Montreal Dishes

Over the past few months, I've eaten some really delicious food that I haven't had the chance to add to Food Fighters. Here are some amazing dishes that everyone should know about!

Grumman 78's Fried Chicken

Ok, so the tacos are good at Grumman BUT the fried chicken is THE BEST! The order comes with one giant leg and jalapeno pasta salad with potatoes. The chicken is perfectly fried so the skin is crispy and the chicken in tender. It's drizzled with a magical honey sauce. It's sweet, so if you aren't a mcnugget-dipped-in-honey person than this fried chicken might not be for you.

Mas des Oliviers' Chilean Sea Bass

This is my favourite dish of all time. Big statement, I know. My parents had their wedding reception at Mas des Olivers and have been going back for their anniversary every year (luckily, taking my brother and I - ever since we were old enough to appreciate good food). It's also been adopted as my birthday restaurant since going once a year is just not enough. There are no words for this dish. It's extraordinary! It's a big piece of perfectly cooked flaky white chilean sea bass topped with whipped, buttery mashed potatoes and a bread crumb crust. Under the delicious fish are stir fried veggies and an insanely tasty vermouth sauce. When you get all of these things in one bite... that's it... all other food is ruined... nothing will ever taste as good.

Bistro Japonais Furusato's Sushi

This place blew me away. It's a little hole in the wall sushi place so my expectations were not high even though a friend raved about it. I'm a very picky sushi eater so I was skeptical that this place could compete with my go-to restaurants. The menu has a small sushi selection. They have very basic rolls with not a lot of variety inside the rolls. We ordered a spicy scallop roll, a salmon and avocado roll, salmon sashimi and tuna sushi. The rolls are large and have a very generous portion of fish inside. The fish is so fresh that you don't want anything else to mask the taste. I have never experienced fish with so much flavour. I've heard that Bistro Japonais Furusato is the most authentic Japanese sushi restaurant in all of Montreal. Also, try the black sesame ice cream... it's amazing!

Kitchenette's Crab Cakes and Bread Pudding

Kitchenette is great but the mains aren't nearly as good as the appetizers and desserts. I shared the Maryland-Style Crab Cakes with homemade ranch sauce with my mom. I love crab cakes and these were delicious! They were crispy on the outside with big chunks of flaky, spicy crab on the inside. The sauce was cold and creamy and added a great balance with the hot and spicy crab. This was definitely a winning dish! 

The bread pudding was heavenly! It was drenched in a Jack Daniels sauce and a toasted pecan caramel. It was the prefect texture.... not mushy and was not too sweet. 

Vino's Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

These pancakes are light and fluffy with the tang of lemon and creaminess of ricotta. They're topped with homemade blueberry compote and served beside thick slices of caramelized bacon. The perfect breakfast!

Juni's Sushi & Pear Croustade

The sushi at Juni is both beautiful and interesting. They have a wide variety of unique rolls. I had the ebi age maki roll which is a shrimp with phyllo pastry. I also had the B52 which is red tuna, rice crispies, spicy mayonnaise and avocado. For dessert, I had the pear croustade with blueberries and raspberries topped with a frozen cheese ice cream and a creme brulee finish. It was delectable. The textures and flavours went so well together. The cold ice cream was incredible with the pear crumble and berries!

Playa Cabana

I love Mexican food! It's very hard to get good authentic or interesting Mexican food in Montreal but Toronto does it a lot better! I went to Playa Cabana for dinner and drinks with a friend of mine. I was very impressed. Anytime I go for Mexican, I order tacos. We even ordered tacos for our appetizer! Everything was superb and I cannot wait to go back!

We each ordered a glass of sangria. I ordered the red sangria and my friend ordered the white sangria. Both were well balanced with sweetness and wine. They were the perfect start to our Mexican meal! We saw the Tacos de Pulpo and couldn't resist. They are fresh grilled octopus tacos served with a charred jalapeno salsa. They were really tasty and I wanted more (they come with 2). I would definitely order them for myself next time. The octopus was perfectly cooked. It wasn't chewy or fishy. The jalapeno salsa had a good kick that went well with the octopus and corn tortilla. 

