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A friend of mine is going to be visiting Montreal on her honeymoon soon, so I thought it was a good excuse to get my recommendations for where to eat there out in the open. Though I moved back to the UK in 2003 so I’m afraid they might not all still be there, but from what I’ve seen online, they mostly seem to still be going. (Please add comments with any corrections or further recommendations you have!)

There are many wonderful things about Montreal, that would require several posts here, but what I tend to focus on most is the food. Eating out in Montreal is cheap, easy and absolutely delicious. I think it is quite impressive that I only went up one clothes size in the 3 years I lived there, because the food is irresistable!

On “the Main” or St. Laurent, just south of Duluth is Schwartz’s Smoked Meat Deli. I’m afraid my friend’s vegetarian husband is going to have to close his eyes and nose while she indulges in this most delightful sandwich. Mounds of steaming tender smoked beef quivering between two slices of sour dough bread. STUNNING.

Just next door, at Mondo Fritz, is something for meat eaters and veggies alike. If you like chips and gravy, you will just adore this Quebec speciality, Poutine. Poutine is chips served with gravy and melted cheese curds, which are like lumps of cheese. You get this dish at all fast food joints in francophone Canada but Mondo Fritz has a gourmet version which I’d say is unbeatable. You might want to go for the Gardinier version which has some green vegetables like peas or brocolli in it. Their gravy is vegetarian, but they also do Poutine au Steak and other meaty delights. Or you can just go for their chips straight up with a choice of about 6 different mayos. All this washed down with a nice big pitcher of beer! YUM!

Still in the same area, you must try some lovely Empanadas from La Chilenita, there are 2 branches: one on the corner of Napoleon and de Bullion, the other further up the Plateau at 4348 Rue Clark. There are lots of veggie options here, I remember one that had olives and artichokes amongst other ingredients – it was always a tough decision choosing! This is great to eat on the go, or you can sit down at one of a couple small tables to eat it – but watch out, then you will be in danger of go back to the counter and eating up their whole stock!

Next up is some proper Jewish Montreal bagels. We’re not talking any of this American doughy bread in the shape of a fat doughnut business. No. These are genuine boiled and baked bagels, and at my particular favourite St Viateur Bagel shop and you see them sliding down a big runner as they come out of the oven en masse. Pick up a tub of smoked fish paté to spread on them and buy lots, you’ll eat ‘em! [Cripes! They even have a website and do deliveries – I wonder how much it cost to send to London UK?!]

I’ve just been doing some research online and have an awful feeling that Mondo Fritz has closed down, which seems impossible given my rave review, but perhaps my review has come too late! Anyway, just incase, or as well, you might visit Patati Patata Friterie. It is a tiny eatery right on the corner of Rachel and St Laurent. They do a lovely little burger and great french fries – maybe they do poutine too?

Ok, so you’ve been well fed on the Plateau, so now you just want to roll yourself downtown to try out an exquisite Laham Bagine from Al-Taib, a Lebanese Bakery on rue Guy (corner de Maisonneuve). This place gets a lot of business selling pizza slices to the Concordia University students, on the downtown campus, but those really in the know will go for their own Lebanese Laham Bagine. Its like a pizza, very thin dough with a thin spread of a spinach or ground meat topping, but the best bit is that they serve it rolled up and filled with salad. What I love about this salad in particular (though you can choose your own selection) is the pickled turnip option. This is a bright pink (they dye it with beetroot juice) chunk of pickled goodness, which you can also get served with falafel all over town.
[In my part of London, we can get something similar known as Lahmacun which I believe is the Turkish name for the same thing.]

Speaking of falafel, they’re also worth trying if you’re on the move. Montreal has the best served falafel I’ve had worldwide: well, you know how difficult they can be to keep together in the pita bread right? Here they use a thin, round pita bread, and roll the whole thing up wrapped in parchement paper. Easy!

I’m afraid I’m going on a little too long here, and you will be running out of stomachs by the time you’ve sampled all my recommendations, but I have one more to give you, back in the Plateau. (I have to say that downtown Montreal just isn’t that great for food options, REALLY. Theres so many better choices on the Plateau, don’t even bother). Au 917 is a proper French restaurant on Rachel, near Parc La Fontaine. They serve 5 courses, and the salad comes after the main, to clean your palate before your dessert. The menu isn’t huge, but it has good traditional French options, and it isn’t so expensive, although this is somewhere to go of an evening for a special occasion. As I remember they have 2 sittings, like at 6pm and 9pm – don’t quote me on that one, call them and find out (514) 524-0094.

