Miss OPO

Mona and I made a point of finding non-touristy restaurants while we were in Porto two weeks ago, and I think we managed to find a couple gems! We visited Miss OPO on our last night, located on a small side-street, going down to the Douro. Ugh, I miss everything I just talked about: Mona, Porto, Miss OPO, and the Douro. But enough reminiscing!

First off, it is called that because OPO is the airport code for Porto. I know this because I'm a: so cool and b: I work for Transat. Mama knows her airport codes. And Miss OPO sounds way better than Miss YUL (Montréal's airport code). This place seemed very hipster-like. Maybe a bit too much so... They had a communal table at the front, cement floors and walls and minimal deco. I'd say it was a bit industrial looking, but with wooden tables and chairs giving it a classic touch. The menu was written by hand on a notepad: they change it every day, which is very cool.

We shared two dishes: the 'Pretty Salad' and the 'Shrimp with finger lickin' sauce and okra'. And we shall start with the salad. It WAS pretty, unlike this awful AWFUL picture, hahaha! This salad was supes fresh and ubs pretty! Some crisp greens, almonds for the crunch, sweet papaya and strawberries, hot radishes and very tasty and perfectly ripe mango. I usually am not a huge fan of fruits in salads but this totally worked. There was also fresh cheese in there, which totally completed the dish. We really loved this one.

The shrimp. OK, I'm just gonna mention again, as if you didn't know, how much I loves me a good shrimp. If someone would ask me to choose between a person I really love and shrimp, I'd have a hard time. If I could just eat one thing all day, every day, I'd choose shrimp. If shrimp is on the menu, that's what I'm having. If I could MARRY shrimp, I'd need a damn good reason not to do it. If...you get it. They were cooked to perfection and they had absorbed all the flavor from the sauce, which, as the name says, WAS finger lickin' good! The okra fit right in there and just biting into it, all that flavor would just explode in my mouth! We had soooo many carbs all day every day while in Porto, that it was nice not to be eating bread or rice or potatoes or bread again.

Service was not the best. Actually, quite bad. We entered and were greeted by...no one. HAHAHA. She came to see us after a couple minutes and just announced that they didn't have any tables. Then, she decides to put us at this bigger 'communal' table. A waiter comes over and he was rude too. We were then asked to change to a smaller table because a bigger group had come in. Geez. Our waitress was actually nice and was able to crack a smile or two. Third times' a charm!

E agora, a pontuação! (And now, the scores!)

Food: 9
Service: 6

I would LOVE to say I'd be back buuuuuuut, myyaaaaa, I'm pretty dang far.

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.