Padoca

After going to Pho Viet, we needed something sweet. Isa, who works right around the corner, suggested a new place, Padoca. A Brazilian bakery. Hello. And hello again.

The place itself is really quite quaint (say that 5 times in a row, I dare you!), very simple and very white. They have a counter with lots of yumminess, where there must be puddles of drool where clients have opened their mouth in awe of the deliciousness.

I had two desserts, because why just have one? Exactly!

The pao de mel. This basically comprises of chocolate, honey and caramel. It tasted like a big gingerbread cookie but WAY better. It had the spices and the honey sweetness and then, when I got to the middle, BAM, caramel. Oh, and it was coated with chocolate. SO good! Not overly sweet and I really liked that spicy side. Isa thought it was too spicy but I loved it. I obviously couldn't get enough of that caramel; y'all know I go cray cray for sweet thangs. I ate it very fast. TOO fast.

The queijadinha! Whoa, that was a mouthful! This dessert included coconut and cheese. Weird sounding, right? Wrong! Ok, no, it DID sound weird, but strangely, both flavours went very well together. We could even say they 'married well'. Yes, the experts say that. It was a bit stale and could have been cheesier. It tasted more like vanilla than cheese. Since I've been sadly self-diagnosed as being lactose intolerant (it was hard on the whole family and on the part of me that LOVES DAIRY), when I do eat cheese, I want to eat cheese, you know?

The score: 8

Don't you worry, I'll be back to try more loveliness!

Le Red Tiger

I went to Le Red Tiger (Btw, LOVE the name: I just imagine this very french person saying it with an big accent. I loves it) last winter (ugh, winter) for a birthday and loved it. I HAD to go back and write me a review!

I got some peeps together: my awesome gym girl, Vanes, and my awesome work girl, Clo. It was gonna be, wait for it, awesome! I realised that I hadn't eaten anything Asian in at least 3 weeks. Possibly THE longest time I've gone without it. It's like a drug, you know. Dem Asians know how to pull you back in.

We got there for 6h30 pm and it was already getting full damn it! They had a bunch of reservations so we got stuck at the bar, and then we got even MORE stuck because there was a reservation right beside us. This meant that the waiter had to bring us another stool and that one of us (I'm sorry Clo), had to be in the corner, with barely enough room to eat. Nobody puts Baby in a corner. Nobody. Ah, Dirty Dancing! But seriously, that sucked. Nevertheless, the place was happenin' and we could see all the hustling and bustling in the kitchen.

Grilled pork sausage spring roll à la viet! This was very.... leafy! Hoisin sauce accompanying the dish was lovely. I just LOVE that sweetness! That pork sausage was a tad dry but still awesomeballz. I just wished there would've been more of it!

Pork and shrimp Vietnamese crepes. I really loved these! Little bites of loveliness, really! The mix of pork and shrimp was right on and the fact that it tasted like coconut was just right up my alley. My coconut alley. The green onions added a certain tang to it, which I love in any dish. Well, except dessert: I usually don't need green onions in ma dessert.

5 spice pork chops. Yes. AND yes. The meat was falling off the bone and uber tender! I'm a fan of fall-off-the-bone-goodness. I totes dug (yes, I speak like I'm a Cali surfer now) the spices and the addition of peanut made it even better. I love to have a crunch and the peanuts gave me just that!

Pork and shrimp fried wonton. These were super crunchy but did not hold enough stuff. It kind of felt like we were only eating wonton. So basically, I was eating only the fried stuff. Not a fan of just eating a ball of fried shizzle.

Service was alright. In my opinion, we were sitting in a position where we should've had better service. Water wasn't always full and you just KNOW how high on my priority list this is. Water is what you need to live, damn it! The food came at a great pace so that was a plus. Points for YOU!

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 7

I'll go back, but I'll make a reservation next time!

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.