 I ordered the Tacos el Pastor which are adobo-marinated pork roasted on a trompo with pieces of pineapple. These were fabulous. The pork was juicy and spicy and the pineapple added the perfect sweetness to the taco. My only complaint is that I would have appreciated more pineapple... I wanted it in every bite!

My friend ordered the Tacos de Pescado which are Baja-style fish tacos. They always use what ever white fish is fresh and in season. It's battered with tecate-cerveza. Woah! Seriously the BEST! The fish was perfect! It was crispy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth juicy in the middle. The slaw added a wonderful freshness. I want them now! Amazing! Even the rice and re-fried pinto beans with fresh queso was delish! Definitely a win! 

Lee

Last night, I went to Lee (Susur Lee's restaurant). Susur Lee is world renowned and one of Canada's most respected chefs. He came in second place on season 2 of Top Chef: Masters (Marcus Samuelsson came out on top) and was the second Canadian chef to appear on Iron Chef (he tied against Bobby Flay in battle bacon). I have been watching Susur on the food network for some time now and couldn't of been more excited to eat his food! Not only did I get to eat his food but he came over to our table to say hello. I guess he had no choice because when I saw him from across the room, I started beaming and smiling at him (thinking back, I probably looked a bit nuts). He walked right over to see how our meal was. I was in the presence of a culinary genius. Susur was very sweet to come over and chat. Lee was a delectable!

We started off our incredible meal with Sashimi of Charred Tuna and Spicy Tartar with marinated edamame, tomato sauce and tofu crisps. It was a stunning dish! The tuna was very light with a punch of scotch bonnet pepper sauce. The tartar in the middle was tasty especially with the crunchy tofu chips! It was a good dish but I probably wouldn't order it again. There are so many delicious things on the menu that I would want to try.

Then came the most wonderful dish of the night. I've seen Susur make this dish on Top Chef Masters and was excited to try it! The Singarporean-Style Slaw with salmon sashimi blew me away! The slaw has 19 ingredients in it and the flavours are out-of-this-world! There are so many different tastes and textures. Everything went together like bananas and chocolate. I definitely went away dreaming about this dish! 

Before the Singaporean-Style Slaw was mixed (photo cred. foodnouveau.com)

After it was mixed

For our main course, we started off with the Thai Satay with chicken, beef and shrimp skewers. It came with a peanut sauce, a spicy mango salad, and an assam glaze. This was my least favourite dish of the night. Don't get me wrong, it was good. It was nothing special... the dish was lacking the 'WOW' factor. The assam glaze on all the skewers was very tasty. The chicken was tender and even though the beef was a bit chewy, it was my favourite skewer. It seems like something I could make at home, so I wouldn't recommend it. 

The next dish was deeee-licious! We had the Peking and Char Sui Duck with Beijing duck garnishes, steamed pancakes and foie fras pate mousse. The duck was really tender and the Char Sui Duck had so much flavour. I happen to LOVE fois gras so I thought the mousse was divine! It was creamy and rich and went so well with the rolled pancakes. The dish also came with tofu chips that were heavenly! The taste of all the different components in one bite... priceless!

We ended off this scrumptious meal with, possibly, the best dessert I have ever had... The French and Chinese Tong Yuen. They were warm, sweet rice dumplings filled with melt-in-your-mouth chocolate nougat. They were topped with creme anglaise and a fresh strawberry. They were a one-biter, so I suggest you savour it! When you bit into it, the warm chocolate oozed out. It was rich and creamy, with lots of different textures (smooth sweet dumpling, creamy creme anglaise, and nuts in the nougat)... just wonderful!

