Honi Honi

The only other time I ordered a poke, I f*cked it up real good and ordered the shrimp poke that was served with salad. SALAD! Something is definitely wrong with me. Ugh. It was at Koa Lua in Square Phillips and it was just the worst decision EVER. There I go again with exaggerations. I was oh-so ready to try REAL poke. And so I went to Honi Honi with ma gurl E!

The place is weirdly decorated: random fishing paraphernalia on the walls and on the ceiling with fake flowers everywhere. Y'all know I don't fancy fake flowers. Also, the place just seemed too big! Maybe it's because it was on a week day evening but the ambiance was next to zero.

I'd been craving a poke bowl since that time I effed it up at Koa Lua. I went all the poke way and ordered the tuna poke with nori, fried onions, cucumber, avocado, ginger, and dikon. All this on rice: just mix it up baby! This was quite a big bowl; so big that I wondered why they didn't offer a smaller option. There was a bit too much ginger, but hey, ginger was too good to NOT put it in my bowl. The onions added a very nice flavor and added some crunch as well. The cucumber was meh: too much and too soft. The tuna was as fresh as a daisy. OK, I don't think this applies here but you get the point. Raw fish always needs to be ubs fresh. Duh. As soon as there's a smell or rainbow on it, it ain't fresh boo. It ain't fresh. I WOULD have liked it to be in cubes like the real thang... this one was more of a tartare. I ordered daikon but, unfortunately, it was the marinated kind...you know, the yellow one. That was a big meh. I like fresh daikon, damn it. Who do you think I am?  There wasn't enough avocado in there and that just annoys me to a high level. I need my avocado man. I NEED it!

Service was ok: water on table, got our food quickly but the pick up was very slow. I'm just going to mention that we were about 4 in the restaurant.

And now, les scores!

Food: 8
Service: 6.5

I'll probs go back for a nice little bowl o poke! 

Le Diplomate

I was looking for a new restaurant to write about and, let's face it, I really needed one: I like to have a couple reviews on the back burner, and that's how I feel safe. I've had nothin' on that burner for the past week and I was starting to go a bit cray. And so, ma gurl Clo and I decided on Le Diplomate, since it had gotten good reviews from her husband, who isn't a stranger to good food and good times. He IS the head mixologist at the Fairmount Queen E after all!

We headed to le Diplomate, a year and a half old restaurant in nowhere, Montréal. I kid, I kid. But not really. Seriously, it's in front of the Home Depot On Beaubien. AWESOME view. Hahaha! I mean, it is close to St-Laurent and little Italy and all, but for ME, it was waaaaayyy out of my way. This tells you how much I wanted to go! The door is almost camouflaged, and I walked right passed it. Clo stopped and was like dude hello. I gotta say it does not look very inviting from outside. It looks more like, what's the word I'm looking for? A prison. Yep, it looks like a full on prison.

When you enter the resto, it's a different feeling :) A long counter overlooks the kitchen, and only a couple tables surround it. We obviously wanted first dibs on what felt like the chef's table, so sought after in other restaurants . You get to see how the chef works and how everything happens!!! I LOVE that! We sat down and I immediately mentioned the music: 90's music from ma time. That made me very happy.

We started with some wine. Everyone should start a meal with some wine; this should be a universal rule. Almost without looking at the wine list (which is quite extensive, by the way), Clo said "we'll take a glass of orange wine". I was like WTF is orange wine. Turns out it's a thang, man! To sum it up VERY shortly, orange wine is a white wine with tannins. Read up about it here: http://winefolly.com/review/orange-wine/ It was sweet, it was sour. It was almost citrusy. A very nice and new discovery! It's rather hard to get: apparently some SAQ get about a case a week and an orange wine obsessed person just buys the whole thing ASAP. Some restaurants have it but they are quite rare. Orange wine is gaining in popularity, people. Sell it. Sell it good!

Our first bouchée was celeriac with green curry, coconut milk, and peanuts. This was such a great introduction to Le Diplomate!!! We had our first bite and were instantly wowed! That green curry made such an impact on our taste buds! It wasn't over curried, if that's a thing, and it legit tasted refreshing. It was like eating a nice curried noodle, but without the carbs! Such a great mix of flavours. The peanut offered a crunch to counterbalance the celeriac. Everything in this dish was on the damn ball.

Our second bouchée was eggplant, sesame, green onion, and gai choi. This was a hit and miss. Firstly, the colour wasn't ubs (uber, get with it) appetizing: somewhat grey. Grey food is not the best thing for the eyes, ya know? The eggplant was a bit mushy (technical word, of course) and unevenly salted. The rest was great and it was my first time eating gai choi, which, before rereading the menu, I thought was fennel. #dumbass It added the crunch that was much needed with that too-soft eggplant. Needless to say we didn't go cray for this.

We continued with the regular menu next. Brussels sprouts, tamarin and quinoa. This was another wow experience. Have you ever tasted quinoa foam? No? Well, we did! And it was magical. It legit tasted of quinoa and they added some acid and some honey to balance it. The brussel sprouts were perfectly charred. It was such a cute little dish and an awesome one at that. I'd go back every day only to have that bad boy.

