Contest---BOOM J'S

Do you loooove Jamaican food? Restaurant Boom Js Cuisine is THE Jamaican connection in MTL! Share my blog FB page (https://www.facebook.com/EatingOutMontreal/) OR this picture on your timeline AND like this pic! Oh and why don't you go ahead and love my fb page and Boom J's page (https://www.facebook.com/BoomJsCuisine/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf&qsefr=1) while you're at it. In 6 days, a lucky Jamaican food, Jerk chicken lover, will win one of three dishes (3 draws: 1 BBQ chicken, 1 jerk chicken and 1 SPICY jerk chicken!!).

Vous êtes amoureux de la bouffe Jamaïcaine? Boom J's dans Pointe-St-Charles est LE resto Jamaïcain en ville!!! Partagez ma page FB OU cette photo sur votre mur et aimez la photo! Et pourquoi pas aimer ma page FB et celle de Boom J's! Dans 6 jours, il y aura trois tirages (1 assiette poulet BBQ, 1 assiette poulet jerk ET une assiette poulet jerk ÉPICÉ!!)!

No problem man!

Tapas 24

My friend Shar's boyfriend is one of the chefs at Tapas 24. You know what that means, right? Ya you do! Ah, free food. Wait. Ah, awesome free food. Hold on. Ah, awesome free tapas! OK, I'm done. But seriously.

Tapas 24 is a restaurant with high ceilings, lots of wood, and a huge and thick AND expensive looking marble bar. It has an open kitchen on the first floor and I've been told there's another one upstairs (hey, I'll have to see it to believe it!). The owner used to be Sébastien Benoît, the Québécois comedian and he has sold it to an actual manager. Who is very present. And, I gotta say, looks a bit scary. I'm sure Shar would disagree because she is always there, gettin' free shtuff, so he can't be that bad! 

I had already been with Shar and a couple friends but hadn't written a review, which is SO unlike me! This time, I was gonna get it, get it good!

Anchovies atop avocado with some xeres vinegar and coriander sprouts. I really loved the xeres in there and the avocado was just perfect. The anchovies were really tasty but a tad too salty for my taste. I was still surprised that I loved this dish so much because I'm not usually a big fan of the anchovy persuasion. 

Oysters. Ah, oysters: a love story. I used to just not want to ever taste those bad boys and now I can't get enough! These are the freshest damn oysters I've ever had. And I've had oysters. That's right. Two had leche de tigre (lemon, fish stock, chilis...) and raspberry, which sounded weird but tasted awesome and sweet. The other two had kombu, ponzu and fish eggs on top. Wow, dem cooks know how to find a winning tasty combo! I couldn't even tell you which one I preferred.

Bacalao croquette or cod croquette. All I's gotta say about this is damn girl! Like, fo realz. With that maple syrup sauce? Holy effin Heysus! Ya, that good. They were moist and tender and not dry like some croquettes tend to be. That sauce added the finishing touch to one of the best bites of the night.

A bad picture. Uh, I mean, the shroom plate. Button mushroom, enoki and oyster mushroom with a pine nut emulsion and chestnut crumble. The button mushroom were perfection (you never hear that when referring to those mushrooms) and were engorged with flavour. The enoki were cooked just right, for a second or two. Those bad boys are easy to overcook because they are so tiny. The oyster mushrooms were somethin' else. WOW! It was like eating a very expensive piece of meat. Fo serious, guys! I do NOT kid when it comes to food. The sauce was nice and you could actually taste the pine nuts in there but there was a bit too much of a good thing. The crumble added a nice texture to it all and married well with all the shroomy flavors!

Endives with oranges, dates, blue cheese, almonds. This was new on the menu and I'm damn happy about it! The endives could not have been more fresh! The falvours were a match made in heaven even if at first glance, I was like whaaaa? I also noticed the blue cheese which I am NOT a fan of. Normally. This time, it was just so great in there and not as strong, which helped the liking. The nuts added a crunch and the dates added a certain sweet side to counter the blue cheese's salty side! It was just on the ball.

Clams with artichokes, dry xeres wine and Spanish ham. The artichokes were right on. No canned artichokes here. Just the real stuff, which, by the by, is great. Do you even know how long it takes to cut an artichoke to get to the heart? And also, there's the annoyance level. Hahaha. Can you tell I hated doing this while at ITHQ? The clams were very tasty and had absorbed all that yummy hammy (haha) juice. Haaaaaam juice. The ham was a tad salty and the whole dish bordered on over salty but did not reach it. It was close though. It. Was. Close.