Schwartz’s Montreal Hebrew Delicatessan, 3895 Saint-Laurent Boulevard
Mondo Fritz, 3899 St-Laurent Blvd
Montreal Poutine – everything you need to know! (reviews are a bit out of date)
La Chilenita Bakery at both 4348 Rue Clark and 152 RUE NAPOLÉON
Hot Bagels and Polish Jokes blogpost on Hungry Mag
Article about eating out in Montreal by An Endless Banquet bloggers A.J. Kinik and Michelle Marek.

See all of my recommendations marked on Google maps, plus some others not mentioned here.

Best wishes to Lucy and her soon-to-be husband on their honeymoon!

Blanched jerusalem artichoke and celeriac with toasted sour dough bread and pomegranate seeds, in a tahini and lemon juice dressing. So GOOD! Antother one of Yotam Ottonlenghi’s fantastic recipes in his The New Vegetarian column for the Guardian, which you can read following this link below.
www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2007/dec/15/weekend7.weekend9

I’ve been cooking big field mushrooms like this for a long time now, since finding the recipe in Robert Carrier’s Great Dishes of the World cookbook. Its really easy: just saute the mushroom in a little olive oil with some chopped garlic and a sprinkling of marigold powder (veg stock). Then add a good glug of red wine and let that simmer down to a syrupy jus. To serve, add a squeeze of lemon juice, chopped chives and some freshly ground pepper.

I just have to sing the praises of this fantastic north London family bakers, Grodzinski. For a year I lived a short walk from this wonderful bakery’s Stamford Hill branch and I’m not sure I appreciated just how good it was, but now I’m a little further away in Lower Clapton I’ve started to make a point of cycling up there once a week.

My usual shop includes sesame seed bagels, a handful of doughnut balls and a big loaf of granary bread. I only just noticed that it has Hot Bread Shop written on the sign – I’m not quite sure if that is some confused translation of baking or what it means exactly, but it does add to the charm!

Fresh or toasted bagels are probably the best lunch ever, in my mind, and there are just so many different things to do with them. One of the more elaborate ways I like to eat them is toasted, spread with hummus, thin slices of feta cheese, lots of crispy fried onions and a good sprinkling of parsley. You might also throw a slice of tomato into the mix but this idea was quashed when we made them at home this week.
Find your nearest J Grodzinski and Daughters store!

I recently acquired a copy of a great cookbook called Chinese Regional Cooking by Deh-Ta Hsiung from 1979. I have been learning all sorts of interesting recipes and the methods and ingredients common in Chinese cooking. Coincidentally a new Chinese supermarket has opened up at the end of my road so I’m pretty sorted for ingredients. This dish is always a weakness of mine when ordering Chinese takeaway but I always find myself disappointed by the tiny amount of pork they put in there surrounded by tonnes of batter and in a too sweet/simply flavoured sauce. Turns out the sauce is quite simple to make and in terms of ingredients, but it tastes a whole lot better made at home and with proper sized portions of pork. I’ll post the recipe here later.

I’ve just made this brilliant cauliflower dish for the second time, and decided its really worth spreading the word about Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe – which was published in the Guardian Weekend earlier this year. One of my favourite things to do with Cauliflower, (now that I don’t eat dairy, so the obvious and rather delicious Cauliflower Cheese isn’t an option) was to saute it along with onions and green chilli, cumin seeds, freshly ground coriander and cayenne, and a squeeze of lemon juice to finish (Madhur Jaffrey provided the initial inspiration for this dish). But Ottonlenghi’s saffron bake, which includes red onion, green olives, cumin seeds and sultanas – is a nice variation on the onion, cumin, cauliflower combination. In both cases the cauliflower is cooked just enough to be tender but firm.
Saffron Cauliflower recipe

This simple recipe has become a regular feature in our household recently – it just perfect for when you’re in a rush/can’t be bothered to spend long cooking and want some comfort food – its very naughty! It comes from a famous Brit chef who I won’t mention here else I get done for copyright, but I was just asked by a houseguest for the recipe and figured if I’m going to write it down I might as well share it with y’all. So here it is from memory, in my own words.