Scallop with kohlrabi, daikon and peach. The scallop was raw, which, let's face it, is the best way to eat it. There were also camelina seeds, which are also called gold-of-pleasure. HAHAHA!!! These little balls of heaven taste akin to hazelnut. Mmmmm!!! Scallop and camelina: match made in nutty heaven! I didn't taste the dikon much and the kohlrabi was, on the other hand, a bit too present. Maybe it's because there wasn't enough scallop in there. ALWAYS put more scallop. ALWAYS. Or, you know, in a perfect world. I thought the kohlrabi tasted way too much like the celeriac, even though I am aware they are two different vegetables. The peach also wasn't sweet enough, so the point of putting it in there was sort of lost. All in all, not a big winner.

We had only ordered four dishes and had to order another one because we were still totes hungry. We had the salsify with cucumber, mint and black beans. I think I've eaten salsify once in my life so I had no basis for comparison. This was really good. It was good IN MA MOUTH. I loved the salsify: texture and taste were right on. The mint added a bit of sweetness and the black beans added a bit of a salty side to it all. The cucumber was perfectly cut in a perfect brunoise. It was perf. Did I mention the perfect cut? Mmmmya. All these ingredients went really well together. Who would've thought?

To finish off, obviously, we had to order dessert! They had three choices. We had the carrot semifreddo with spiced cake, chocolate and églantier. OK, apparently, 'églantier., in English is 'dog rose', but that's just weird. Anyway, moving passed it. The eglantine gave a punch of flavor and the semifreddo was just thick and carotty enough! Yum! The actual cake was unfortunately a bit on the dry side and the chocolate would have been much better on top than on the bottom. This way, it would have enveloped everything. Since it was right at the bottom, it was harder to get to while eating the dessert, and in the end, harder to... lick off the plate :)

Service was awesome when we first got in and as soon as it filled up, it became a bit slower. No wonder... they were only two! The woman was really sweet and smiley and the chef seemed really calm even when the resto filled up. He just did his thang. I give him props for bringing out dishes in such a timely fashion. We were asked if we liked our food and were offered dessert at the end of our meal. They answered all questions we had about our dishes.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 7.5

It's so out of my way that I don't see myself going back right now. Perhaps in the summer time when I won't wait FORTY minutes for the bus. Ew.

Baguette Cali

I would eat banh mi every freaking day if it weren't for the massive (yes, I'm going there) amount of carbs in that bread. DAMN that bread! Baguette Cali is strangely located: in a Thai Express. Except for the fact that both are Asian (I should write 'ish' for Thai Express), they have absolutely nada in common. NADA! I would NEVER eat at Thai Express (Disclosure 1: I've eaten there once, never again. Disclosure 2: also why I didn't want a pic of the resto!).

I spotted this place when walking to and fro the gym. Located on Wellington, it's about 2 blocks from my gym. Ever notice how I always describe restos in Verdun with how many blocks from the Énergie Cardio they are located? Yes, I'm that obsessed. So, you enter the restaurant and you look to the back, far far away. And then you see a little Asian woman and she has the cutest, most welcoming smile. Go to her. Oh, you go to her.

They have other stuff but I was there for dem banh mi. They do have quite the selection so I asked the woman what I should have. She said they are all good. I refused. She then suggested the Spécial Cali.

Pâté, ham and pork. Double pig; I love it. Obviously, there was the usual coriander, daikon, carrots and some mayo type sauce. Let's just say that for a girl that watches her carb intake, I did NOT watch my banh mi intake. I pretty much inhaled it. As in 'breathe in, breathe out'. Apart from the fact that there was a tad too much sauce in there, it was amazeballs. That's correct. She had asked if I wanted it spicy. How is that a real question? But seriously. She put some hot peppers in there and as I was eating my way through the sandwich, I found that the couple peppers were few and far between. And then, I hit the motherload. Tears came a-flowin'. But apart from the tears, all the other ingredients were perfect. The slightly marinated carrots and daikon were pretty much out of this world (yes, I'll go that far) and the meat was awesome. I can't say for sure which meat was what but I do know it tasted good. The meat that was most likely pork (I need a meat class) was a tad too fatty for me but added a sh*t load of flavor in there. Oh and there was cucumber that added a nice crunch and some freshness to it all. We DO like it fresh!

Service was fast AND happy! Not much more to say... I had it as take-out.

And now, le score!

Food: 8.5

Knowing myself, I'll try other banh mi places but this place was too good for me not to go back!

Sumi Dojo

I'm continuing my Asian craziness!!! Might as well become an only Asian resto blogger at this point :) My Asian persuasion friend Jer wanted us to go to Sumi Dojo. He goes there for lunch sometimes and said I needed to try it. ALWAYS listen to Jer. Always.