 Patatas bravas with aioli and salsa brava. This was a bit too much. A tad unnecessary. Shar's bf's 'excuse' for bringing us this was that we needed something to soak up that awesome clam juice. Damn it, he was right. The potatoes were actually crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and moist: just how you would describe THE perfect fries. The salsa brava had a nice smoky aspect to it and the aioli was very tasty. We didn't finish this: there was more to eat!

Chocolate fritters. Oh. My. Effin. Double-effin. God. 70% dark chocolate. This was my kind of dessert! I don't even think I need to explain how good this was. But seriously, these little balls were full of melting hot chocolate. Aaaaaand scene!

El pomelo. Another new item on the menu. This was multi-layered. Mmmkay, so you have the grapefruit, right? And then, you have a pistachio parfait. And THEN, you have pieces of grapefruit. And to finish it off, you have whipped cream flavoured with camomile. Wow. I am not usually a fan of fruity desserts and this just made my day! Pistachio parfait was just perfect and actually was a perfect match with the grapefruit. Who would have thought? And don't get me started on that whipped cream. The camomile was subtle, just as it should be. Lemme just say it's a good thing this is on their new menu! Lemme also tell you that I was one of the first ones to try it. This is when I stick out my tongue :p

Service was just wonderful. We were seated at the bar so we had Sara's full attention. That's right, I got her name. We're going out next week. Damn it, I lied, we're not. She served us wine all evening (all 4 glasses---each!) and as soon as we were done a dish, she would take it away. We also had the maitre d' bring us new plates/utensils in a very timely fashion and our glasses of water were always full. Shar's bf came out whenever we got a new dish to check up on us. Well, AND to give her a kiss but that was just sweet :)

And now, wait for it, the scores!

Food: 9

Service: 10

I have a feeling I'll be going back. And I will be the last one to complain!

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.

Contest!!!!!

Are you like me and go cray cray for Asian? Nantha's kitchen @Fabergé has amazeballs Malaysian nights. Share my blog FB page (https://www.facebook.com/EatingOutMontreal/)OR this picture on your timeline AND like this pic! Oh and why don't you go ahead and like my fb page and Fabergé's (https://www.facebook.com/Faberge514/?fref=ts) AND Nantha's kitchen's (https://www.facebook.com/nanthaskitchen/?fref=ts) page while you're at it. In 7 days, a lucky Asian food lover, eater of Malay will win TWO meals at this uber chill, awesome resto in the Mile-End! Dinner will take place the 11th of November!

Vous êtes amoureux de la bouffe asiatique comme moi? Les soirées Malaisiennes sont de retour au Fabergé par nul autre que Nantha Kumar!  Partagez ma page FB OU cette photo sur votre mur et aimez cette photo! Et pourquoi pas aimer ma page FB, celle de Fabergé ET celle de Nantha! Dans 7 jours, quelqu'un se méritera un repas pour deux signé Nantha, le 11 novembre!

Bonne chance!

Satay Brothers

Last week, I partied way too hard. Like, WAY. Ugh. I remember tequila shots. And more tequila shots. It wasn't pretty. This level of drunkeredness (yes, this is an AWESOME made up word) only meant one thing: a huge hangover. No amount of water or tylenol would fix what was to become the winner of all hangovers: a two-day one. Ugh. I needed food. Good food on the cheap side. As I've said before, it seems like most of the restaurants in the South-West are closed on Sunday so Lea and I had to try to find la perle rare as we say in French. Loosely translated, a gem, nay, the holy grail! The winner of this lengthy search was none other than Satay Brothers.

Satay brothers have a stand in the Atwater market during the summer and it's always uber busy. I've eaten there on a warm sunny day and it was delicious. Well, this time, we were going to the actual restaurant on Notre-Dame. Mmmkay, so as soon as you walk in, you find yourself looking right back to the entrance to make sure you're still on Notre-Dame. I compared it with the old Warshaw that used to be on St-Laurent. I remember going in there once with a friend and we had to make sure we were still in Montreal. It's like entering a whole other (Asian) world.

