Montreal Juliette et Chocolat

Since we had a good experience at Crepe Café, we wanted to try another crepe restaurant called Juliette et Chocolate on our last day in Montreal. There was a sweet mocha and chocolate smell inside of the café. We got seated in a small table that was across from the open kitchen.

We ordered one savory crepe made of buckwheat which had ham and cheese inside with a sunny side up egg on top. It also came with a small side of salad. We watched the chef masterfully cook the egg, remove the egg whites, and put it on top of the freshly made crepe.

Besides the savory buckwheat crepe, we ordered our favorite Nutella and Banana Crepe with a side of vanilla ice-cream. We were not disappointed at all. The portion of the crepe was so generous and every bite contained so much nutella. The vanilla ice-cream helped to make the crepe moist and matched very well with the nutella. This dessert crepe was better than the one we ate at Crepe Café.

We saw a shelf of desserts and so we ordered the Chocolate Praline Cake to try. Unfortunately, the praline was very soft and not crispy at all. The cake was not fresh and was not what we expected at all. It tasted much worse than it looked. Our recommendation to others will be to stick with the dessert crepes and skip the cakes.

HOKAT Rating:
85/100

Address:
1615 Rue Saint-DenisMontreal, QC H2X 3K3
(514) 287-3555

Montreal Crepe Cafe

Our trip to Montreal will not be complete without eating crepes, which is a Parisian favorite. We went to a small restaurant named Crepe Café which is on the same street as the Notre Dame Basilica. We got seated in two tall chairs overlooking the street. It was a cozy environment and we liked sitting right next to each other.

We ordered two main dishes, one of which is a Crepe Special of the day, which includes a coffee, tomato chowder, and a three cheese savory crepe with fries and salad. Just want to mention, they serve one the best French fries we have had. They were definitely “Gone in 60 seconds”.



The other main dish is a savory crepe with chicken, potato, onion, mushroom, cheese, with a side of salad. This crepe was well worth the money. It was the best savory crepe that we have ever tasted. The crepe was moist and the chicken was tender. The mushroom and melted cheese also made a nice combination.



Even though we were extremely full, we wanted to try the dessert crepes in addition to the savory crepes that we had. We decided to go with the Nutella, Banana, and Strawberry Crepe because you cannot go wrong with it. The crepe was a little too dry but the Nutella (chocolate with hazelnut) and banana always matches so well together.



HOKAT Rating:
85/100

Address:
362 Notre-Dame Est
Montréal, QC H2Y
(514) 759-6755

Montreal Bonaparte

The best meal of our Montreal trip was at a French restaurant called Bonaparte. When we went to Montreal three years ago, we first visited Bonaparte and thought of it as the best French food we have ever had.

We were seated in a small area that is slightly risen up. We seated next to an old couple who are locals living in Montreal.

For appetizer, we order the escargots in a puff pastry. When it arrived at our table, we thought it was a mistake because it looked very different than what we had three years ago. However, to our surprise, it was extremely delicious. The escargot is chewy and has a garlic butter taste to it. The puff pastry that contains the escargots had a few layers to it and was very crispy and light. The creamy pesto sauce matched with the escargots in puff pastry so well. This reminded us that we should not judge a book by its covers.

The other appetizer that we ordered was the lobster bisque. The lobster bisque had an extremely rich taste to it.

One of our main dishes was the rack of lamb. The lamb was very tender and juicy. I especially loved the meat around the bone with some fat.

Another main dish was the duck breast in berry sauce. The sweet taste of the berry sauce matches so well with the duck. However, I wish that the duck could be more tender.

For desserts, we chose the chocolate soufflé and grand marnier soufflé. The soufflé was baked to order, and so we had to wait 20 minutes. However, I’ll tell you that it was certainly worth the wait! The chocolate soufflé was incredibly soft and fluffy. The chocolate was melted inside the soufflé and it was truly satisfying to my sweet tooth. The grand marnier soufflé was very rich and full of alcohol taste.

Overall it was a very satisfying meal. It was one of the highlights of our Montreal trip.

HOKAT Rating:

96/100

Address:

443 rue Saint-François-Xavier, Montréal QC H2Y 2T1

(514) 844-4368
http://www.bonaparte.com/

Montreal Au Pied de Cochon

Montreal Day 2 Continues – One Miss, One Hit

This was the “Hit” of Day 2 here at Montreal. Around dinner time, we visited a little restaurant called Au Pied de Cochon, "The Pig's Foot". The restaurant was truly one of a kind. As indicated by the name, the restaurant specializes in large stab of pork dishes and dozens of foie gras dishes. For those on a diet or has high cholesterol, BEWARE! Everything on the menu is super fatty and heavy. However, this was not an issue for us because we love foie gras and are adventurous in terms of food.

To our surprise, the restaurant was already packed at 6:00pm! Luckily, we had our reservation, so we were seated immediately. The menu consists of huge selection of Canadian traditional style dishes, but the most attractive to us were the foie gras dishes. Here is what we ordered:

1) Cromesquis Foie Gras. This is a bite-size deep fried piece of foie gras. The waiter asked us to put the whole piece into our mouth and make sure to close our mouth completely. This is because once bitten down, the piece of foie gras literally explodes. It was like drinking foie gras soup! The slight criticism of this appetizer is the thickness of the batter.



2) Foie Gras Duo. What’s the duo? One of the duo is Poutine with Foie Gras and the other is Foie Gras Burger. The Poutine with Foie Gras has a thick gravy sauce on top of fries that are quite burnt.



The Foie Gras Burger has a big piece of foie gras between flatbreads, with greens and onion inside. Delicious!



3) Duck in a Can (Canard en Conserve). This was such an original. The waiter brought us a plate which as a slice of bread topped with some mashed squash. Then, the waiter brought us a typical looking can.



He opened the can right in front of us, using a can opener. Then, he poured a hot steamed piece of duck breast from the can straight onto our plate! The duck was submerged in balsamic vinegar. There was also a piece of foie gras and some vegetables. Remember, these came out from a can! The duck breast was tender and a little gamy taste. It matches well with the overall taste of the squash and bread.

The following came from the can:





4) Pouding Chomeur. This was caramel pudding. It was super sweet and another heavy dish.



After the meal, we were so stuffed. The meal was so heavy that we felt like we consumed two meals. It felt like we gained five pounds after the dinner and was about to send us into cholesterol-induced coma!! If you like foie gras, this is the place for you. It has dozens of various combinations, so you will definitely get to taste all aspects of foie gras. Reservation IS A MUST! Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain even pay a visit himself at this restaurant. You can watch his experience on on the left hadn side's youtube video.

HOKAT Rating:
87/100

Address:
536 Rue Duluth, Montreal QC
(514) 281-1114
http://www.restaurantaupieddecochon.ca/