Barros Luco

One of my coworkers, who is Chilean, told me more than once that her and her mama's fave Chilean resto is Barros Lucco. When someone tells you this, you can't ignore it. You GO! And so, I went. With ma girl Clo!

 

Barros Luco is right on the corner of Fairmount and St-Urbain, a very busy intersection. The restaurant still manages to have TWO dining rooms AND a terrace. WHAT! Both rooms and the outdoor space seem kind of run down, or, I guess, were never new to begin with! It was somewhat dirty (ugh, the washroom), and the floor had a layer of I don't know what on top. Yikes!

 

We were going to share everything, because, damn it, that's how we do! We ordered a barros lucco (a typical  Chilean sandwich), the fried fish, and, to top it off, a churro, of course! Name me ONE person that can resist a churro. I dare ya.

The barros luco: beef, avocado, cheese and tomato. I like it when I order something with avocado, and there's actually avocado in it. Not a tiny piece or some kind of fake puree. Meh. The bread was like a cloud of butter. So basically the best kind of cloud. A fattening cloud, but a good cloud. The avocado was just the right amount of ripeness, which is always good in my book! The tomato was too juicy, and the meat was a bit dry. The cheese was a tad on the salty but we still liked it. I like it when it's cheesy. Ya, I'm like that. Although there were good aspects to this sandwich, the whole was a bit on the disappointing side.

Fried fish. It was a smart choice deciding to share this dish. DAMN! There were like 4 portions of fish on the plate. I TEND to exaggerate as you may know. The rice was, well, normal. Nothing to write home about. Salad: same. The fish was very moist, and the batter was thin, which is always appreciated. I felt like it could've been tastier. Again, butter was very present.

The churro! Mama likes her churros. I remember eating those in Spain. Ah, the life. The churro was good but there wasn't nearly enough dulce de leche in there. Obviously, knowing me, you know there's never enough. ALWAYS more dulce de leche please. Always.

Service was somewhat off the ball. Like, the opposite of 'on the ball'. The waitress barely spoke French OR English, so I had fun practicing my Spanish, but even then...At some point I think the language barrier was why we didn't get our churro in a timely fashion. Meh. And by the by, if you're looking for the Chilean mafia, they are located at Barros Luco. Hahaha!!! When I went to the washroom, they were all sitting at a table, whispering in Spanish, probably about killing some member of another clan. OR they were talking about the menu. OK, most likely just the second option. OK, it's 95% the second option.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6.5
Service: 6.5

I probably won't go back, but I AM open to eat more of that Chilean yumminess...somewhere else.

 

Comptoir 21

My fun activity recently has been walking on Wellington and finding a nice, good tasting restaurant! And oh did I ever find that last week at Comptoir 21!

This is the third Comptoir 21 in Montreal and it's a great freaking thang that they opened one on Wellington, I tells ya! And it opened just recently! OH, and the last for digits of their phone number? FISH! What what!

This restaurant has a big 'U' shaped counter so that the waiter can be in the middle for easy serving. It's decorated very simply with a huge fish on the wall made by an artist in 2013 and some fishies on the wall. I personally don't think they are taking full advantage of the space they have, half of it not having any tables... I mean... there's an opportunity there to make more money people!

Alright, so the chairs are a tad uncomfortable... I couldn't rest my feet on anything so my legs were basically hanging. You know, being short and shtuff!

Anyhoot, I asked the waiter what I should order to get the 'real experience' and he said fish n' chips. So I took the 'small portion' (there's also a bigger portion but gosh darn it, I can't imagine what it could look like because my small one looked--and felt-- like a gigantic one!).

So, small portion of fish n' chips it was! It comes with homemade fries, homemade tartar sauce and homemade coleslaw. Let's start with the coleslaw! One of the best I've had: it had just the right amount of vinegar. The sauce was seriously like a burst of freaking goodness in my mouth! YUM! And it was just your basic relish and mayo but it tasted like so much more! The fries were crunchy but could have been crunchier. And now, the fish. Ah, the fish (cod). HOLY BEJESUS!!!!! Hands down, the best fried fish I've EVER had! Oh, I'm not even kidding! The batter became just crispy enough and the fish was so moist (lord, I hate that word!). Ah maaaaaaaaaaaaaan! I never have these but I can safely say this was my first fishgasm ;) I just wanted more! And the lemon added just the acidity needed. 

