Yeah Chu Chai was fabulous when they opened. Never went back after the original cook was gone, I think she passed away and the daughter took over.
Restaurant thread....the best place to eat...Where!!!
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Someone sent me this article in a private message about top 50 restaurants in Montreal. Seems like a great place to go if you are foodie.
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The 50 best restaurants in Montreal right now
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What's your opinion of their falafel?
Earlier this summer I stopped by for a few items. Baba Ganoush was fine, hummus was fine. Spoke to the owner's daughter, who said she didn't really have much for falafels, they are too heavy. She doesn't eat middle eastern food when she goes anywhere (I get it).
I had their 1pc baklava and it was soggy and stale.
I had their 4 pc falafel and 1 bite... i thought back at what SHE said... maybe HER place mades it heavy. It is the most dense heavy (in a bad way) falafel (texture) i had in my life to this point.
Falafel Jacques, just a quick thought came to mind... WAAAAAY better falafel (AND smoother hummus).
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The best falafel I ever had was in Israel, and it was great everywhere I had it there. In the USA, I have mostly had it in Turkish restaurants, and it has varied widely in taste and heaviness. Note that the Egyptian version is made with fava beans. The Israelis and Palestinians make it with chick peas. I think the Lebanese use a combo of fava beans and chickpeas. So the ingredients are going to affect the resulting taste. This is what it should look like kabuchiko:
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I was going to make a joke about reviews but I think I'll keep this thought to myself
oh I'll easily agree there are the finest experiences of falafel within Israel. I've had excellent falafel at two famous places within Paris.
I do enjoy the falafel w/ fava beans, slightly softer bean/creamier. I also enjoy the green falabel by way of parsely.
The inherent problem with falafel is technique... and nothing really binding the raw ground bean and or peas (some BS home recipes 15yrs ago tell you flour) together... a easy situation for disaster.... wrong oil temp and the falafel can explode like what they call a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly' in space rocket talk...
pack the falafel ball too delicately for the goal of a light texture to the bite and again, rapid unscheduled disassembly.
Or have it the case of what I experienced... falafels packed way too densely as a crutch. Seasonings were there and proper, though....
I tried making falafel once and it was an unmitigated disaster for reasons you mentioned, Kabukicho. I leave it to the experts, which in the area where I live are mostly Turkish restaurants!
And if you travel through the Caribbean, rum. Go to Nicaragua, they will tell you nobody makes rum like they do because of their process. Go to Jamaica, they will tell you Nicaraguan rum is like drinking dog piss and nothing goes down smoother than their rum. And so on and so on.
EagerBeaver, nobody makes rum and some other mood enhancing goodies like Jamaica
Wrong! The best rum is from Haïti!EagerBeaver, nobody makes rum and some other mood enhancing goodies like Jamaica
Barbancourt 5 stars! Thank me later
I tried for falafel for the first time ever a week ago and I actually liked it!.
Plus its cheap!
Question of personal taste...Wrong! The best rum is from Haïti!
Barbancourt 5 stars! Thank me later
Appleton Estate Independence Reserve Limited Edition
I have also dabbled with it from scratch, on several occasions. One trick is two batches of ground raw beans, one batch a touch smaller in grind, the other batch, the majority batch, is a larger (regular/typical) grind. The varied grind all together, aids in the delicate binding. Hummus preperation is also technique laden.
To me hummus preparation is a lot easier. I have made it many times. Usually, the trick is getting it to the right consistency, not too loose nor too thick. That requires some fine tuning as it further thickens when refrigerated. You also have to have the proper ratio of chick peas and tahini. Then the secondary ingredients like garlic, lemon, salt and pepper become a matter of personal taste.
I've had their falafel once and thats only because they served it to us by mistake. It was actually really good but i haven't ordered it again as i honestly don't order it anywhere because I'm always disappointed.
Being vegetarian, it's often my only option for protein to replace meat in pitas, for example, and i find I'm disappointed 99.9% of the time, so i prefer to go without.
The only times i haven't been was that time at Daou and maybe once or twice at Sham (the one in little italy). Then i was disappointed the 3rd and 4th time so i stopped ordering it. I find its always too dry everywhere, so i don't bother.
I'd only order it to try from a place where it's their specialty or something. I've heard Yoni falafel is good (and just noticed there's one near me lol) . Someone told me i should try Sumac and Falafel St Jacques.
(Sham has really good spinach kebe & vine leaves, though.)
But yeah, it isn't what i usually order, or ever have, at Daou. I'm obsessed with their fatouch salad, and i personally prefer kebe over falafel. Those are good at both locations but i find other dishes are not always as good at the VSL location. I wish they put pine nuts in the vegetarian ones like they do in the meat ones lol
If you get it from the counter (as opposed to already packaged) when it's fresh, the kebe from Adonis is really, really good too, if you prefer to have it at home. You can buy a bunch and freeze some.
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I've never been able to have it turn out good. So frustrating i stopped trying lol No one i know has either. Maybe I'm picky, idk. I like what I like.
Like for fattouch salad, I've tried it at so many different restaurants and always disappointed. Aside from Daou, I've made some pretty good one and a guy i dated a few years ago made it for me a couple of times and it passed the test. And that's it. Lol
It's tricky also because i don't like tomatoes (i know, I'm weird) and obviously there's tomatoes in fattouch. As long as the tomatoes are big enough for me to pick them out and toss them on someone else's plate, it's fine but if they're too small to do that, it becomes a problem lol
Hummus preparation is easy only in comparison to falafel preparation, but it by no means is not hit and miss. I never liked my own hummus as much as my father's in taste, but he occasionally struggled in getting the consistency down- too thick or too thin, but the taste was always better than mine, and sometimes he nailed the consistency as well for a homerun hummus. Mine would have the right consistency, but never would taste as good as my father's did. With hummus, you do not have to cook it, just blend or food process the ingredients into a pate. It is worth trying to make for the reasons you mentioned: we are all subjective in how we like it, some want more lemon juice, some more garlic, some more salt or pepper or a higher or lower ratio of chick peas to tahini. All of those things can be controlled when you wear the Chef's hat yourself. But, as you said, you think you are using the right combination of everything and it just doesn't come out like you like it, or maybe like your favorite Turkish or Lebanese restaurant makes it.
Falafel has to be mixed properly, spiced properly, and then cooked, and as noted in the prior post of kabuchiko, it can all fall apart on you during the cooking process even if you mix and spice the the falafel ingredients properly. There are just a lot of variables in play.
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