This weekend, we had a mini getaway to Montreal with one main mission - eat! We enjoyed the sunny weather on Saturday as we ventured to Mont Royal and Old Montreal to seek out the city's specialties - from bagels to poutine.



1. St. Viateur Bagel & Cafe Mont Royal - Montreal's famous bagels made in-house. I had the Poulet Sesame Bagel - love the toasted bagel with hint of sweetness. Chicken was bland; the Moo-Moo (roast beef) and MTL smoked meat with mustard were better. The beef & barley soup of the day was great. A cute little cafe and love how you can see the production of the bagels.

2. Point G Macarons - Pretty, affordable macarons and many unique flavors to choose from. The texture is so delicate and soft without falling apart in your mouth, with just a slight crunch in the shell. My favorite was the Tire D'Erable (maple) - didn't think I'd like this one but it had a strong maple flavor without being overly sweet.

3. Les Delices D'Erables - All maple errything at Maple Delights - maple body cream, maple dressing, etc. Happy to have found tire d'erable sur neige - rolled my own maple taffy on snow along with some maple cappucinos.





4. Ferreira - Amazing Portugese seafood in a romantic setting. Mom's go-to place. The best seafood rice - rice was a bit hard for my liking but the sauce was amazing. Scallops and shrimp were perfectly cooked and meaty. We also enjoyed the Bouillabaisse and grilled seafood in a garlic-parsley sauce (fresh octopus, fish, lobster) Dessert was warm fig cake and sweet potato icecream - delicious. Not much sweet potato flavor but instead gingerbread-cinnamon notes.

5. Cacao 70 - Mom's favorite dark chocolate fondue with fruit, fluffy waffles, and rich dense brownies. Long wait!! but worth to try since Toronto doesn't have a good fondue.

Day 2:

6. Humble Lion - A nice cappucino and breakfast granola bar at an independent coffee shop.

7. La Banquise - A 24h poutine heaven. Suprisingly not too heavy, I enjoyed La B.O.M (bacon, onion, merguez sausage - love the sausage!) and B liked his hamburger steak. We then ordered a second poutine - La Miam (ground beef, Swiss cheese, onion, tomato, sausage). The only bad thing is they charge mandatory 15% tips. Also, there was a long line up outside but it was for take-out so better to ask!

All in all, a wonderful satisfying getaway to MTL! Everything was delicious and enjoyed with great company :)

Straight-Up Meatball - baseball-sized meatball, nicely seasoned and densely packed, topped with cheese and foccacia at the bottom

Burrata - very strong smell and taste from the cheese itself and truffle cream. Couldn't taste the honey. Crostini very hard & crunchy.

Charity bread - soaked in garlic, yum

Butternut squash ravioli - fully stuffed with squash and cheese, al dente pasta, but wayyy too heavy for my liking with the rich cream sauce.

10.20.14 // Came here for a friend's birthday and what a great choice! Classy and quiet enough for a large group to converse as it's not a big restaurant. Overall the group felt the dishes were all quite heavy and hearty but it was an enjoyable dining experience in this 1920s themed cocktail bar on 36 Wellington St East.



Razor Clams - Disappointied at the portion size. Was expecting long piece of clam, but it was chopped up with other ingredients that I had only 2 bits. Flavor was fresh and interesting combination of fennel, mint, citrus, but needs more meat!



Bone Marrow - Huge portion, could share this between 4-6 people. (we had 1 per 2 and it's veryyy rich and heavy after about 2 toasts). The marrow was very solid and fatty.. could use more seasoning (like caramelized onions?) Still can't beat Hawksmoor.



Lamb Burger - Quite pleased with my selection! Smelly from the goat milk gouda, but a yummy juicy burger.



Oysters - $1 each that night

Fries - Best of the night! Wish I ordered this for myself. Its the salty, duck-fat frites style.. with some chicken skin and garlic aioli but just as good on its own. I love fries!

Berkshire Pork Belly - Tastes a bit like Chinese roast pork/cha siu. I love the fried egg on top.

Short Rib - Tried a piece and it's very soft and tender but others said it's too salty and was only lukewarm.

Dishes were served sporadically, so we were there for 2.5 hours. Not complaining though, it was a nice ambiance, good for group birthdays or a date.

10.06.14 // Don't have to go all the way to Asia for cute latte art! Happy to discover this hidden gem tucked inside a medical building. Not only was the latte art nice, the coffee was great too! Very strong, aromatic espresso, unlike the 50% foam, hot milky lattes at commercial coffee chains. In fact, it wasn't overly milky and had no foam so it was more like a flat white. Bf got the hazelnut cappucino which was again very strong flavored and sweet.

Also got the pasta lunch - penne bolognese, prepared to order. Can definitely taste that it's made in-house. The pesto cream was tasty as well.

Total was about $12-$15 per person.. kind of pricey for a lunch but worth to try the cute & quality coffee.

Another awesome food joint on Queen West. Seafood x sandwiches with an Asian twist. Love the food, decor and hip hop playlist (HOVA.. Black & Yellow...)
Main attraction was the soft shell crab sandwich - a whole deep fried ss crab - so crispy! I got the FOB - Asian style poboy banh mi with cilantro and aioli. Loved the deep fried fish, crispy yet so light and fluffy! Actually like the fish more than the bun and the crab. The fries were the dark and oil soaked type - yum - and  a cool house made broccoli slaw to lighten things up. Total bill was $30~ expensive but worth a try.