Recently I read this article by Buzzfeed about why Americans can’t get poutine right. The author has genius and insightful remarks about how chefs feel the need to class up, “improve” something that doesn’t need improving, and basically try to foodify something that is in most cases, impossible to fetishize. One entry caught my eye and twisted a thorn that has been in my side for a while now; The Gorbals in Los Angeles’ “Bánh mì” poutine. It’s not the fact that they were completely missing the point on a classic poutine, but in the same breath, absolutely making an abomination of something that I hold dear to my heart, a sandwich.
banh mi
Ever been to south-east Asia? No? Now you don’t have to anymore! – Satay Brothers
In recent years I have been fortunate enough to visit and travel through Asia; the heat, the humidity, sights and smells are comparable to nothing and is something I think about often. The one thing I miss the most is obviously the food; the meals I shared with friends under a smiling moon, on the side of a bustling street, being lit by tubes of halogen lights and propane flames. Not knowing exactly what it was we were ordering but it looked good, it was cooked fresh and more often than not, by a chef with a cigarette in his mouth and flip-flops on his feet.
It’s been a while since I’ve had quality dirty hawker street food. As ePetitions are signed and public opinions reformed, the realization of Montreal street food is elusive as driving on a street without orange street cones. So can you guess how happy I was to come across the closest thing Montreal will ever come to as a Hawker stand at the Atwater market? Happy like a pig in shit or like a fat kid at Tim Hortons with a pocket full of allowance money. So I hit up Satay Brothers with one of my twitter followers Nic.