 12 pounds. Totes serious. I had the grilled hot dog and not the steamed one: I prefer my bread grilled. The bread was great and crunchy, the wiener (hehe, wiener!) was not the best but not the worse I've had, the sauerkraut tasted a tad old and over fermented at first but became better as I ate more of it.

Service was no good. I'm serious, eating in a diner should be akin to the Asian dining experience: quick and efficient. Instead, I got no water, no smile, and there was a possibility I was eating with dirty cutlery. Yuk.

And now, the scores!!

Food:6.5
Service:5

I tried it, I won't be going back. I'll go to McDonald's instead! 

Le Smoking Vallée

I have wonderful friends. Two of them (Lea and her main squeeze) decided to invite me out on February 15th for a little Valentine's day dinner. How nice! And to Le Smoking Vallée no less; a BYOW restaurant I'd been meaning to visit for a while.

We got there, on a -8000 evening and were nicely welcomed by the waitress and unfortunately coldly welcomed by the room... the temperature inside does not need to be the same as the temperature outside, people! It was 6 PM so it was quite empty...but it was about to fill up.

The place is very simple, lots of wood, mirrors, industrial type lighting (recurrent theme recently), no music (a tad whhhheird), and a 'menu à l'ardoise', meaning of course that the menu was written on a black board on the wall.

Our cute little waitress came and explained all the specials. She actually needed a piece of paper where she had them written all down and I don't blame her! I think there were about 5 or 6 specials that evening! I stuck to the menu, which I had thoroughly studied on their website. That's right, when I go to school, f*ck studying, but when I go to the restaurant, it is time to learn the menu, learn about the place and know what I should order in advance. OK, that 'f*ck school' isn't true, I mean I did graduate :)

As soon as this plate was in front of me, I started drooling. And then it became a puddle of drool on my table and it was just not classy. Alright, I'm kidding. But it could have happened! Puff pastry with enoki (to be honest, I'm not sure they were enoki because the head was a tad bigger, but I looked it up and I just cannot find a description) and button mushrooms, truffle, watercress and a poached egg. Let me just say that if I'd only be rating this dish, I'd give it a ten. A ten I tells ya! The puff pastry was super flaky, just like it should be, the mushrooms were juicy and full of flavor, the egg...OH the egg. I broke it and the yolk ran over everything and created the best sauce EVA! Holy bejesus. So silky, creamy, soft and unctuous! It was literally one of the best poached eggs I've had in my life (and we all know how old I am ;p ). The watercress added a great texture and another taste level to the dish and the bacon...OH, the bacon. Y'all know how I feel about bacon :) 'Nuff said.

My reaction to this plate was pretty much the opposite to the first one. Aight SO I had asked for the meat to be rare. It was rare alright... nope.... actually it was blue. For y'all who dson't know, blue is a notch above raw. I don't like my meat raw. I like some fish raw. But not freaking beef. (And I'm too shy apparently to tell the waitress...but I've thought about it...and I will next time instead of looking at my plate in disbelief). I used to eat it 'well cooked' until I discovered the beautiful world of rare. Flank steak (bavette) can get chewy if not done well and damn, f*ck, it did get chewy. I pretty much ate around the middle and left the raw part for the waitress. What they describe on the menu as marinated veggies is actually coleslaw. That's fine. With just a touch of vinegar, it was actually quite enjoyable and balanced well with the other elements on the plate. The potatoes were perfect: crunchy on the outside, smooth on the inside and well seasoned. The mayo tasted like there was a bit of wasabi in there. The hint of spice was very welcomed. 

Brownies with some caramel whipped cream. Whipped cream you say? You had me at 'whhhh' :) The brownie itself was a bit dry and un-fluffy, the caramel chantilly type cream was wonderful and was like a perfect girlfriend to the chocolate. All in all, it was a bit underwhelming but still OK nonetheless.

The service was.... uneven. Good welcome but then it kind of faded into oblivion. But forget about the service; the people watching was wonderful that evening. Lea and I had the better view... of people fighting, laughing, exhibiting most of their boobs (for me, of course) and then when we started singing the Star Wars song, everyone turned around... duh. Why again were we doing that? OH, because I brought TWO bottles of wine to the party :) Anyway, sad thing is that I believe one of the couples may have broken up during their Valentine's day dinner. Happens every year. 

And now, the scores!

Food: 7
Service: 7

I'll go back fosho but y'all know what now? I now speak/write with a Southern accent. Hehehe, no but seriously, I won't have the bavette, oh and if I do, I'll say it if it's blue. Mmmmmthank you.

 

Dilallo

This resto is located right at the corner of Charlevoix and Notre-Dame and I remember biking by there from my house to my friend's house many years ago. Well, I decided to finally go in!

It is quite the small restaurant with around 40 seats. It has somewhat of a diner vibe, complete with old women at the counter.

I chose the cheesebuger with fries with 2 extras: fried onions and bacon.

Because who in their right mind would not take the option of having delicious bacon in their burger? And all this for under 10$! What what! Alright now: the fries were nice and crunchy, just the way they should be! The bun was kinda loose and flaky (it MAY have been made that way intentionally... but I am NOT ok with that) and made it hard to eat without it breaking apart. The meat itself lacked a bit in seasoning but the rest was great! The bacon? YUM! The fried onions? YUM! Basically, I was very happy with my choice of extras as they added lots-o-crunch to my burger and a lot of flavour! Oh and the bacon added some smokiness which I love!

Service was good! This little boy, could not have been over 16, came to my table with water in no time and brought my food in a very timely fashion. Plus, he was very polite.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6,5

Service: 8

An OK burger joint but I think I'll try another one next time.