I absolutely LOVED the deco. Lots of lanterns everywhere, dragons (and tigers and bears, oh my!), birdcages hanging right beside the bar, Asian currency taped to a wall. It felt and looked like what I could only describe as an Asian diner. I. Love. It. The place itself, at that time, wasn't that busy but the ambiance was still oh-so-present. Some oldies were playing on the radio and everyone was merry! Well, except me: I was hungover as f*ck.

We wanted to eat everything on the menu. Alas, our stomachs would not have been OK with that choice. We decided to share two different buns (buuuuns!), the Laksa and the Char Kuay Teow.

The pork bun, more commonly known as the damn-this-is-effin-good bun. So... this was effin good. First off, that bun resembled the texture of a perfect cloud. Soft, airy, awesome (clouds can be awesome too, you know!). The pork was perfect: juicy, tender, melt-in-your-mouth goodness. The coriander, well, you know where I stand with coriander: I loves me lots of it, ALL the time. This was a hit.

The crab salad bun. Special of the day. We were totes excited about the prospect of crab in a bun but were a tad disappointed. Seriously, you could have told me it was any other kind of seafood and I would not have known the difference. It was a bit watery and the bun, being fried, had kind of lost it's softness and cloudiness. Let's just say I'd pick the pork bun over the crab bun any day of the week.

Char Kuay Teow. On the menu, it was written rice noodles but it was definitely egg noodles, the fatter friend of the tiny rice noodle. Let's just say if there was a fight between both noodles, the egg one would win by a landslide. See, these are things I think about daily. (erratum: my token Asian friend, Jer, tells me there are different sizes to rice noodles when I thought it was just the tiny one. So, in this case, the rice might have won over the egg!)When the plate was placed in front of me, my first thought was this: 'oh, now that's brown'. I put the colour aside and discovered a whole new world. It was full of flavor! It tasted like ginger and it tasted like hot peppers. I love that combo! It was multi layered! The Chinese sausage was yummy and moist and all that good stuff. I was just saddened that there were only about 4 pieces of it in the dish. The shrimp were cooked perfectly. I find it so hard to have someone serve me the perfect shrimp and Satay Brothers brought it, brought it good. Green onions brought in another level of flavor and the bean sprouts totes fit in there. All in all, I was genuinely surprised after judging the dish for its brownness or lack of colour if you would.

Laksa. Chili shrimp coconut soup. Now THIS is a comforting piece of soup. Piece of soup? Ya, I'm going with that! Coriander was awesome in there and although I didn't like it as much as Lea, it was really tasty and right up my alley. The noodles were way too cooked and started breaking down as soon as they hit my mouth. Or before, which made this a bit hard to eat. The shrimp in there were really on par, but I felt like the whole thing was emanating shrimp. Meh. Not a fan of the emanation. It was spicy, which was really welcomed. I love spiciness that sometimes, I'm ready to cry for it :)

Service was great! First impressions are very important and the manager/owner/bartender/everything dude just said 'join me!' and we were hooked. He was very efficient, as if he'd been born to restaurateurs parents and had lived in a restaurant his whole life. You know, THAT kind of guy. We got our plates fast and water was served as soon as we sat down.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 8.5

Toootes goin' back and no one will be able to stop me. Warning: I might also go back on my next hangover.

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 Doggy Café Super contest!!!!

Oh hi!

Ya baby, my first contest! Now THIS is exciting!!!!

Who better to eat with than your best friend: a doooooggy!!! Oh, and maybe a friend! Share my blog FB page on your FB timeline AND go to  https://www.facebook.com/EatingOutMontreal/  (or click on the title of this post) to like this pic or any other Le Doggy Café pic I will post in the next week! Oh and why don't you like my fb page AND Le Doggy Café page (https://www.facebook.com/LeDoggyCafe/?fref=ts) while you're at it. By the end of next week, a lucky dog owner/ lover will win TWO meals at this uber-cute dog-friendly resto on the plateau! Oh and your name will be entered as many times as you share my page on your wall :)

Ça vous dit, un p'tit repas en amoureux avec votre.... pitou? Et avec un ami, bien sûr! Partagez ma page FB sur votre mur ET aimez cette photo ou une autre photo du Le Doggy Café dans les 6 prochains jours au https://www.facebook.com/EatingOutMontreal/ (ou bien clickez sur le titre de ce post) ! Pourquoi pas en faire plus et aimer ma page FB ET celle du Le Doggy Café! À la fin de la semaine prochaine, quelqu'un se méritera un repas pour deux au café le plus dog-friendly sur Montréal! En passant, le nombre de fois que vous allez partager ma page FB sera égal au nombre de fois que votre nom se retrouvera dans le tirage! Woohoo!