Kultura

I have moved to Toronto! It's exciting on all fronts especially the food front! I have a huge city at my fingertips waiting to discover new and delectable places to eat! Montreal is a wonderful city for a foodie like me but I think it's time to move on. My taste buds are ready for new experiences!! I have only been here a few weeks and have already exposed my mouth to incredible food! The first week, I went to Kultura. Kultura is a tapas style restaurant with unique food and interesting flavours!

We started off with the Ahi Tuna Cornets.The tuna tartar was stuffed inside an edible Nori (seaweed) shell with avocado, red miso flakes, shiso cress and jalapeno. It had such a great flavour, especially with the jalapeno spicy-ness. The shell added a great texture with the smooth tartar.

Then came the world's greatest naan bread! Palak Paneer Naan! Naan bread stuffed with paneer (indian cheese), truffle oil, jalapeno and peppered honey. Whoever came up with this, is a culinary genius. I know it's just naan but it tasted like so much more. It was sweet and salty and cheesy! If I could eat one starch for the rest of my life, it would be Palak Paneer Naan!

 

The next dish we had was the Soft Shell Salad. This was truly delicious. I've always liked soft shell crab (especially in my maki) but when left on it's own, I sometimes find it a bit overwhelming. These pieces were so good. They were fried and left crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The salad consisted of a pomegranate dressing, mango, frisee, plums and crispy shallots. A lovey dish that I would definitely order again!

Mmmmm.... Barley Risotto. I love barley so without reading the description, the dish already appealed to me. In the risotto was a Jerusalem artichoke puree, European smoked bacon and topped with a parmesean truffle tweel. The barley was a perfect al dente and it was full of so much flavour and creaminess. When you dip that parmesean chip inside that risotto... holy! The big pieces of smoked bacon? That just sent it over the edge!

I had to order the Pork Belly Tacos. Ever since my pork belly experience at Biarritz, I feel the need to experience as much pork belly as I possibly can. The tacos were tasty. The meat was juicy and overall I liked the dish but it was my least favourite one. It didn't shine like the rest. They were missing pazaz!

Then came our final savoury dish... Chillean Sea Bass on top of a parsnip puree, fois gras foam, beet reduction and brussel sprouts. First of all, it was a beautiful dish. The fish was cooked wonderfully. The pieces flaked off the sea bass. The dish was full of unique flavours that I had never had together. The beet reduction added a lovely sweetness and the parsnip puree was a delicious accompaniment that went so well with the bass. Great dish! 

We ended our meal with the Chocolate Lava Cake. Seems cliche but the waitress said it was unreal so we couldn't say no. It was served along side banana tempura and instead of the orange vanilla ice cream, the waitress suggested the coffee  (which was a great idea). The lava cake was perfect.... absolutely no complaints. The cake was rich and moist with the most ooey-gooey center. The banana tempura rocked! Fried banana is possibly my most favourite dessert. The perfect ending to a delicious meal!

Le Canard Libéré

I'm not going to say much... Duck Poutine with Fois Gras Gravy. 

Perfectly cut fries, fried in duck fat, topped with delicious chewy, squeaky cheese curds, gravy made from fois gras and pieces of duck confit. Hell Ya!

Biarritz

Before my big move to Toronto, I made sure to leave Montreal with a delicious send-off. I went to Biarritz (named after the beautiful city in France). Biarritz is a tapas restaurant with a warm atmosphere and friendly staff (we had a wonderful and helpful waitress). The menu is divided in small, medium and large plates. The worst part about Biarritz is EVERYTHING on the menu looks incredible so it's very hard to chose. Our lovely waitress helped us pick out a delicious meal! One of my favourite things about this restaurant is they make their own cheese! I'm a cheese-o-holic so that fine detail made me very happy!

We started off with the goat cheese and tapenade tartine. It was a beautiful piece of toasted crusty baguette topped with home-made goat cheese and black olive tapenade. Could anything be better? The creamy goat cheese worked perfectly with the salty olives and crunchy bread. I loved this appetizer! 

