Chocolate, chocolate everywhere, and not a drop to spare - Cacao 70 (revisited)

The first time I visited Cacao 70 was not long after it first opened its doors. Back then, the menu was smaller and less eccentric, and the place hadn't seemed that special to me. A year later, I've revisited this place multiple times, trying something new each time, with each chocolatey experience outdoing the last. 

Japan Trip Day 4 - Kyoto

Waaah, midterms and projects are closing in! I'm sorry I haven't been updating as frequently as before...

Day 4 in Japan consisted of a lot of running around Kyoto. Kyoto is known for having many historical sites, such as the Shogun castle and one of the old imperial palaces. In terms of food, this was another one of those days where we hit up whatever we found. And luckily for us, we found an okonomiyaki joint!

Knock knock. Who's there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad I went to Orange Café?

I know brunch is pretty big in Montreal, considering how there's a brunch restaurant on practically every street corner, but I've been to so many bad brunch restaurants that I've just lost interest in the concept altogether. I guess that's also because I haven't been actively seeking the good brunch places, but they're all so far away... Anyway, during one of my rare visits to NDG, my friend and I decided to check out a local brunch favourite, called Orange Café .

A bit of Caribbean in Montreal - Montreal Caribbean.

 

Ack, I know I haven't been posting very frequently since I got back from my trip. Truth is, I haven't had much time to explore new restaurants, and now I'm swamped with school work. I haven't given up yet, though! Just updating really, reeeeaaaaallly slowly. Anywho, I'm really too distracted by my impending exams to find a way to segway into the post, so without further ado, I present to you Montreal Caribbean!

Is Atti Gangnam Style?

As a matter of fact, yes. Just not in the literal sense.

In the wise words of the great and noble Psy, Gangnam Style is all about dressing classy and dancing cheesy. The decor at Atti is certainly classy, what with its modern yet zen feel, and the food is certainly cheesy. What, you say. How can Korean food be cheesy, you say. No, I don't mean that there is an abundance of dairy to be found in the cooking. Atti is cheesy, just like General Tao chicken is cheesy. As in it's typical Korean fare altered to suit Western palates. But heyyyyy (sexy lady!), is that such a bad thing?

Japan Trip Day 3 - Daiwa sushi and Akihabara

Day 3 in Japan, and we head over to Akihabara, also known as the otaku (geek) haven. This place is full of stores that sell anime and game-related merchandise, as well as electronics and duty-free goods. But before that, we stop by the Tsukiji fish market for some deliciously fresh sushi!

Japan Trip Day 2 - Nikko and Ginza

Day two was spent at Nikko, a small town in Japan with many historical and cultural sites, and then the evening was spent at Ginza, one of the best known commercial districts in Japan. We were moving around quite a bit that day, so we didn't have a chance to stop for actual meals, but we still had plenty of chances to stop for snacks!

Japan Trip Day 1 - Tokyo (Tsukiji fish market, Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku)

I know that this blog is traditionally used to blog about food, but I'm going to be including bits about my vacation and about my experience in Japan, too, as a reference for people planning on visiting Japan in the future, or people just interested in Japanese culture. Think of it as a mini travel journal, if you will. I didn't do any research on restaurants and such before going, because I knew we wouldn't have time to go looking for restaurants and would have to make do with what we came across. Also, we spoke minimal broken Japanese,  It made for a pretty interesting trip!

Without further ado, here's the first day of our week-long trip!

I'm baaaaack!

So for those of you who are actually following this blog - if any - I'm back from my vacation in China and Japan, and have a ton of pictures of nom-tastic foods to share with you! I just have to organize the photos and try to type out of a few coherent sentences that go along with them.

Hopefully, I'll be back to blogging about Montreal eats soon. But boy, after being in Asia for so long, I suddenly feel that eating out here can be quite taxing on your wallet...

High time for tea at Le Maître Chocolatier

Do you realize that whenever someone tries to imitate a British accent, their back suddenly goes ramrod straight, their hands imitate the dainty posture of holding a teacup, and their first inclination is to ask - in an altogether posh, but decidedly not British accent - something like: "Would you like some tea?" Because, I guess, that's how we think all Brits behave - like the royal family.

Well, if you do want to feel prim, posh and proper for an afternoon, you can do so at Le Maître Chocolatier. A chocolate shop on the ground level and a tea room on the second floor, Le Maître Chocolatier serves High Tea from 2pm to 6pm from Tuesdays to Sundays.

Ryu, I choose you! Tapas attack! It's super effective!

I'm pretty sure I've used the 'I choose you' joke already, but whatevs. Pokemon is classic, yo.

Ryu is a tapas-inspired Japanese fusion restaurant located in Outrement, conveniently situated on Laurier. Their menu consists mainly of small, appetizer-like dishes of both the hot and cold variety, as well as a selection of maki rolls. 

Shabu Shabu, Korean BBQ, Karaoke and Virtual Golf????

Well, this is a bit confusing. The restaurant is called 'Shabu Shabu', which is essentially Japanese hot pot, but this restaurant is 100% Korean, from the proprietors to the food. But the culture clash is not what stands out the most about this restaurant; the weirdest/coolest selling point of the restaurant is their simulation golf and karaoke entertainment built into the restaurant. 

...Yep, you read that right.

So, while we know that you can stay sufficiently entertained throughout your meal, how does the food fare?

Takara - the treasure of Japanese restaurants?