Ingredients (for 2)

200g Spaghetti
4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 egg yolk + 1 whole egg
4 tbsp vermouth
2 tsp olive oil
100g pancetta, cubed
1 tbsp butter
freshly grated black pepper and nutmeg

Whisk the eggs, parmesan, black pepper and nutmeg together. I buy pancetta from my local Italian deli already cubed and ready to go – if you can’t find pancetta you can use a good quality smoked bacon and chop it into small pieces. Measure out the vermouth and butter as this dish takes no time to cook so you need everything ready.

Boil a medium saucepan of salted water and add the spaghetti. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the pancetta for 5 mins until getting crispy. Add the vermouth to the pan and let it cook down to a nice syrupy consistency then turn off the heat. The pasta should be about ready now – just al dente. Drain the spaghetti and put it back in the pan. Add the butter to the pancetta and vermouth mix and then stir this into the pasta. Then stir in the egg mixture (keeping it off the heat – you don’t want the egg to get scrambled!). The result is that the spaghetti is just coated in a delicious creamy sauce, flecked with pancetta bits – but without any actual cream.

The spaghetti carbonara is now ready to serve. I would have a green salad on the side if I have time/inclination. Enjoy!

This recipe is a variation of Rasa’s beetroot curry and it accompanied the huge beetroot we got in our Growing Communities veg box this week. Its something different to do with your beetroot and an unusual vegetable for currying. I’ve made it twice now – it is really delicious, but don’t try cutting any corners with the process; do push the pureed spring onion tops and pistachios through a sieve, and do cut the beetroot into matchsticks; I skipped this the first time round and the texture just wasn’t quite right.

Ingredients

• 500g Beetroot
• 50g shelled pistaschios
• 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 6 cardamom pods
• 1tsp fennel seeds
• 3 fresh chillies
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 bunches spring onions
• 100g fresh coconut, grated
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 200ml plain yoghurt

Method

Boil the beetroots until tender and peel them under cold running water, then chop them into thick matchsticks. Toast the pistachios in the oven or on the hob. Crack the cardamom seeds and remove the seeds, discarding the pods. Slice the white ends of the spring onions and chop them finely. Drop the green ends into a pan of boiling water for a few seconds then plunge them into cold water. Chop them carsely and put them into a food processor with the pistachios, cardamom seeds and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and blend, adding a little cold water in a slow stream until you get a thick butsmooth puree. Pass this through a sieve, fine enough to take out any coarse pieces of scallian – into a small pan. Hlave the chillies lengthways, and chop them into slices. Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in a shallow pan and cook the sping onion white bits, the chillies, ginger, mustard and fennel seeds over a medium heat, stirring for 5 minutes, then add the beetroot and coconut and the pistachio and green onions paste, and cook for 5 more minutes. Season with salt and stir in the yoghurt just before you serve.

Rasa is a vegetarian South Indian restaurant on Stoke Newington Church street, Hackney, London N16

So I somehow managed to serve this dish out symetrically over 2 plates and I hadn’t even realised until now that I’m uploading this photo! Well this is the aforementioned Kale and Seaweed recipe that I blogged about before which turned out great (just go easy on the soy ok?! i was replacing “Bragg Liquid Aminos” with soy and didn’t get the proportions right) and I can’t wait to make again. It is served with fried tofu in ginger and soy sauce, which is a big favourite of mine – I even deep fry the tofu myself (recipe coming in a later post) – and stir fried carrots with sesame seeds. Actually there was a little too much garnishing with sesame seeds going on in terms of presentation so its better you can’t see too closely!

So we got Kale in our veg bag again this week! What a funky vegetable! So CURLY I really had no awareness of this vegetable before living with Martha who regulary fed her tortoises with Kale. This sturdy squeeky green thing is really something to touch and behold. And eat of course. This weekend I found this wicked Japanese dish to put the Kale in, on a very nice food blog called Simply Recipes – one of the better examples of food blogs, though the design is deceiving, cos it feels like a communal blog but its actually just one person/family bloggin. Anyhow, here is the recipe link, give this a shot!
Kale with Seaweed, Sesame and Ginger Recipe

So i’ve just discovered this fantastic source of pictorial recipes online! There are a whole series of them posted on the EGullet website by one person cooking authentic Chinese recipes Chinese Food Pictorials, by hzrt8w. The final dishes aren’t the sexiest looking food photography, but the step by step illustrations are brilliant. They really demystify Chinese cooking too. This recipe for eG Forums -> Chicken Stir-fried w/ Butter Blk Pepper caught my eye because butter seems like a totally non-traditional Chinese dish, but the result looks enticing. Watch this space for my own recipe pictorials coming soon!