lioness

We just went tonight for our anniversary dinner. We loved it. We made reservations and there was no waiting. The food was great. Had the lettuce wraps which were great. The spring rolls that my husband had were very good as well. I had the salt and pepper prawns which were amazing and my husband had the sweet and sour pork which was pretty good. Desert which was shared and couldn't even finish was the BANANA SPRING ROLLS coconut-pineapple ice cream and drizzled with caramel and vanilla sauces. It was outstanding! We're definitely going back!

Went to Tamashi last night with hubby. We were both wowed!. The restaurant is beautifully decorated with lots of red and white and plenty of water features. The menu was interesting and had something for everyone (www.tamashi.ca). We both had the won ton soup. I love La Perle's won ton soup but this one blew it away. We loved the soup that seemed to be a mix of Fuji's soup and traditional won ton but with even more flavor! I need to see if I can order for lunch take out. Then we ordered Shrimp Tempura that came with a sweet sour sauce. I wasn't fond of the sauce but hubby loved it. The tempura came with veggie tempura as well. Really well done and grease less and everything was really good. I chose the sizzling teriyaki shrimp which as absolutely great. Lots of veggies with a great sauce and plenty of shrimp. Hubby had the General Tao chicken and claimed it was one the best that he'd ever had. Cost for both was $66.00. Since it's a bring your own wine I brought sake which made the whole thing very affordable. Tamashi...we'll definitely go back!

Made or bought?

Hi Kim, Can you provide us with the bread machine brioche recipe. Been looking around for a good one for a while.

I've just returned from a xmas dinner party at Towne Hall and what a disaster it was. Let alone all of the mix ups with the reservations etc. The food was not worth the price. For a fixed menu, they served either steak, salmon, lamb shank, veal liver (who serves liver on a fixed menu?) and chicken. I had the steak and believe it or not, they served us flank steak!. This is supposed to be very upscale and they serve us flank steak! Don't et me wrong, in the right hands and under the right circumstances, flank steak can be amazing, but not in this case. It was heavily cut criss-crossed to obtain some level of tenderness. Unfortunately it didn't work. Another person had salmon that ended up being raw in the middle and someone else had asked for med well done steak and received med-rare. The purpose of the evening was to be together for an end of year party and we had asked for a separate room that ended up not being available when we got there! So we ended up having blaring (and I mean blaring!) music, so loud that we could not even talk without screaming at each other even though we were talking into each others ears directly. I think this is our last visit. I'm sorry if others went there based on my first revue in 2007. I would not suggest to go back.!

I went to the Strangers in the night gourmet gala last night which had 35 restaurants providing food for the masses. The purpose is to provide funds for the Montreal Children's Starlight foundation. I must say there were a couple of real surprises that I wanted to share with you. One of the restaurants that we first tried was the Portovino booth which had a bloody Caesar shot with greens and a shrimp, oysters on a half shell and another salmon pate or salmon mouse with caviar on top. All were excellent. They also had home deserts that were to die for and were preparing fresh mushroom pasta. All yummy. The next booth was Navia. Again major surprise. I'm not really into fish but they had a salt crusted Chilean sea bass served with what I believe was a cilantro oil. It was simply amazing. They also had a chicken dish that was forgettable but the pumpkin ravioli with pine nuts more then made up for the chicken. Wow was that ravioli delicacies. Another surprise booth was Babaloo's. I only tried the soup which was a bacon and jalapeno soup. Amazing flavor and just the right amount of heat. Karma's vegetable pakorma was really good as well although their chicken dishes lacked heat. Tried many other small tidbits but nothing as memorable as those note above.

Ares in the west island does knife sharpening. I brought in 5 knives and it cost $15 and they did a really good job.

This one statement makes me not want to go. Actually the overall description of the Towne Hall experience makes me think of the "higher-end" chain restaurants that I'm subjected to when I'm stuck in southern New Jersey. If my $156 only gets something that's just okay, I'd much rather spend it somewhere where the cooking isn't pedestrian. ← Actually it really is worth it. I think that this restaurant is way above any chain restaurant. It is in the same league as Le gourmand, but just not as good and less expensive.

I was just curious. What will it contain? reviews, recipes, a blog?

I thought I remembered that you said somewhere that you'd be setting up a web site. Am I delusional or are you in fact working on that?

Just wanted to post a review on the new bistro that just opened in the Mega Sources mall in Pointe Claire (right behind 40 Westt). The decor is beautiful. Dark wood with cream chairs and banquettes, high ceilings with massive chandeliers. The kitchen is an open concept so you can see the chefs milling around back there. As hubby and I entered, we were greeted not by one, but by three hostesses! There seemed to also be around 12 waiters waiting around (no pun intended!). Our waiter was very nice and courteous although may have hovered a little too much, constantly watching our faces for ANY reaction (good or bad) and coming over to check if all was right. Ok, lets get to the meal. I had an appetizer of foie gras on croutons with a wine reduction. It was good but I've had better.. I don't know if it was the quality of the foie gras or the cooking process, but it just didn't taste as silky as others I've had. My husband had the antipasto plate which consisted of cantaloupe melon sliced, some Prosciutto and some Parmesan shavings. Not bad although he said that he's had more flavorful Prosciutto in other restaurants. As well, the plating was not very attractive (they could have enhanced the look like this http://buttabuns.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/...d-melon-salad/) I then had the duck in a berry reduction sauce atop mashed potatoes and served with rapini. While the duck was perfectly cooked, the berries from the sauce were a tad too bitter for my liking. My husband had a "fillet mignon melody" which consisted of 3 4oz fillet mignons, one with Gorgonzola atop, one with a brandy or cognac reduction sauce and the other with a small round of foie gras. It also came with either fries or rapini. He chose fries. For $36 I would have assumed that both could have come with it. He enjoyed the dish preferring the Gorgonzola and reduction sauce fillet mignons over the foie gras. The wine list was not extensive but seemed reasonably priced, as the lowest was $40 for a Bordeaux. We decided to have wine by the glass at $8 a glass. With wine and tip, our total came to $156. Not a bad deal. Overall we left with a good impression although they simply cannot compete with Le Gourmand in Pointe Claire Village. By the way, the owners are the same ones from 40 Westt.

I'm looking for a way to clean my son's (culinary student and part time chef) white chef's jacket and apron. I've tried Shout, Spray and Wash, Spot Shot, Oxy Clean, lots of bleach and a combination of all with various results. Some stains (black streaky stains) seem to stay there despite my best efforts. Does anyone have a better solution?