Then came the beef tartar and homemade (kettle) chips. Wow! This was so tasty! It had middle-eastern flavours with mint and cumin. They forgot to mention in the description the homemade hummus! The hummus was unbelievable! I don't like hummus... I don't like it at all. I licked that hummus off the plate! The actual tartar was wonderful. The meat melted in your mouth and the flavours were delectable! Definitely a winning dish!

Then we had the grilled octopus, chorizo, potato and cucumber. I liked this dish, I didn't love it. The octopus was cooked well. It was tender and definitely not chewy. I didn't love the flavours and probably wouldn't order it again BUT our waitress said it was one of her favourite dishes and one of the most popular.

The next dish was the winner! It will go down as one of the best dishes I have ever had. Go to Biarritz and order the pork belly. I have never been the biggest fan of pork belly, probably because I have never had it prepared correctly. I usually find it too fatty. This pork belly was perfectly seared on all sides with the most delicious fatty, meaty and juicy center. It was served on top of the best pea soup I have ever had in my life. We were scraping the bowl with our spoons to make sure none of it went to waste. Meaty pieces of ham-hock were found throughout the soup and the entire dish was drizzled with a bit of maple syrup. Bravo Biarritz! My taste-buds are forever grateful!

The last dish we had was the lamb ribs. I was unfortunately too full to eat very much of it but they were superb. They were melt-in-your-mouth-fall-off-the-bone delicious. I have never had lamb ribs before and I will be having them again. They came with a homemade mint-yogurt sauce and grilled eggplant. When that lamb hit that sauce, fireworks went off in my mouth... mmmm! I cannot wait for my next trip to Biarritz!

Mini Lemon Cheesecake

I'm thinking of having an affair. 

With lemons.

I don't know what it is, but lately, I've really been craving lemons.  Ever since those Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes, I just haven't been able to stop thinking about lemons.  It's probably that summer is just around the corner and I find this refreshing citrus fruit to be the perfect summer treat!  I recently got a mini cheesecake pan and have been dreaming about what my first batch would be, and when I found this recipe for mini lemon cheesecakes I just knew I had hit the jackpot.  And oh, what a lovely tart jackpot it was!  Actually, they should be called lemon lime cheesecakes because the ratio of lemon to lime is the same, but whatever they're called, they were heavenly and I would recommend them to anyone!

Mini Lemon Cheesecake

Adapted from Baked By Rachel

Makes 1 dozen mini cheesecakes

Crust ingredients:

20 Nilla Wafer Cookies (or 1/2C fine crumbs)

1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

2 1/4 tsp sugar

Filling ingredients:

12oz. cream cheese, softened

2/3C sugar

2 tbsp sour cream

1 tbsp all purpose flour

zest of 1 lemon and 1 lime

juice of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime

2 eggs

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly grease cheesecake pan with baking spray.  Crush cookies into fine crumbs. In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs, butter and sugar. Using a small cookie scoop, divide crust ingredients among cavities. Press mixture flat. I had a hard time getting the crumbs nice and compact, until I found a little shot glass.  Worked like a charm! Anything small, with a flat bottom would also work though!

In a medium bowl, beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, sour cream and flour. Mix well. Scrape your bowl as needed.

Zest one lemon and one lime directly into your bowl. Cut each in half, squeeze the juice from one half of both the lemon and lime. Add your eggs and mix just until combined. Do not over mix.

Divide the cream cheese mixture to your crust evenly.  Gently shake or tap you tray on the counter to settle any bubbles or rolls in the filling.

Bake for 15-18 minutes. Center of cheesecakes should be just slightly jiggly. Let cool on a wire rack for 1-2 hours before refrigerating. Chill for 2-4 hours prior to serving. Carefully remove cheesecakes from tray and pop off baking discs from the bottom of your cheesecakes.

Serve with whipped cream or cool whip if desired. Store chilled in an airtight container.

Mmmmmmmmmmm!!!