Trou de Beigne

After eating spicy stuff at Pum Pui, Jer bear and I were lookin' for a little somethin somethin sweet. You know, a little somethin somethin. Jer had a marvelous idea: "oh, there's a tiny donut shop right there'. Ya, ya, I'm ok with that. And THAT's how it went down!

These donuts are hand-rolled, fried and glazed every morning. Actually, they have two sizes which is just gosh darn awesome. For full on fluffy experience, they suggest, nay, TELL you, that you must eat them the day of. Makes sense: no one likes a stale donut. The place itself is tiny, with only a couple tables and le counter to order. They only have a handful of varieties, but even then, they go like cray cray. We were there for a big ol' 10 minutes and I saw at least 3 peeps coming in for big orders. I was like dang this bound to be good!

Jer had the bacon+maple donut and I had the green tea one. You know, might as well make it a "healthy" donut. HAHAHA! Ps: there is no such thing. The bacon 'nut (yep, it's happening) was ubs sweet (like, more than a usual donut) and I just thought that if you're gonna put bacon on something, make it worth it, no? The answer is ALWAYS yes. Like, put some IN it... make it proud of being a bacon donut. I gotta say that the bacon that was actually on le donut was quite lovely indeed: it gave just the right amount of salty and crunchy.

The matcha donut I had was too sweet for a matcha donut. Didn't feel it, you know? It was so cute though: I had the small version and it was green with some crispy rice on top which made for a nice little crunch. It was also overly sweet which kind of turned me off.

And now, le score!

Imma give a 6. Obviously, there are some other flavours I'd like to try like the S'more and the Chocolate-raspberry. So yes, I might go back if I'm in the hood.

Aloha café

How cute does that sound? Who wouldn't want to go to Aloha Café? I went last week with my coworker who likes all things Hawaiian and possibly related to surfing (like September Surf Café for example  http://www.eatingoutmontreal.com/2016/05/september-surf-cafe.html) to see what this place was about.

You literally feel like you're in another world when you get inside: bright wallpaper with red flowers, wooden everything, colours and more colours. There's no way you can feel sad, or mad, or bad, when you step foot inside Aloha Café. Even the name should make you smile! We would have liked more surf-y music, if that is a thing; it was a bit too much on the chill side. Their wallpaper is ON POINT: very islandy!

I'm always inclined to get hot chocolate in new cafés because I tell myself that hey, if they are coffee experts, they must also care about their hot chocolate. Sometimes, I am wrong. It wasn't hot enough (hello, it's in the title), it had a nice foam goin' but not enough flavour. All in all, a bit disappointing.

Carrot and ginger soup. I love that mix! It could have been hotter and there could have been less herbes de provence. It was a bit overpowering. Still one of my fave mix of flavours though.

Volcano sandwich. They make their own focaccia, which is pretty freaking awesome, if you ask me. It was a cloud-like bread. This is le top du top: a bread you can float on. I swear I didn't take any hallucinogens. So soft and lovely and fresh. YUM! This sandwich had porchetta, caper aioli, grilled eggplant and zucchini, and arugula. A nice little mix o' flavas. This sandwich was niiiiice. I would have liked more aioli because I'm just a sucker for garlicky things, as you may know. I also didn't really taste the capers in the aioli. I absolutely loved the grilled veggies and the meat was fatty and delicious and there was lots of it! A sandwich hit!

Waikiki sandwich. First of, best name ever: 'I'll have the Waikiki please'. Man, that sounds awesome. It was a bit on the wtf side o' things: sardines, hard boiled egg, capers and fine herbs. It was...weird. The anchovies and eggs were a mix that I'm not used to and there was too much dill in there. On the good side of things, the egg was marinated and that was f*ckin' awesome. The sandwich was a bit on the dry side compared to the other one. Not as much of a hit.

We just HAD to share the matcha croissant. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!! That's actually why I wanted to go there in the first place! So basically, you gots a green croissant...It looks a bit bizarre but soon you don't really care because it's IN YO MOUTH. It has a praline mousse with matcha with most likely some kind of food coloring because it was as green as well watered grass (wow, what a comparison) . The paste (or mousse if you prefer) was thick and the croissant, fresh and tasty. It was very yummy, as the experts put it, but the matcha wasn't present enough. I guess that might be a good thing...'I'll have a tea croissant please'. Ya, it IS strange. It was still good tho. Croissants are ALWAYS good. Always.

