New Montreal Restaurant Thread

[warren10019]

Memories

Visited Restaurant Fung Shing at 1102 St. Laurent a few times last week. More than passable Hot & Sour Soup on their menu as Peking Soup. I give the soup 3.75 stars

Now that brings back memories. I'm an ex-Montrealer, and used to be a regular at Fung Shing 20 years ago. I'll be visiting this weekend, and plan on heading there for dinner on Friday night.

 

[TheOne]

Took my girlfriend to this new restaurant, don't know how long its been open, in ville st-laurent. it's called Otavio. Bring your own wine, the look of the place was gorgeous. Something of a disco feeling to it. the food was great, best mussels i've ever had.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Let's Get Updated!

We have 887 replies and 52,827 views, but this thread is in need of updating. Although a few reports trickled in this year from CS Martin and some others, the information has been lagging as opposed to past years. We need to pay attention to what is going on in the Montreal dining scene, and hopefully provide updated reviews and information on some of the following topics, especially with my trip upcoming:

1. Any good new trendy restaurants in the downtown core?

2. Is there any place other than Eggpspectation and Reubens where one can go for a good American-style pancake breakfast? I note that I have not seen pancakes on the menu at too many other restos.

3. Any new Tapas restaurants?

4. I have tried Mechant Bouef, is there any place else that grinds there own meat and cooks their burgers medium rare, American style?

5. I have not found a Thai restaurant as good as Chao Praya (see my review in post #1) in the downtown core. Has anyone else succeeded in doing so?

6. Is Beijing still King of the Chinatown restaurants? CS Martin has written approvingly of Fung Shing, does anyone find their overall menu on a par with Beijing?

7. Apart from Isakaya on Parc and Mikasa on Peel, who is making the best sushi these days?

8. Is anyone doing a breakfast buffet?

9. Is Qeue de Cheval, Moishes or Gibby's winning the steak wars these days? Is the Keg still the best value steakhouse?

10. Where can one find the best Irish pub food? Anything better than Winnies or the Irish Embassy?

11. Is Boustan still the best place for Lebanese-style fast food?

12. Is Amarone on St. Denis still the popular choice for best value Italian food?

13. I read that Zen in the basement of the Omni is gone. What has replaced it? Is the replacement resto any good?

14. Is the pizza situation still pretty dismal? The best I could find was Santa Lucia on Stanley, which would be considered average back home. Someone had mentioned Bardeco but their website seems down.

15. Who is winning the bagel wars? St. Viateur? Are there any solid challengers in the downtown core?

16. Is Schwartz's still king for smoked meat?

17. The kings of dim sum were always Ruby Rouge and Le Maison Kam Fung in Chinatown. Any change in the pecking order?

Let's get this thread updated, and back in gear with some timely and up to date reviews. Thanks!

 

[Techman]

Hey EB!

For breakfast info you can check out this site: http://montrealbreakfastreview.com/

I was at the Keg a couple of weeks ago and it is still good value for your dollar and the Mushrooms Neptune are still great.

If you want to check out a new place with great food at excellent prices, but don't mind going a bit out of the way, I would recommend Mas Cuisine:

http://www.montrealmirror.com/2009/021209/resto.html

http://www.mascuisine.com/

In fact there are a number of good small restos popping up in Verdun, including a great Peruvian place, likely due to the low rents in the area and the abundance of parking.

Forget about Pizza in the downtown core. Small neighborhood places always have the best pies. Trevi in Verdun is my favorite but I have literally been eating their pizzas my entire life, they've been open for almost 50 years, so I may be a bit biased on that point.

And yes, Schwartz's is still and will always be the king for smoked meat but you could always take a run to the west Island to try Smoke Meat Pete which is also supposed to be excellent.
The owner worked for his father for over 20 years at the Main Deli.

http://www.smokemeatpete.com/Map.htm

http://www.smokemeatpete.com/Reviews.htm

 

[BigStones]

My favourite Montreal restaurants are:

• Le Taj - 2077, rue Stanley - Indian restaurant with "live" music Saturday evening.
  