Woof woof!

Nozy

Since before I can remember (I have a very bad memory), I've wanted to eat brunch at Nozy. I went with Lea a couple months back to have their omakase menu (about 7 or 8 dishes, chef's choice) and had been pleasantly surprised. Well, baby gurl (yes, I call MYSELF that too) was back. With a vengeance! OK, I do NOT know what that entails.

For the restaurant itself and the décor and what have yous, por favor go read my first blog post on Nozy: http://www.eatingoutmontreal.com/2016/07/nozy.html 

Aight, so, I was there with Jer, Lea and Bridgert, all fans of the Asian persuasion. Who isn't, am I right? I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm convinced I was Asian in another life. Totes fosho. And by that, I mean foshizzle my nizzle. And by THAT, I mean imma gonna stop talking. The end.

I had seen pics of Nozy's brunch on facebook and since then, I had been drooling uncontrollably. I look weird when I drool. I try not to do it often.

Sashimi X 4. So what if I KIND of forced Jer bear to share this with me. He got LOTS of thai basil from my garden in exchange :) I think that's a fair trade. Aight, so we got tuna, yellow fin tuna, salmon and snapper. OR the best damn sashimi anyone has ever had. The presentation was oh-so-pretty: beautiful plate with some shiso leaves and some very fine daikon. This shizzle was super fresh. Nay, it was uber fresh. The yellow fin basically melted in my mouth and the snapper was like fish candy. That dson't sound good. Let me rephrase: it was one of the best pieces of fish to ever hit my palate. It was very tasty and had a great sweet side to it. The tuna and salmon were also awesome but the two other pieces of fish were the stars of the plate. OH, did I forget to mention that it was REAL wasabi? Fo realz! Man, that stuff is so rare, they must sell it on the black market or some sh*t. Well, it makes all the difference in my book.

Take Kago or 5 appetizers. If you can't decided what the f to eat, I suggest ordering this bad boy. I mean, how pretty is this? I'd say 13 on a scale of 1 to hells yes. We got marinated beets, a house salad, salmon sashimi, eggplant dip with wonton chips and karaage. OK, first off, I could've done without the salad. When I get a salad like this one in a restaurant, I feel a bit cheated. And that's all I'll say about that. The beets were actually really nice: not too sweet and not too acidic. And I loves me some good beets so it was right up my alley (you know, that beet alley!). The chicken, forget about it. Just forgeeeeeeeeeet about it. Hands down, way down, one of the best karaage I've eaten, ever. Jer took a bite and looked at me with a face that said 'dsamn', or 'wow'. I couldn't quite make it out. When something is both crunchy AND moist, I give them 8 thumbs up. Iz a good thing we were four. The spices were subtle but still present and, well, it was, wait for it, you know it's comin'.... heaven in my mouth! I should totes have a copyright on that phrase.

OH! Don't forget that every dish comes with one of the most marvellously misoed soup.

Service was good throughout. We got water and then we got more water and then... you get the point! She explained the specials ..twice! Hey, we are not the easiest gang of eater outers. Ya, it's a thang. All in all, good service.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 8

Well, of course I'm going back. Why? Because Nozy is surprise after tasty surprise!

Kazu

We all know (when I write 'all', I mean about 5% of the MTL population) that Kazu is one of, if not THE best Japanese restaurant in this city. It is so authentic, not half of the employees speak English/French or anything else than Japanese for that matter. When you want authentic J food (J food, iz a new thing), you go there. I went recently with my token A friend (Asian friend, come on, get with it), Jer, to continue my 'best ramen in Montreal' quest.

It is a hard quest, but it must be done, gosh darn it! Obviously, as of now, the big winner is Yokato. I won't hide nothin' from you guys!

It's all kinds of Asian in this tiny restaurant. Read more about it in my previous post on Kazu:
http://www.eatingoutmontreal.com/2015/05/kazu.html

Commençons par le début, comme on dit. A little salad. Oh and by that, I really mean a little one. As in, hello there, tiny little salad, you so cute. You know, THAT. It was lettuce and potato. Yes, potato. The sesame based vinaigrette, if you can call it that, went really well and wasn't overpowering. Just roll up that potato in the lettuce and you're good to go.

