I’ve been frequenting this spot for a while now that I’ve been keeping to myself because it’s so strange. Not one of those weird restaurant travel shows kind of strange – but “unique.” This Chinese restaurant is so low key, that you would only know about it if you were actually in Japanese restaurant and needed to go to the washroom – I know it sounds weird, let me explain.
What’s soft, pillowy, delicious and you can probably eat five of these for breakfast? No, not my nephew, char siu baos! A dim sum staple, these are hot and steamy buns filled with savoury barbecue pork filling. I remember my mom and grandmothers making by the hundreds for my sisters and I when we were young – Ok, maybe not hundreds, but by the “fifties”?. They would often spend an entire afternoon on a bao making blitz cooking up filling and filling up discs of rolled out dough then freezing them. These lasted us for weeks and were often the snack of choice that greeted us after school. Here’s an adapted version of our family recipe.
When I spent time in Malaysia, there were a few things that I anxiously awaited to greet me in the morning; intense humidity and a bowl of noodles – more specifically, curry laksa. You would think this steamy bowl of spicy curry noodle soup is ideal for the bitter cold of the permafrost tundra during our eight-month long winter season, right? Wrong.
Asian recipes can be quite intimidating; which could include ingredients that you may or may not be accustomed to, like medicinal herbs grown by blind Buddhist monks on the foothills of the Himalayas, baby tiger shark pancreas, unicorn tears and good ‘ol thinleaf milkwort root. In reality, most Asian pantries (more particularaly Chinese pantries) consist of a handful of staple ingredients that when used in different combinations with each other, make up the backbone of most of your favourite Chinese recipes. To help you narrow down the items that are versatile that are guaranteed to be used more than once, here’s my list of essential Asian pantry items for common Chinese recipes
My family and I have been making this recipe for who knows how long. I’ve always known it as stir fry beef and it wasn’t until I went out to eat with some non Asian people (who did the ordering) did I find out that our family recipe (or something quite similar) was an actual legit thing! Commonly known as “mongolian beef”, popularized by “western-Chinese” restaurants, this simple beef dish is simple to make that incorporates a velvety gravy that tastes great over white rice.
I love dumplings. I don’t know many people who don’t like dumplings – that’s only because I don’t have time for people like that in my life and can’t be bothered to befriend them. I will go where the dumplings are; near or far, if there are delicious bundles of meat wrapped in flour dough and served with sauce, you’ll probably find me there, pulling out a seat for you. I’m a dumpling gypsy – not a gypsy dumpling; I can only imagine those things being made with lots of yak cheese and questionable meat. So roaming the city and following my nose for my next dumpling haunt, you can imagine how surprised I was when my nose led me into a repurposed sports bar in a neighbourhood known for Indian restaurants.
I’ve often said that poutine is the perfect dish; it encompasses all major food groups: fries, gravy and cheese. With literally hundreds of restaurants that serve our unofficial official dish, poutine alliances in this city run smoked-meat deep. If you ask any true Montrealer where to cop the best poutine, nine times out of 10, they’ll be wrong, but regardless of where you favourite poutine shop is, here is what your poutine of choice says about you…
There are only but a handful of actual fried rice dishes that you can find on most Chinese restaurant menus or make at home. Most fried rice dishes come out of necessity to eat up the left overs that are sitting around in the fridge; which coincidentally was the way my famous, smoked meat poutine with half sour pickles, chicken wings and blueberry pie fried rice was invented.
In recent years, restaurants around the city are opening their doors on the weekends to facilitate everyone’s favourite weekend pastime – bitching about a hangovers over food. Besides the hoopla of publicly outing and blacklisting no-show reservation-makers, the other current trend in Montreal is the brunch service. Serving up classic and fun signature twists on typical mid morning dishes, only a handful or restaurants dedicate themselves fully to breakfast, brunch and lunch.
Cote des Neiges is one of, (if not the most) culturally diverse neighbourhoods in the entire city that it probably unlocks some sort of achievement in the Quebec proposed Charter of Values. Having grown up in the area, I can attest to the fact that this neighbourhood is diverse, colourful and is exactly what makes this city beautiful. You can walk five minutes in any direction and find the sights, sounds, tastes and flavours of a dozen different countries. Being said, call it a love letter or ode to my hood, here is a list of dishes you need to try when you’re in Cote des Neiges.