Service was great. Glass of water was always full and service was prompt. Plus, the waiter came to check if all was good. The only thing that bugged me was that when I told the waiter that this was the greatest fried fish I'd ever had, he said something like 'well duh, that's why we have three restaurants'. Geez, cocky much? 

And now, the scores!

Food: 9

Service: 8

Well, my legs were numb by the end of lunch but if you like fish n' chips, this is a MUST!

Rasoï

I was invited to another restaurant opening a couple weeks ago because well, that's what's happening now! And it's great! I'm really happy that my blog is getting recognition in the restaurant world :) Yay!!!

Anyhoot, this is a restaurant that's been opened for about one month and they had their official opening a couple weekends ago. I went with my friend Lea this time.

This indian restaurant is located about a 5 minute walk from Place St-Henri metro on Notre-Dame. It has about 60 seats plus about 20 downstairs. It has a modern style with cool paintings on the ceiling. You can tell they put a lot of hard work into making it the place that it is now. It has a good vibe going on and seems like a very chill place. The music was just loud enough (we could still hear each other talk). Oh and at some point, the belly dancers came out ! To add to the fun, they had henna in the basement!

Cajun Caesar and Mango Mojito

They have very original cocktails at Rasoi, so we decided that we absolutely had to have one! I had the Cajun Bloody Caesar: clamato, vodka, piece of bacon (wow!) and a green bean. What an insteresting mix! The green bean was very spicy but very enjoyable, and the bacon was, well, bacon! Mmmmmm! The only thing that I thought was unfortunate was that the drink itself did not taste like bacon OR green bean. 

Fish pakora with yogourt sauce

Let's talk food! We chose to share an entrée and share two mains. For the entrée, we had the fish pakora. It was really hot when it got to our table which is always appreciated! It had a really great and tasty blend of spices but a tad too much batter and not enough actual fish. The fish that WAS present though was very moist. No one likes dry fish! It also had a great yogourt based sauce to counter act the spiciness of it all. 

As for the main, we decided to have the less pricy mango, ahi tuna and sesame salad and the papaya and shrimp salad. To our dismay, there was no more tuna :( You'd think that on the official opening night, they would stock up, no? Anyway, they replaced the tuna with the shrimp---it was kind of weird how the waitress just brought us this 'new' salad without even checking with us if it was OK beforehand. Anyway, she told us it would be on the house so the fact that she didn't 'warn' us in advance kinda went away :)

Alright, let's get to the judgin'! The [green]papaya salad was largely underseasoned. Sad but true. On top of it, unfortunately, you could barely taste the papaya. The shrimp though, we're heavenly. HEAVENLY! Couldn't get enough of them. They were cooked perfectly, big like I like 'em and had this thick sauce that tasted of butter and coconut! We asked the waitress what was in that lovely sauce but apparently, the chef wanted to keep that a secret. Hey, I don't blame him/her!

Now, the mango salad with grilled shrimp. Again, even if the mango was very good and very present, the rest was very much underseasoned :/ The shrimp were really great and the vinaigrette on the salad tasted of fresh oranges (it also had orange wedges in there)!

Let's talk about the service! We had a warm welcome as soon as we got into the restaurant: 'Miss Prévost, please follow us to this table...'. I love hearing that! As soon as we sat down, we had water, which as you guys know by now, is super duper important to me. And for the rest of the evening, the water service was amazing. The waitress was very nice and friendly and took the time to go ask the chef if she was lacking answers to our questions. It did take a while to get our food though, and when we got it, as previously explained, it was lacking the most important thing: TUNA. All in all, she seemed a tad nervous and there were many people there for the opening so I don't blame her.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7 The shrimp were amazing but the salad itself was tasteless

Service: 7,5

I would go back to this restaurant for sure. No doubt about it. And I'd order the freaking tuna.