Homemade tofu, served only on Sundays. Lucky us, we went on Sunday. Booya. I gotta say, and don't no Asian (lookin' at you Jer) judge me, I'm not usually a fan of super soft tofu. It usually feels a tad slimy in my mouth and I just don't like that feeling. Well, I must say that apart from the trouble I was having trying to eat it with chopsticks, it was delicious! It literally melted on my tongue. And that bit of super light soya sauce was just enough to give it some flavour. I also really dug (that's right, I'm diggin' stuff now) the seaweed on top. All in all, a winner that could have just as easily been a loser.

Le ramen. I believe they only serve ramen for lunch, which is exactly why we went at 11h45 am that day. Why so early? To be able to actually eat for lunch. If you don't get there early, you're stuck waiting and waiting some more. The broth was oh-so-tasty and just salty enough. Salty broth=no good! The noodles were quite great: they don't make them in house but one of the 男 (that's the literal translation of dudes hahaha!---I'm sure Google failed me again and it actually means penis--or somethin') told us that they have an outside supplier making them especially for them. The pork was great with all that fat. Get IN ma mouth, fat. And THAT is what I told the fat. OK, I'm officially weird(er).

Service was akin to any other Asian resto: uber quick. BAM, you're sitting, BAM, menu, BAM, water, BAM, dishes start arriving and BAM, you leave! Seriously, as soon as I put my spoon down, they took my bowl. It was quite spectacular.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 8

Well, obviously I'm going back, no doubt about it! Jer, you in?

Ramen Ya

Ramen and I: a love story. I swear, I was meant to be born in Japan. I just LOVE ramen. I might even be IN love with it. OK, calm down. But seriously. My token Asian friend (everyone needs one of those fo realz) has made it his mission, nay, his life goal (ya, it goes far) to make me try every ramen in Montreal.

We've done Kinton (just no!), Misoya (aight) and Yokato Yokabai which is pretty much the epitome of ramen. If I could eat Yokato's ramen every day, I would. It was now Ramen Ya's turn. Jer told me on our way there (sheesh!) that it wasn't the greatest ramen. He told me I needed to try more ramen so this is why he was bringing me there. It felt kind of like I was training to be a ninja or somethin'. OR somethin'.

Ramen Ya has two rooms, lanterns everywhere, small wooden tables, and looks like I've just entered Japan. YES the whole country. We get seated right away in the ramen side of the resto (the other is the isakaya). And then we wait aaaaand we wait some more. We finally order (yes!) and then well, it's more waiting. Didn't they get the memo about QUICK Asian restaurant service? I guess not.

Beef with enoki and chives in teriyaki sauce. The sauce was f*cking amazing. Effin awesome. Seriously great. Point is, when all was eaten, Jer and I looked at one another, and by staring each other in the eyes, you could see that we were both thinking about licking that plate. The meat was very flavourful but a bit on the dry side (daaaaamn you to hell, dry meat!). The enoki were, like the meat, full of that yummy goodness, but like shitake, enoki have to be cooked just the right amount of time or else its near inedible. Near. Of course we ate it. Of course. The sesame and the chives added some texture and some tang to the dish. I just really wanted to lick that plate. Next time, I'm lickin' the plate.

Ramen: spicy beef! Jer had told me time and time again that this was part of me testing all the ramen in MTL for my blog and that I had to, in my quest of finding the perfect ramen, eat some bad ramen too. Sheesh dude. I guess he wanted me to hate it before I freaking LOVED it! The ONLY thing I didn't like in there were the obviously-store-bought noodles. Basically, they called my restaurant (where we make AWESOME sushi and not-so-awesome ramen) and asked us where we bought our noodles. Ugh. No. The broth was thick and very pork-y and reminded me of the Montreal king of ramen's broth, Yokato Yokabai. Let's face it, every ramen must be compared to the one I ate at Yokato. The beef was perfect. PER-FECT! It was spicy, it was tasty, and most importantly, it wasn't dry! It's actually quite the rare occurrence to have beef ramen: 82 % (just an estimate :) ) of the time it is pork. And then add another 14% for chicken. The rest is beef. Maybe. The egg was perfect. It was all very harmonious in my mouth and my taste buds were very satisfied.

Service was on the slow side unfortunately. Damn it, I just hate slow service. Especially when you think it'll be quick! Damn you slow Asian service! Said no one ever. But it does apply in this case. Took a while to get food and I was pretty much falling asleep. Water was not refilled when, well, we totes needed it with all the spices and what have yous.

