We’re going to start 2023 with a bang. Literally. A meal at this place felt like a straight body-shot to the gut. You may not know it but not only does Montreal have great Chinese restaurants, but we are home to restaurants that represent the various regional cuisines of China – as per my article for Tourism Montreal. The majority of restaurants in the city serve Cantonese cuisine- fried noodles, sweet and sour deep this and thats, rice dishes, sizzling platters, dumplings. It’s once you get into regional specialties can you tell the difference. The spices, the techniques, the ingredients. The regional cuisine that stands out is Szechuan. I recently discovered the small Szechuan restaurant – Mala Express – in one of the most obvious neighbourhoods in the city… Kirkland.
Food
In the past several years, it seems like the city has experienced an exponential boom in fried chicken spots. You’ve got the OGs like, Triple Crown, Icehouse, Mon Ami, Comon, to the new kids, Olivia’s, Corilla, Cali and Maffeo’s. I’d like to say that the fried chicken frenzy has peaked but with a few more spots that I have lined to to write about, I don’t see an end in sight… for now. That being said, this week, I hit up one of our home-grown fried chicken chains to pop up, Jack Le Coq.
Have you had hot pot before? It’s often referred to as “Asian fondue”. Which technically isn’t wrong. The principle is the same. Things dipped in a simmering liquid and eaten with a sauce. When you think fondue, you picture a pot of simmering tepid broth heated by a can of sterno. Different color-coded two-tined prods sticking out holding on to thin slices of meat or vegetables. The main difference between hot pot and western or French “fondue” is that Asian hot pot is better. PERIODT. I recently had the opportunity to check out one of the hottest hot pot spots around, Liuyishou Hotpot in downtown.