Service was not so super. We were rather disappointed, actually. It is a new establishment and they should really get their act together! I feel like a teacher telling a student they did something bad. But seriously. On top of it, they were no less than about 6 people working there with about 6 patrons. AND 'our' girl just talked to a friend for the better part of our visit. We had to ask for water and YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT THAT. Also, no one asked if we liked our food OR if we would like to order anything else after having finished our meal. You are there to make money, people...act like it! This is no way to run a business. OK, I feel like I'm being a bit (a lot) harsh... but it's for your own good :)

And now, the scores!

Food: 7
Service: 6

If I go back, it'll be for that sandwich.

Noren

Noren was, wait for it, you guessed it, on ma list! Easter weekend, since my brother was in Toronto, my mom was in freaking Greece and my dad was in the Dominican Republic, my sister-in-law Chris and I decided to not let this bring us down and celebrate the right way: by going out to a restaurant. I gave her three choices and when she chose Noren, I gotta say, I would've chosen one of the two other restaurants first (Butterblume or Maison de mademoiselle dumpling).

Well, turns out Chris was totes right here. I ended up being uber happy with her choice. The place itself is super duper small. Think, the size of a closet. Or maybe a shoe box. Or perhaps a matchbox. And I've gone and exaggerated again. But it's oh so kawaii! That means cute in Japanese btw. Ya, I'm totes fluent. OK, I'm kidding. It holds 10 seats, including some at the window, with a marble counter and a small ass kitchen. You know, those small ASS kitchens? Mmmmright. It had high ceilings, including one wall dedicated to the menu on a black board. Also, some knick knacks/dishes/Japanese thangs on some shelves behind the counter. Very cute place :)

They brought the whole 'small menu' idea to a whole other level.  Two choices on the menu plus the dish of the week and some sides. Oh, and one dessert, of course. I LOVE small menus. I. LOVE. THEM.

Takoyaki. Or octopus balls. Hehehe: octopus balls. They made this with love, man. Love. The couple were both taking turns at the hot plate, turning them balls, makin' em perfect and shiz. You could choose your sauce and we chose sumthin yummy: ponzu. Ponzu is citrusy and, as previously mentioned, yummy. The balls were a bit too doughy for my taste but only slightly. I understand why the Japanese eat this as a late night-during/after drinking street food. The ponzu sauce was perfect on there and it was great to have something citrusy to balance out the fried stuff. The octopus was perfect, and not, you know, squishy. Bah: squishy octopus.

Okonomiyaki: omelet with cabbage, pork OR shiitake, okonomi sauce, seaweed, mayo, bonito flakes and ginger. We ordered it with pork. We don't believe we had any pork in there. But, you know, who CARES right now, because the rest of it was just, pretty much one of the best damn omelet I've ever had. And I'm serious. Both Chris and I thought it, and both our mouths went 'mmm'. Un vrai coup de coeur! The cabbage was still a bit crispy and not too, how can I explain it, cabbage-y?! The bonito flakes were just wow, adding umami to the dish. The okonomi sauce (ketchup, Worcestershire, honey, soy sauce) tasted almost like unagi sauce. It was nice and thick and oh-so-tasty. I could have eaten at least two of this moist, very flavourful  piece of amazingness.

The matcha financier and vanilla ice cream. Matcha WHAAAAT? They had us at 'mat'...or something clever. I was quite disappointed to know that this really great tasting vanilla ice cream wasn't home made. Especially when they told us that they usually make it. Damn it!!! The thing with financiers is that half the time they are too dry. To me, anyway. I need a MOIST financier and I got it here! There was just a hint of matcha and, although that was nice, I would've liked more! I know it's an acquired taste but hey, if you haven't acquired that taste, dson't dso Japanese!

Service was great throughout. Uber friendly staff and smiles all around. I believe the waitress that came in was one of the owner's sister. It's all in the family! We got water refills and the food came in a timely manner. It was just fun looking at them cook, pretty much right in FRONT of us.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 9

You better believe I'm going back!