If there’s one thing I get asked often it’s, “Jason, why are you so awesome?” A close second is, “Is there good pho in the West Island?” Once upon a time, I ate my way through the city, one bowl of pho dac biet (special) at a time to try and find the best pho in Montreal. That was five years ago and have since added to the list of places I’ve tried. Don’t worry an update is on the way. I have one place listed in the West Island in that post. But I’ve reconsidered its ranking. In my head it lost its position a while ago – I went back twice and was disappointed twice. The food fell off and should not be in contention as a pho-asis in the west. HOWEVER, I did try a relatively new place recently that I suspect may make the list – purely based on the lack of options west of autoroute 13. This week I tried Pho Zui Zui in DDO.
dollard des ormeaux
I was reading up on the latest census report on the west island and believe it or not, there are more dumpling restaurants west of highway 13 per capita than there are in all of China. Crazy right? No, that’s not true, I just made that fact up. But imagine all the dumpling restaurants that exist in China. How do you know which ones are good? I took it upon myself to seek out which dump shop is the best in the west. Because obviously when you think West island, you think dumplings. I sought out to see which places are worth eating at. This week, my quest takes me to 1930 Shanghai.
I love dumplings. I give classes on dumplings. I basically look like a giant overstuffed dumpling. Needless to say, I’m all about dat dumpling lyfe. I’m always on the looking for new places to cop these little bundles of meat filled joy in and around the city. The last time I had dumplings in the West Island it was a catastrophe. The pitiful plateful of burned frozen dumplings were more disappointing than if season 8 of Game of Thrones was rewritten and then fucked up a second time. I didn’t let this one bad experience extinguish all hope of finding dumplings worth eating west of the 13. In the spring, I noticed a very unassuming store front when I was driving along St. Jean. I remember seeing the sign for this store. The sign was of a dumpling. Was this the sign I was waiting for? Finally after weeks of papered up windows and disappointed drive-bys, the windows were clear and there was signs of life… or signs of dumplings inside. I tried Mama Dumplings.