Montreal’s Chinese food game is pretty strong, from Cantonese restaurants to Szechuan, to places that serve only dumplings; we’ve got it all. I think we can consider ourselves lucky to have restaurants that specialize in such regional specific dishes – this is something that means a lot to me and I am thrilled at the proliferation of the variety of Chinese restaurants around town. I recently had dinner at Hao Hao in Verdun. What I was told to be a Szechuan restaurant turned out to be Shanghainese Szechuan restaurant.
"szechuan"
I don’t have to tell you how much I love Montréal. As much as I bitch about traffic, douchebag drivers, construction, the weather and slow-walkers at Walmart, I love it all. One of the things I love most about Montréal is the food scene; the variety of restaurants, the multitude of boroughs that foster, in my opinion, some of the greatest culinary talent in Canada if not the world. I love exploring different neighbourhoods to find local restaurant gems especially in areas of the city where I don’t frequent or know well enough. I was recently told about this szechuan spot in Verdun. I’m not from the area nor am I around often enough to know what’s popping’ in the V dot – Is that a thing? It should be, I just made it up and it sounds badass. I’ve made some awesome discoveries along Wellington in Verdun over the years and when I was told about this Chinese restaurant “Hong Mere” that I should try, I didn’t hesitate to check out.
I don’t know about you, but when I think of spicy szechuan food, the first thing I think about is the Monkland village in NDG. I mean, fiery dishes that are capable of shutting your body down, pulling every ounce of moisture to bead sweat out of the top of your head to your face off, I mean, duh, come on, that spot next to the Pharmaprix at the bottom of that apartment building. I got word that the chef from one of Montreal’s premier Szechuan restaurants Cuisine Szechuan on Guy opened up a new spot in NDG and decided to check it out.