Takara is upscale Japanese restaurant located on the upper floors of les Cours Mont-Royal shopping complex. It also has a more accessible entrance located on De la Montagne street. With a trained Japanese chef behind the sushi counter, Takara is recognized as one of the more authentic of the better-known Japanese restaurants in Montreal.

Qing Hua 2.0 - Still like mom makes!

The name 'Qing Hua' is most probably very familiar to a large portion of Montreal's food-savvy population, as well as a sizeable chunk of the 'common folk', as I call them. Most of them probably know Qing Hua as the humble - if dingy - restaurant in 'New Chinatown' with appalling service but scrumptious dumplings. What people don't know yet is that Qing Hua has opened up a second restaurant in the real Chinatown. So just how does the dumpling shop's little brother compare to the original?

Lolling and lolly-gagging and Lola Rosa.

Where Concordia gets the Green Panther and Crudessence, McGill gets its share of vegetarian food from a quaint little cafe tucked away in the McGill Ghetto. This cafe, as many a McGillian will know, is called Lola Rosa. Dun dun dun...

The Green Panther, not to be mistaken for its sneaky pink cousin.

I'm sure that if I mentioned the Pink Panther, most people born before the mid-90s would automatically think of slick pink feline and its iconic theme song: do doo, do doo, do doo do doo do doo do do do doooooo... badabababum! Ehhh... you get the jist of it. In any case, Montreal seems to house that panther's greener and hippy-er cousin, the Green Panther.

Seoul Chako, not solely for Korean BBQ.

FINALLY! A GENERIC, CHINESE-OWNED AYCE KOREAN BBQ PLACE JUST LIKE THE ONES IN TORONTO.

...Hey, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Seoul Chako just recently opened up on Ste-Catherine's street. After my last run-in with Korean BBQ of the AYCE sort, I was a bit scared of trying this place out. Still, armed with a student discount coupon, a small group of us charged blindly into the restaurant with very little ($10?) to lose.

Ossu! Sushi Yasu!

So now that we've seen the trendy fusion-style sushi, let's check out the other side of the coin. Traditional sushi restaurants tend to be modest-looking restaurants with simple decoration and a humble old Japanese man behind the sushi bar, shouting an 'Irrashaimase!' to you as you walk in the door. That, my friends, is what Sushi Yasu is all about.

Devilish Delights at Deville Dinerbar.



After a sleuth of midterms, my friend and I decided that we really needed a night to completely let loose and just splurge...

...Oooon sugar!

There, at Sata Sushi, sat a carousel horse.

With the introduction of sushi to the Western market came the inception of a new style of sushi, known as fusion-style sushi. In contrast to the humbler traditional-style sushi, chefs that make fusion sushi are constantly looking for ways to create bolder and more innovative sushi, often adding ingredients that normally aren't paired with raw fish, such as fruits. Such is the case with Sata sushi, a caucasian-run fusion sushi restaurant in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

All you can eat not-so-Korean BBQ. - Restaurant Tianxia

 All-you-can-eat Korean BBQ doesn't seem to be very popular in Montreal, so much so that most of the AYCE Korean BBQ places here are owned by Chinese people. Tianxia is a prime example of one of these establishments; to anyone with any remote knowledge of Chinese or Korean, the name Tianxia is very obviously Chinese. Still, it was cold out and my friend really wanted AYCE Korean BBQ, and with so few options for Korean food in the downtown area, we decided to hit up Tianxia.

iPod, iPad, iPhone, iBurger?

So after working on a project, my meat-craving friend and I were looking for a place to chow down. He mentioned wanting to try iBurger, and we were in the vicinity, so we headed on over to this curious restaurant where waiters are semi-replaced with touch-screen tables. I'm still waiting for the day where McDonald's workers are completely replaced with robots...

Also, no legit camera AGAIN. So blurry pics ahead; you have been warned.

Stickier and sweeter than a Venus Fly... - Vieux-Port Steakhouse

So January is Happening Gourmand month, where a couple of fancy-pants restaurants in the Old Port offer a special table d'hôte menu for $23 or $27 (depending on the restaurant). My friend really wanted take advantage of these deals, so I agreed to accompany her to at least one of these restaurants before the event ended. After leafing through the menus, we decided to hit up Vieux-Port Steakhouse.

Warning for disappointing cameraphone pics because I forgot to bring my camera. Again.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

Happy Lunar/Chinese New Year! As per usual, allow me to give you a little insight as to what Chinese New Year is like at my house when we have guests over. ;)

Cold weather? Pho time, pho' sho! - Pho Tay Ho

What's the best type of food to have when it's snowing up a storm outside, your gums ache from having your wisdom teeth removed and your friend still insists on going out? Why, hot, soupy noodles, of course! And more specifically pho (pronounced fuh, as in fun), the tastiest soupy noodles around. Having tried most of the more popular pho places downtown and being unsatisfied with the quality, we decided to check out Pho Tay Ho in Saint-Edouard.

I'd like a burger, neat, please. - Burger Bar

Happy New Year, everyone! And here to kick-start the new year is another burger post!

So, I'm not a firm believer in high-end burger places. Then again, I'm not a firm believer in anything, so take that as you will. To me, though, a burger isn't a fancy food, and thus shouldn't be treated or priced as one (*cough$100burgercough*). I thought Burger Bar on Crescent was another one of those fancy frou frou burger places, until my friend took a bunch of us there for her birthday.