When you enter Sumi Dojo, it almost looks magical. I ain't talkin' unicorn magical, people! I'm talkin little child at Christmas magical. You know! Right? Little lights are dangling from the ceiling and at the (huge) bar, light bulbs of different lengths are also hanging right above it. The whole place is made of dark wood. And I do mean the WHOLE place: the floor, the bars, the stools, the walls...I absolutely loved the fact that there was some Asian music playing until Jer told me it was the equivalent of  Spice Girls in a steak house. Pfff... I still agree with the non-English music. Fo shizzle.

The lunch menu is UBER (yes, uber) cheap there. I'm serious, when I saw the bill, I got weak in the knees. Hey, you want to make me happy? Get me weak in the knees!

The appetizers! I mean, how freaking lovely does this look? You do always eat with your eyes (wow, mental image) first! This was so damn cute! So.... spring roll, miso soup, pickles and salad. Let's start with the spring roll: it was nothing special, really, but it was hot and pleasant in ma mouth. And I love things that go good in ma mouth. Don't get any ideas here. It had carrots and cabbage in there, it was pretty much exactly like the ones we used to sell at Sushi Taxi. Ah, the memories! The soup was hooooot! Duh. It wasn't too salty and the soft tofu just melted in my mouth, which was just loverly. LO-VER-LY. The salad was a: mesclun and b: wilted. Two EXTREMELY bad thangs in my book! The cucumbers were good and vinegar-y (it's a word!) and actually went nicely with the spring roll! Whaaaat? One bite of spring roll/1 cucumber was perfection.

The main. Le pork. Or tonkatsu. The pork was moist and crispy. I'm not an uber fan of fried stuff but this was goo-hood. Jer says it's THE best in Montreal. What!!! The sauce on it was an Asian BBQ sauce (tonkatsu sauce), which can only mean good things. Asian? Good! BBQ? Goooood! Asian BBQ? Un -f*cking- believable! My Canadian self wanted a sh*t load more of sauce to dip my perfectly cooked rice in a pool of Asian BBQ sauce. Mmmmmm. There was shaved cabbage on the side which made me think, for a second, that I was eating all healthy and sh*t. It had a bit of vinegar and a touch of sesame oil on it which gave me that extra sesame taste that I LOVE.

The pork belly. The daikon was packed with flavor it had absorbed in the cooking process. It basically acted like a sponge. A delicious sponge. The shishito, the bitter green pepper, is apparently the most hated vegetable by Japanese children. Kind of like North American kiddies and brussel sprouts. The pork was like a prison of flavor. Ya, I'm deep. So tender, it was breaking up just by looking at it. Totes true. The broth was very tasty and peppery and I would've drank (drunken?) it all. But I need to be somewhat sophisticated. I'm an esteemed food blogger, for God's sake. AND I have a damn business card! That's right. The egg was right on and the Korean chili threads (ito togarashi)added another texture and certainly another taste to the dish.

Service was alright. I know I'm annoying with this but at some point, we had no more water and my mouth was craving it. Our waiter did come back to answer a question we had about the Korean chili threads so that was nice of him.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 6.5

Jer and I already have plans of going back for ramen. The ramen quest continues!

Hoang Oanh

I don't know why but I had been craving a banh mi (uber vietnamese treat) for about a month. Well, that craving was satisfied at Hoang Oanh last Sunday! Called up Lea, told her about my banh mi dreams and set to meet up in Chinatown (I just want to mention how much I appreciate the fact that when I go to Chinatown, I can eat chinese food, korean food, vietnamese food, japanese food etc! Now if it could only be a tad bigger!). Half an hour later, we were there baby!

The place is tiny and has no room to sit, which kind of sucks for people like us who had not planned on eating this loveliness at home. Iz ok, don't cry for me Argentina, we hopped over to the Palais des Congrès and found a comfy sofa to drop our crumbs on :)

Anyhoot, we practically were in and out in 3 minutes! These banh mi girls are fast I tells ya! We didn't want to eat the same sandwich so Lea got the veggie one and I got the beef one. Oh and a big ass ps here, it only cost 4$. Yes I say.

This is the veggie one (and the only good picture---the other ones, they just look like 'well I see some ingredients but it doesn't look like anythin'). Lea had the choice between tofu marinated in curry or marinated in soya sauce. Great choice with the curry; I hardly ever tasted tofu that tasted this good. Ok, rarely. Alright, never. My beef was really tasty too; they apparently really got their proteins right :) Seriously, it was kick-you-in-the-crotch, spit-on-your-neck fantastic (thanks Rachel) but in a good way. The bread in both sandwiches was a tad stale though which was not that super. Plus, you know, all the crumbs. When we got up, we actually saw a reverse body-shaped crumb infested area on the couch. The veggies were so darn good: just a tad pickled and oh-so-fresh! Carrots, daikon, coriander and a hint of hot peppers; so basically all the right stuff. Oh and there was a little bit of yummy yummy sauce that just made everything better. I's gotta say that the veggies were cut a bit too big but in the end, who gives a crap when it tastes this good? Precisely no one! Oh and the hint of really hot peppers was a good choice on our part; it just gave it a nice little kick.

Although I won't be grading the service because of the super duper short time we were in there, it was great! Fast, efficient, nice. 

And now, the score!

Food: 8

I'll be back every day I can. Now THAT is a promise!