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Thesorus

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  1. Couple of places : Assomoir (old montreal and on Bernard st), extensive mixology list; but it is quite noisy (at least at the Old Montreal location). Le Lab ( 1351, Rue Rachel Est ) never been, but heard good thing about it. Barmacie (Laurier St.) is nice, and a good area for food for before or after or in between drinks. M.
  2. Good day. I've got a reservation in 2 weeks at Pierre Gagnaire. Couple of newby-ish questions. I see that they now have a "Hunting" menu, any thought on that? I assume, naively, that if I order "A la Carte" I can choose items in both "regular" menu and the "Menu Chasse" ? Again, I assume I can order the "Menu Dégustation" at lunch time ? if that's the case, as far as I can see (and read here) it's quite an extensive amount of food and by the time the desserts come in most people feel stuffed; is that really the case ? or are people stuffing themselves with bread ? From what I can read from various sources, the "Menu Déjeuner" might be a bit underwhelming, but from a simple cost point of view a good deal for at least the dessert (the PG desserts) ? and if I go that way and still am hungry, could I insert some cheeses from the cheese cart ? Thanks. Will report back when that's done. Maximilien.
  3. Thanks OliverB. Here is my "Le Cinq" report: Le Cinq (Avenue George V) After my lunch with my parents @ Spoons, we walked around the corner and came back at the George V hotel; so I decided to take my chance and asked for a reservation for lunch on friday, I half expected them to be full, but hey!, they had a place for me. So, friday noon-ish, sharply dressed, I came in, promptly seated at a nice table with a view on the garden (with a water curtain fountain that display a projection at night). The room is splendid, very luxurious ( a word you will read a lot) , but warm and inviting; I love that they have small stool to place "things" on it (purse, cell phones, newspapers, ...) I was feeling good, and wanted to experience it all, I ordered the winter menu, I felt that the lunch special was good enough for a business lunch, but not for a christmas gift from me to me. As soon as that was done, the Champagne trolley rolled my way, and I cannot say no to Champagne! and what goes well with Champagne? fry stuff, and in particular a nice portion of very fluffy fried calamari!! I could have only ordered that and be happy! After reading and drooling over the wine list, and an interresting discussion with the sommelier, I ordered wine, 1 1/2 bottle of Meursault "Les Criots" and 1 1/2 bottle of Cornas 2003; the white was perfect both on the nose, in the mouth and with the food; the red was a little to much 2003 (very hot summer), and since it came in late in the lunch ( I was already full and quite happy!) (that was the only "minus" of the whole experience BTW, and knowing that, I would have been better to order a full bottle of the Meursault, even if it was probably the best match for one of the "course". So, they came with the amuse bouche, 3 things : Marinated mushrooms, very light, something that tasted like bbq eal (japanese-ishy) on a blini and a small soup (I think it was potiron with a very light avocado mousse if not mistaken!) the soup was AWSOME!!! and in it was some "fizz" candy (you know, small particles that fizz in your mouth that's usually found in kid's candy) First course; Razor clam with a butter sauce with seaweed, very wintery, but light at the same time; surprisingly spanish in preparation. and in influence, impressive start! Second course : (3 parts) - "salad" of multicolored beets and other roots vegetables with black truffles and foie gras. Interresting combination, from the freshness of the veggies to the sumptuousness of the foie gras to the earthiness of the truffles, you could taste it all, either individually or combined. - Warm "Egg" with truffles shaving, I can't remember exactly what was in it, but I don't care, it was just soooo flavourfull and the aroma from the truffles and the egg was tremendous! in contrast to the "salad" that was more wintery in spirit, and I can see myself doing something similar at home (with cheapo truffles!) - Truffle brioche, again, the aroma was so intense that I could have eaten this all day and night! Third course : St-Jacques (scallops) with a hazelnut and chestnut sauce, served with a small "dumpling" containing a nice shrimp, and a side of winter veggies (including crosnes aka Chinese artichoke); in all this trip in Paris, I was surprised at the combination of seafood ingredients and more earthy ingredients like mushrooms (see Spoons) and in that case, nuts; Chestnuts are very winter and that all go very well in that dish! Fourth course : - Pigeon with foie gras in a "cereal crust"; a new twist on the beef wellington, with a very nicelly cooked pigeon in a crust, I can see how hard to have all of this prepared assembled and cooked to perfection! Entremet : - Pannacota with a mango mousse, very light and refreshing and a nice pause after quite a large amount of food before the dessert! Dessert : - Chocolate "mousse" with hazenuts, puffed rice and a very nice lemon sorbet with some eadible gold leaves! how luxurious is that considering the price of gold these days! Unfortunatly, I'm not much of a dessert guy! but it was very good! - Swapped coffee with a very nice "thyme" infusion to go with the sweets, I chose a couple of Cannelés because I love them so much! but that that point it was more because of sheer glutonny!!! and I loved it all! I short, one of the most luxurious experience of my life! service was excellent, friendly and attentive, the food was brilliant (and in quantity!)! I've been fully truffled! price wise, yeah, is expensive, but considering all that you get, it's not a rip-off. Images are available on flickr, at the end of this set: Thanks. Max.
  4. Dumb questions of the day! (first and last of the year, I promise), I've got a lunch reservation this friday; will they still serve the Fall menu ? and, for lunch, do I need a tie to go with the nice shirt and nice jacket (and nice pants and shoes/boots) ? I'd love not to have to buy one. Thanks.
