Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Muvbox


I'd been wanting to try Muvbox for freaking years and since I live closer now AND I always bike by, I decided to head there with my ex English teacher this week. Also because I've been craving lobster since freaking May. Ah, lobster.

Alright, so, quickly the concept of Muvbox is that it is in a container that, after moving some panels and shiz, becomes a restaurant. BAM!

We got there on a really REALLY, way too cold for summer, evening and there was NO ONE there. We were welcomed by a bunch of youngsters that were obviously having quite the partay inside and enjoying the fact that there were no customers. We ordered and quickly got our food because, well, we were the only ones there!


Ah, lobster roll! How I love thee! So, we ordered two lobster rolls, a bottle of water and chips, all for 30 something bucks. Ouch! I was oh-so-disapointed to see that the chips, which I thought were going to be homemade like most places where you get dem lobster rolls, were actually Miss Vickies. A tiny bag for 2,50$! Dsamn. But on to the roll. It had a very good quantity of lobster including claws and shiz. Oh ya, I said clawSSS. It was covered in somewhat of a thick mayo based sauce with celery pieces, which we all know is part of a wonderful lobster roll. The lobster was cooked perfectly: tender and not chewy at all. It was basically heaven in my mouth. Heaven I say! The only thing that was disapointing according to J, and I agree, was that there was no butter on the bread.

The service was OK. I mean, they were partying it up when we got there and they continued their partay while we were sitting a couple meters from them. Meh. But it WAS quick!

And now, the scores!

Food: 7
Service: 5

A lobster roll a day keeps the doctor away... isn't that the saying? 

Resto Muvbox - Lobster box on Urbanspoon

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Mémé Tartine


*Flash review alert*

I had to go on Wellington to buy something and decided to go a bit north onto Verdun Street. I had passed by there a couple times and had noticed this little bakery that looked really cute and quaint from the outside.

I was welcomed more or less warmly by what seemed to be the boss and a trainee. The fact that the trainee didn't know how to do ANYTHING (like put the sandwich on the sandwich press, or the salad on the plate) became a bit annoying.

There was some music playing on the radio: DANCE music. Dance music, really? I think they could have chosen something more à propos (whoa, I sounded fancy right there!)!

They had 4 different kinds of sandwiches so I decided on the ham, tomato, bacon and cheddar one with bbq sauce.


-Good thang they added a little salad for that price (7,95$ + taxes)
-Salad tasted like nothing except for the slightly tasty vinaigrette
-Moist bread=good
-Cheese not even melted (and they put it in a press!)
-Tomatoes were a bit meh
-Only tasted the barely-there BBQ sauce near the end

All in all, not a completely bad sandwich but not a great one.

Service was alright: they put my meal on a nice little plate, the dude at the counter was more or else helpful but I didn't get any water.

And now, the scores!

Food: 5.5
Service: 6

I probably won't go back. Their croissants are really overpriced and apparently, their sandwiches are not much better...

Meme Tartine on Urbanspoon

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Sawmill Bay Shellfish Co.


I'm not really an oyster kinda girl. Well, no, that's not true. I didn't think I was one until last Thursday. I mean, I had eaten them perhaps three times before and the last time, they were covered up with so much crap that you couldn't even taste the actual oyster. 

I got invited by my step-cousin to the Apéro quatre à HUITRE (hahaha, good one guys!) that was to be taking place at La Fabrique Annexe. Oysters from Sawmill Bay Co., based in Read Island, between the coast and Vancouver Island, were to be the stars!

I got there after work with my guest, we'll call him J. It's always nice to get invited to try new products and for me, to discover new thangs! Anyhoot, we got there and immediately went to my bros' cousin, Sim. He explained in detail how they harvest (is that the right word?) their oysters and why some oysters are different than others, etc...It was great to see someone so passionate and driven!

One specific type of oyster was the star that night and it was the Read Island oyster!


We were told that this was one of the creamiest oyster around and it suuuuure was! Dsamn, it was almost like putting pure cream in my mouth. Almost :p They are also smaller than other (but, I'm guessing, bigger than some) oysters. Apparently (I am no oyster expert!), the bigger oysters have a tad less flavour. Anyhoot, the brininess was present but not too much and they just tasted dsamn dideligood! It was basically heaven in my mouth! The only thing that was a tad displeasing was that, the shell not being as resistent as others, there were pieces of it around the actual oyster. I do not like biting on that, especially with my brittle teeth! OUCH! But OH, the creaminess! :)

J was saying how he preferred Atlantic oysters better than Pacific ones but I'd like to think that by the end of the evening, he would have said that he was 'in between'!


We had the choice of either having a little plate OR a BIG arse plate. Hello! Big plate for us please! We shared with my bro's friends who were also there, which was really nice! Man, we devoured 'dem' oysters!

Hotsup and pinneapple
Scotch Bonnet

Mignonette
We had an array of sauces and thangs we could put on our oysters! Hotsup was kind of a hot ketchup which went really nicely and brightened up the oysters, the pinneapple 'jam' which was a tad too sweet but I could definitely put on toast or what have you, the scotch bonnet sauce which was dsamn spicy but oh so good (surprisingly, the mix with the pinneapple one was greatness!) and the usual mignonette (red wine vinegar and shallots) which added to the natural brininess of the oyster! Ha, at some point, there was a competition of who could eat the most Scotch Bonnet sauce by itself. Some guy won but I swear I could have!!! If I'd only gotten there earlier :p

The place itself, La Fabrique Annexe (made for partays or meetings, or what have yous) was really nice and cozy! Quite small but with a nice terrasse outside where we spent most of the evening! A great place to chill, eat oysters and do some wonderful people watching! Plus, the dj, who was incedentally also the sauce maker and Sim's cousin (Aunt Thelma's) played wondeful tunes that included the Fugees and some more popular ones + 90's music, hello!. Mmmmmmwonderful! Me= loves Fugees! I almost felt like getting up and dancing! Almost.

Sooooo, with our entry 'price' came a free wine or beer glass. I obviously chose wine as I'm one of those people who despises beer. They had a couple natural wines to choose from and we first chose La Folle Blanche which was marvellous and dry and went really well with the oysters. Jer tried another one a bit later called La Bohème and he said it was too sweet. I'm just going to say this: we had around 8 glasses (5$ each! whaaaaat?) of wine each and La Folle Blanche remained the one to beat!

Let's talk about the service! Well, it was great! We actually were warmly welcomed by Sim's sister whom I had never met so that was very cool! Plus, there was this girl running around cleaning the tables and taking the empty plates so that you could just go get more. Lovely.

Alright! Now, the scores!

And I really DO mean SCORES cause there are a lot of em!

Hotsup: 7.5
Pinneapple: 4,5
Scotch Bonnet: 9
Mignonette: 7
Wine: 8.5
Oysters: an average of 7.5 (darn pieces!)
Service: 9,5! Wonderful and friendly!

Sawmill Bay Shellfish Co. actually delivers to many restaurants in Toronto and MTL!!! I would love to go to a restaurant in the Montreal area that serves these oysters!!! Come on, restauranteurs, dsooooo it!