  Enzo's - 1437, rue Crescent - Italian restaurant with great food - get a table on the balcony and watch Crescent Street action

 

[EagerBeaver]

Techman, JohnMBot, BigStones,

Thanks for the great feedback! Keep the info coming. Techman, that Montreal Breakfast Review site looks promising, although it seems to cater to a more high end breakfast diner, not that there is anything wrong with high end breakfast dining.

johnmbot, I will definitely try the burgers at McLean's. Your post brings back a great or at least unusual memory about McLeans: the only time I ever set foot in that place was a cold November evening in 2003. It was Thanksgiving day weekend, a 4 day weekend for US travellers but I headed up to Montreal the Wednesday before. That afternoon I saw Porcha who was then working for the now defunct Celine's Fantasies. Actually it may have still been Satin Dreamz at that point. Anyway after the date I was looking for a restaurant that had a satellite dish because UConn's men's basketball team was ranked #1 in the country and they had a showdown with Georgia Tech, a dangerous team. Someone told me that McLean's had a satellite dish so I headed over there. In fact they did have a dish but it was being serviced and was not operational for some reason. I had a pretty good conversation with the bartender before I left. I then wandered all over downtown Montreal looking for someplace that might be carrying that crucial college basketball game. Nobody had a satellite or the ability to get the game. Later that night I checked the scores online and learned that UConn had been badly beaten and upset by Georgia Tech.

5 months later UConn faced Georgia Tech in the 2004 national championship game and completely demolished them.

Anyway, that cold November evening in 2003 was the only time I was ever in McLean's and now I have reason to go back.

 

[Techman]

johnmbot, from all the recent reviews of Kaizen I've seen, they have drastically gone downhill over the last year or so. The great reviews they received in the beginning were largely due to their original sushi chef, Tri Du who has long since moved on. He opened Tri Express on Laurier but I do not know if it still exists.

 

[CS Martin]

******editted************

 

[bond_james_bond]

2. Is there any place other than Eggpspectation and Reubens where one can go for a good American-style pancake breakfast? I note that I have not seen pancakes on the menu at too many other restos.

Nickels, Burgers & Benedict (Pepsi Forum, used to be Eggspectation)

8. Is anyone doing a breakfast buffet?

Buffet is not big in Montreal, let alone a breakfast buffet.

However, most hotels will have it. Hilton and HIS come to mind.

14. Is the pizza situation still pretty dismal? The best I could find was Santa Lucia on Stanley, which would be considered average back home. Someone had mentioned Bardeco but their website seems down.

It's a different style in Montreal; Lebanese style seems popular (Al Taib). However, there's always Domino's and Pizza Hut.

Alto on Parc (near Battle.net) is pretty good.

16. Is Schwartz's still king for smoked meat?

Frankly, I can't say I was impressed with their smoked meat. And it's expensive and away from downtown.

Dunn's on Metcalfe is pretty good, and they're open 24/7.

 

[CS Martin]

******editted************

 

[EagerBeaver]

Buffet is not big in Montreal, let alone a breakfast buffet. However, most hotels will have it. Hilton and HIS come to mind.

The only good hotel breakfast buffet I recall seeing in Montreal was at the Delta Centre Ville. I have not stayed there since early 2003, right around the time the Iraq War broke out, but at that time they had a really good buffet and in particular they found a way to keep their scrambled eggs both moist and hot, which is not something that is easy to do unless the eggs are properly steamed.

I have stayed at the Holiday Inn Select but was not impressed with their buffet.

Apparently one of the restos that is reviewed in the Montreal Breakfast Review does a Sunday Brunch Buffet, but my trip will not extend to Sunday so it is not applicable for me.

Burgers & Benedicts is a place I will definitely try for breakfast and maybe for a burger as well. Cafe Les Entriens also sounds like a must based on this review, http://montrealbreakfastreview.com/cafe-les-entretiens

 

[Doc Holliday]

Dunn's on Metcalfe is pretty good, and they're open 24/7.

You have to be kidding!!

In my opinion, Dunn's has the worse smoked meat in Mtl. I've never tried Schwartz myself (but plan to), but as of now, my preference is Reuben's. I've also tasted other smoked meat sandwiches at various food courts that i'd consider superior to Dunn's.

 

[CS Martin]

******editted************

 

[Doc Holliday]

Dunns makes a very credible poutine, better in my opinion than Reubens.

I hate poutine!! I find it totally disgusting!!

 

[CS Martin]

******editted************

 

[AllOverHer]

You have to be kidding!!

In my opinion, Dunn's has the worse smoked meat in Mtl. I've never tried Schwartz myself (but plan to), but as of now, my preference is Reuben's. I've also tasted other smoked meat sandwiches at various food courts that i'd consider superior to Dunn's.

How dare you call yourself a doctor with no expertise on the matter

Have you tried MAIN steak house version of smoke meat?