  5. I think the Pistachio at PA (on Parc) are Iranian. ( in small metal tin).
  6. From what the sommelier @ Le Bouchonnée told me, the restaurant is open but there has not been an official "openning" yet. but it's a great place none the less.
  7. I hope it's not too far away. Any idea where? Still on Laurier ?
  8. There will be two shipping of South-Africans and Australian wines ( 8th and 22nd); With a bit of luck you might be able to grab couple of interresting bottles. have a look here : http://www.saq.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servl...catalogId=10001
  9. for brunch, I will suggest "Le Réservoire" on Duluth St.
  10. For hotels, there you have to look at some nicer hotels in Old Montreal. for Wine, have a look at BU ( www.bu-mtl.com) or Pullman; both are wine bars (but you have to order food) or two newcomer, Les 3 Petits Bouchons and Justine, those are more restaurants than wine bars, but you can find really fun private import wines. All of the above a reachable by public transport(safe), walking or taxi and are on fun streets to walk on (except Pullman) For the rest, I'm no export on bakeries or coffee, except for Caffe Italia in Little Italy; but there are tons of threads on those subjects here. M.
  11. I can't really write about specific places, but I has a lot of fun walking around and trying as much as I could do in 2 days in Sevilla. I posted a 2 day report on "the other board" about Sevilla, might not be exactly what you are looking for, but there it is : ========== (pictures available at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesorus/sets...57600908159961/ The previous night at Citra in Madrid (see other thread) left me with a splitting headache. I arrived in Sevilla, found the hotel and slept for a couple of hours! woke up, found the first drug-store I can find, bought aspirins and few minutes later I'm feeling as normal as one can. I will not really do a restaurant by restaurant report of Sevilla, first, I did not always note the name of the restaurant of Tapas Bar, second, I did only Tapas Bar and no real "sit-down" restaurant. I did try to eat a much as possible different food, but since it was very warm, I ended up trying Gazpacho at different places and eating ham at pretty much every place!!! I also ate, after seeing it in Barcelona and Madrid, Morcilla (sp?) (black pouding/boudin noir), and I liked it, I would not eat it every day or week, but i was surprised in the taste. I ate Bacalau, I ate Ham, I ate, well, I ate everything I could find. I also ate Churros with Hot Chocolate for breakfast, WOW, it's sooooo gooooodddd!!! once in a simple cafe near the Corte Ingles, and in a real Churreria near the Mercado calle Feria. Speaking of the market itself, I liked it, smaller (by a wide margin) than the Boqueria in BCN, but full of life and full of good looking produces, meat and fish and sea-food. I drank a lot of beer, a lot of Tino De Verano and a good amount of Sherry and Manzanilla, I'm certain most of them were generic bar Sherry and Manzanilla, but they were all good. The Tapas bar themselves were very fun and I liked the "vibe" of most of the places, even at the more touristic places. I tried to only drink at those places, and if I wanted food, I just walked away from the main streets to find bars that were more in sync to what I wanted in Sevilla. One place I really liked, "Antigua Abaceria Puerta Carmona S.l." (that's the name on the outside of the bar), tended by to women at the time, I should have asked to take a picture of them, not that they were "supermodel" but they were nice and they looked like they were enjoying what they were doing, taking the time to slice the ham, place it on a parchemin paper on a wooden plate, take the time make me and all the other clients feel welcome to their bar. There were other nice places; one should not be afraid to go in, use sign language if you cannot be understood and try as much as possible the food they offer you. I wish I could have stay at least 1 or 2 days more in Sevilla, I really love the city, I loved the architecture ( the street covered in "cloth", the Moorish architecture of the Alcazar, the "very" small streets, ...). And mostly, the fact that I was lucky enough to be able to ear some real flamenco in a small bar, sang and danced by locals, no costumes, no "bells'n'whistles", only the guitar and the singing and the dancing. In short, Sevilla is a city where the expression "Tapas Crawl" takes its real meaning, I could eat as little or as much in as many or as few Tapas Bar I wanted to do in one day, and the fact the city is quite small, I cannot get lost, or if I get lost, I could find nice hidden gems. After 2 weeks of eating, drinking, dancing and be a real tourist in Spain, I was quite spent, and my feet were telling me horror stories that I did not want to hear !!! the last few hours were spent in airports, airplanes, airport hotels and airports restaurants and airplane from Sevilla back to Barcelona and over the atlantic back to Montreal. The morning before the flight, I decide, what the heck, let's finish this trip on a good note, bought a bottle of London "Authentic Blue Gin" and got myself an orange juice and cava to make myself a mimosa!!!! people looked strangely at me!! And the final meal I got from this trip was ... I will let you guess ... it's a rice dish ... and I did not even eat it in Spain... maybe next year! ========= Max.
  12. Madre opened this week and they already have a guest chef ? (on a side note, I HAVE to go on Masson and try the different new restaurants there.)
  13. Is it possible to find snails in Montreal ? live ones in shells ? At Jean-Talon Market ? anywhere else ? Thanks. M
  14. OMG, it was so much fun and delicious night !!! I has the same menu as above, except that I had white asparagus with a foam of walnuts instead of the quail eggs. The suckling porc was wonderfull. photos and report later.
  15. I'm going there tonight 1!! now, with those pictures and review, I just can't wait !!! 2-1/2 hours to go ..
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