And now, the scores!

Service: 6
Food: 8

Let's just say if Yokato Yokabai is closed or full that day, imma gonna hit up Ramen Ya!

Carte Blanche

I was invited to the tenth anniversary of restaurant Carte Blanche a couple weeks back. I actually had to make sure it was a real restaurant. Why? Well, I had never EVA heard of it. And it has been alive and kicking for 10 years! Only a handful (I may be exaggerating) of restos in Montreal have been open for that long.

To make matters worse (and I say this because it was a bit embarrassing having to tell the owner), I once lived only a couple blocks away! Damn girl! I probably passed by Carte Blanche hundreds of times!

Carte Blanche is a French chef's baby. He came to Montreal a bit over 10 years ago and never left. He has many Martinican friends who helped him put a Martinique twist on his cuisine. Actually, he is present at the festival Martinique Gourmande which is taking place as we speak (as we write? as you read me!).

We got there a bit early as per usual (am I ever late? Really?) and when the clock struck 5 (OK, there was no sound, but you get it), I went to open the door and it was... locked. Pouet pouet poueeeeet. I looked at them through the window and it seemed like they were still setting up. Grrr. They opened the door at 5h05. Don't worry, I'm over it :)

The place itself is actually quite small: they had changed it up for the event but it should not sit more than 30 people fo shizzle. They have a wall with multicolored lines, like a rainbow. Influenced by the fact that they are in the gay village maybe?

Aight so we sat down at this uber long table they had formed which hardly seemed practical. What do you do when you're in the middle and you need to go pee? What do you do, hot shot? What do you DO? OK, I'm just KIND of quoting the movie Speed here, which, by the way, IS one of the best movies of ALL TIME! All time I said, don't even try to say otherwise. Food started leaving the kitchen at around 5h45, which I thought was a bit late, seeing as I had told myself I was going to be outta there at 6h15 ish.

irst bite of the day! House gravlax with a mustarded (=word!) mayo. One of the best I've had. Ever. And I do NOT kid about my gravlax. Hells, I am a MAKER of gravlax at work so ya... I don't kid! It was coarse salt, maple and citrus and it was soft and melt-in-your-mouth èamazeballz. Of course, I like to use technical terms like 'amazeballz'. The little mayo right under it wasn't too strong as to not bury the loveliness of the gravlax. It was puuuurrrfect, as the cat would say. Or something less weird.

Flank steak on a skewer (in case you were wondering). Marinated in soya and caramelized onions, itas juicy and moist (ugh, word hate right here) and everything you want in a steak bite. E-VE-RY-thing. All the flavours came through in a great way and it was tasteful as all hell. Because we all know hell is oh-so-good ;)

Cod fritter. There are no words to describe how much I like me a good cod fritter. OK, there are a couple. It was soooo good. I mean, how can it not be?! It was, damn it I loathe this word... moist. And it was crunchy. And we could dip it in some kind of raspberry/tomato/balsamic sauce which was just oh shizzle damn good. OK, that series of words may not have made much sense to you but to me, it meant that it was just AWESOME.

What I had been waiting for the whole {not so long} evening: kangaroo tartare. Ah, kangaroo, that meat that people are either afraid of eating OR that restaurants are afraid of serving. Or, I'm guessing that maybe it's a tad hard to get, given that it comes from the other side of the world. I actually had never eva EVA tasted this jumping creature (makin' it realz for all of you) and I'd been wanting to, big time. Well, it was all I had dreamed of AND more! So, it was kangaroo with pine nuts and an olive tapenade which was not overwhelming at all as it tends to be. It had such a nice taste and a great texture. In my head (ah, my tiny little head) this meat was going to be on the tough side. But noooo! It was the opposite! The flavours went really well together and it was like a partay in ma mouth!

Service was greatness. Wine was poured many-a-times and the waitress was so cute. I mean, she was so cute. Damn it: she was so nice! She came to speak to us for a good 10 minutes and we talked about Carte Blanche and we talked about Sushi Taxi and we talked about waitressing and the service industry and all that good stuff. It was nice. She brought us some water and refilled our glasses. The chef came to talk to us a couple times about his vision and a woman, who I can only presume is his wife, also came to check on us a couple times which was uber nice!

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5

Service: 9

I will go back fo shizzle dizzle. When? I do not know. But I will. Oh yes, I will go back.