There's so many twist on the smoke meat sandwich that taste is different from place to place.

Is it Old Style (old fashioned) is it commercial? You don't want to know what you eat when eating commercial smoke meat.

So I wonder what is an ORIGINAL smoke meat sandwich.

 

[Miss Maria]

3. Any new Tapas restaurants?

A new restaurant with a huge terasse opened in the gay village on de Maisonneuve Est called Pica Pica. Thay have many tapas and they are delicious!

Me and my friend shared a Spicy shrimp dish, which were lightly battered in a kind of tempura and then covered in a spicy mayo.. It was so delicious! Then we had garlic stuffed dates covered in bacon. And another tapas plate which was chicken with goat cheese and peppers.

Only downfall is the neighbourhood, it is in front of Old Brewery Mission and there is an erotic massage place next to it. I guess some of you would like that: massage, HJ, Tapas.

Thay also had amazing KIWI mojitos! They have all kinds with fresh fruits.


I love Fung Shing. They have the tastiest wonton soup I have ever tried in my life.

For the bestest spring rolls ever there is the red bulduing: 'soup and noodles' on Ste-Catherines, close to Guy Concordia. They are gigantic!


My favourite Italian restaurant is BIS http://www.bisristorante.com/

It is authentic home style Italian food. Last time I was there I had fetuccini stuffed eggplant with a red sauce. Delicioso!


Another great restaurant in the Gay Village is OThym http://www.othym.com/index2.html

It is a french restaurant and you can bring your own wine. They have a great lunch menu. You need to love Thym because it infuses all the dishes. It is my favourite herb, therefore, I will be back!

 

[EagerBeaver]

Maria,

That tapas resto sounds good. The only Tapas restaurant I ever tried in Montreal was Casa Tapas on Rachel. I am not sure if it is still there. I ate there a couple times years ago, and it was then kind of trendy with a younger crowd of customers. I saw a table of major babes when I went there once. 8 ladies at one table, all about 19-21 y.o. and all 8 of them were smoking hot. I could not figure out how 8 apparent friends can all be so good looking. Usually isn't there at least one average or below average one in such a group? I was thinking too bad John Eleganza was not there that night because that could have been a year's worth of recruits all at one table!!!!!

Regarding Ristorante Bis, I ate there about 5 years ago one night when I was in the mood for pasta. As I recall they specialize in pasta dishes. Their food is pretty reasonably priced for what they are serving. I have not been back because I am not a huge pasta eater.

Octavian, I have had sushi at Sakura and they are pretty good. I should have included them in the same group as Mikasa and Isakaya. Sho Dan is, IMHO, below those 3 in quality. It is a classic flash and dash restaurant that exalts form over substance.

I have never tried poutine. Mainly because I do not like the smell. If something does not smell good I don't eat it, whether it is a pussy or food.

Regarding smoked meat, I have had Schwartz's and Reubens and I think Schwartz's is probably better but I am not a huge smoked meat fan. So I will leave it to the fans to decide who is winning the smoked meat wars.

 

[EagerBeaver]

New York Times Guide to Montreal Restaurants

The New York Times publishes a travel guide for Montreal restaurants in which they post their own reviews as well those of their readers. The link is here:

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/gu...uebec/montreal/restaurant-listings.html?&pg=1

I am intrigued by the reviews of Le Club Chasse et Peche:

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/gu...e-club-chasse-et-peche/restaurant-detail.html

Anyone tried this place and sampled the piglet risotto?

 

[Miss Maria]

Regarding Ristorante Bis, I ate there about 5 years ago one night when I was in the mood for pasta. As I recall they specialize in pasta dishes. Their food is pretty reasonably priced for what they are serving. I have not been back because I am not a huge pasta eater.

Hello EB,

I was at Bis about 4 times in the last 2 years and yes the pasta is amazing, but they have great meat dishes too and a great selection of wine. I cannot remember what the name of the one we had last time but the owner said it was imported from a little vignard in Italy (Was he making it up, I don't know) but it was really delicious. I have had the Osso bucco there and it just melted in your mouth! What I love about this place is that the menu is a guide. They will make you anything you want, just ask them and if they have it, they will make it. I asked them if they could make some Bracioles (which is a typical Italian dish that I have never seen on any menu) and they said they'de make it anytime for a beautiful girl like me.

Plus, they have a picture of Georges Clooney with the owners on the entrance wall, how can a girl resist???

Maria
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