701 Cote de la Place D’Armes
Montreal, Quebec
Metro: Place d’Armes
Bus: STM 14, 55, 129, 715
Visit: February 1, 2013
http://www.suite701.com/
With the sixth edition of Happening Gourmand now a thing of the past, it’s time to take a look at the fourth and final place on my itinerary for this year. Located right next to the Palais des Congres, Suite 701 has the distinction of being the place I was looking the most forward to. As I think of my other 3 restaurant visits during the event, I could only wonder if Suite 701 would live up.
Burgers aren’t the only thing that gets featured here on the GBS. From time to time, I get the chance to try other things that don’t necessarily fit my domain of specialty. These dishes are some that I’ll remember for a time to come.
43 de la Gauchetiere E.
Montreal, Quebec
Metro: Place d’Armes
Bus: STM 55, 80, 129, 150, 410, 427, 430, 435, 747
Visit: July 12, 2012
http://www.restaurantmonnan.com/
My half-Chinese heritage demands that I scour the island for each and every restaurant that does my native cuisine justice. My purpose for my visit to Mon Nan is not to show what everybody already knows, but to shed light on another aspect that doesn’t get too much play. There are some pretty decent, well-known restaurants in Montreal where you can get lunch for well under 10 dollars and Mon Nan is one of them.
Java U
5120 Queen Mary
Montreal, Quebec
Metro: Snowdon
Bus: STM 17, 51, 124, 166
Visit: September 24, 2011
http://www.java-u.com/
As some of you might remember, recently, I went on a search for a fast food version of a lobster roll. After searching more than half a dozen locations and keeping my eyes out in recent weeks, I came up short handed. Luckily, I also keep my attention focused on the Twitter universe where it came to my attention that I could find a lobster roll at other establishment. That’s where Java U came into play. At first, they only mentioned the fact that they had lobster rolls, which didn’t really peak my attention until I found out that they had something more than just the main ingredient. They had bacon and I had to make this priority #1.
LOCATION CLOSED
405 Sherbrooke Est
Montreal, Quebec
Metro: Sherbrooke
Bus: STM 24, 30, 144, 427
Visit: June 19, 2011
My father’s side of the family has a tradition on each and every Father’s day. Usually, we’d go to a very specific restaurant for the last 40 years. So, when I heard we were going to this relative unknown, my interest was somewhat peaked. This restaurant is so new (in my opinion), that it can’t even be found on any internet directory. The service seemed very tentative. You could tell by the way they carried out the soup to the various tables. The fact that there were 2 separate entrances made the greeting process quite awkward. The restaurant was about 3/4s full by the time we left.
For the majority of the dishes, I’ll try my best to identify them. When I go to a Chinese restaurant, I go under a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. That’s mostly because I don’t want to find out what I’m putting in my mouth.
Tea
Soup
This tasted a lot like a chicken soup. I didn’t really like the consistency.
Bowl of Rice
Lobster
Up until today, I have never seen lobster this big. Also, the portions were quite huge, not only for this dish, but for a lot of the others. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much taste, as the iconic lobster sauce was nowhere in sight.
Lobster Piece
Just for a reference point.
General Tao Chicken
Though the pieces look big and you’re given a lot of it, I found the dish to lack in taste. Once you get over the heat, there isn’t much to it, compared to other similar dishes I’ve tried.
Frog Legs
This is a regular dish that the family orders. I didn’t touch it today and I will never touch it ever. I don’t like the idea of eating or touching frog.
“Fish Pot”
This dish contains your various fish and shrimp in what looks like an edible bowl. The fish was very acceptable and the shrimp was quite large. The items surrounding the “bowl” are scallop pieces. I do not like scallop, therefore I do not touch.
“Mystery Dish”
I’m calling this the mystery dish because I was told one thing and it tasted like something else. I will not argue with the taste whatsoever, because I was one of the better dishes. But, when you tell me this is chicken and it tastes like fish, something has got to give.
Pork Chops
This dish was one of the decent ones. Though, I didn’t exactly like having to work around the bones. Then again, when you eat this, bones are a given.
Tofu
This dish really frustrated me. It wasn’t because of taste, but because the tofu pieces just kept on falling apart. As the pieces got smaller, they because so much harder to pick up with chop sticks. Therefore, any appreciation for the dish was completely lost in the multiple attempts in trying to pick them up.
Beef and Greens
This dish is as simple as it looks. The beef taste quite good and the greens were just like anything you could get in any restaurant.
Dessert
I don’t know what this is. This is the second time in three days that I have seen this unfortunate soup dessert. I was told that it was made with beans and it was supposed to be sweet. I managed two sips before giving up. I usually finish everything put in front of me. For this, I knew better.
Aftermath
