experience

I love the Chinatown in Montreal..

Agreed, it’s not always the nicest looking restaurants that you’ll find in that area, but the taste of the dishes they will serve you are far more than compensating for the lack of decorations. Plus, all the little boutiques and pastry shops in the surrounding are beyond amazing. I sometime like to joke around and say that I wasn’t born in the right country because I’m just insanely addicted with all the Asian cultures, toys and candies available (kawaii all the time and every day – it’s me).

I would have probably fit perfectly living somewhere in Asia… I guess it will be for another life, maybe.

Lucky for us now, the internet exist and we can order almost everything online or visit the closest Chinatown to go taste and shop for all those colorful Asian goodies. Last week, I discovered some classic Korean food for the first time at the family restaurant “Chez Bong” and here’s what I thought of my experience…

You’ll find this tiny and full of love restaurant in the semi basement of a modest building on St-Laurent. I’ll be straight up with you, it doesn’t look like much. Actually, before going down the stairs, I surprised myself hesitating on going or not. Obviously, the adventurous foodie in me pushed the bad thoughts away but it’s just to demonstrate that we should never judge a book by it’s cover.

Once the door opened, I saw some frames on the wall showing magazine and newspaper articles that has been written about the Bong’s establishment. It did make me more confident till the food arrived, then it only got better.

The first thing I always ask at any Asian restaurant is for tea. Some places really have some homemade blend and it’s great to discover new tastes. The nice and smiling waiter suggested me 2 types of teas; green tea and something called Oksusu-cha tea witch is basically dried up and roasted corn bits infused in hot water. I was a little confused what would be the good proprieties of drinking an infusion of roasted corn bits but it seem to be one of those numerous trends running around in Korea and it doesn’t really has any proprieties beside tasting AMAZING! …Pretty much exactly like popcorn!

I have read online that you can buy some pre-mixed corn tea in Asian groceries but haven’t heard any good comments about it. If you’re curious to try Oksusu-cha, I would strongly recommend you dry and roast your own corn bits to just really make sure you get what I’m talking about. I remember reading the blog of this girl who was hilariously blogging about her hate for corn tea after she drank some pre-mixed commercial version of it. So, don’t do like her, go get the real stuff or make your own. It’s worth it.

Once we sat down, the waiter brought us some delicious freebies; baked and marinaded sweet potatoes (I need to find a recipe or extort theirs lol) with some kimchi. Both of these little goodies were spicy, flavorful delicious. They only seem to have one size of plate for thos goodies and I have to admit that I was kind of sad there was only this little portion for 4 persons… I would have eat one just by myself 😛

The top photo is an alcoholic beverage one of my friends ordered. I think the name is Jinro but I’m not sure.. I’m only judging myself with the only thing I can read on the bottle but I could be mistaking. If anybody here who know the name of this beverage, please let me know so I can go to bed less stupid tonight 😛

It tasted a bit grassy, kind of like watered down hard alcohol. Ok maybe my description is not inspiring anything good but let me say that it was quit tasty and surprisingly really easy to drink. One thing we realized after, this thing has 20% alcohol! …Clearly, you could get hammered on this stuff really fast without even realizing it. Note to self: watch out!

The appetizers finally arrived… I make it sound like it took a while but it didn’t. I must say the whole dinner arrive pretty fast at the table and maybe even a slight too fast but again… maybe it’s just me who eat slow.

I ordered the fried dumpling (photo above) and my friend ordered the Korean vegetable pancakes (photo below). The portion of the dumpling was decent for one person but the pancakes were just way too big. Make sure you’re at least 2-3 people munching on it if you order it because it’s very filling. I Also thought that both appetizers were VERY greasy witch kind of added some sort of gray cloud over my dinner. Their frying oil was obviously not hot enough because the food had really absorbed it.

It sucks because I don’t like to give bad comments on such adorable and delicious place but it had to be said. Next time I’ll go there, I wont be ordering one of their fried appetizers just to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

The real love is in the main dishes they serve. I unfortunately don’t remember the Korean name for what I order but it was a stir fry of pork, tofu and kimchi. Obviously mixed in with a load of veggies and some Korean rice “pasta” all that in a decently spicy sauce… Ohh did it made my belly happy that night.

The bottom pic is the bibimbap. For everybody who have no idea of what is Bibimbap, it’s a signature Korean dish. The word literally means “mixed rice” and Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul and gochujang. A raw or fried egg and sliced meat are common additions. The whole thing look pretty good but I didn’t bother to put myself between her meal and her. ahah

I kept the best dish for the end… this is the Korean BBQ chicken and omg, there is absolutely no words to describe how amazing this was. The price you see in the menu is for the chicken only, you will have to order extra rice on the side and a salad if you desire. You have to option of choosing this same BBQ grilling with Shrimps, Pork and I think another the of meat but I’m not sure witch one is it…

Next time I’ll be going to Chez Bong (probably Monday for lunch), this is what I’m ordering. Yes my meal was amazing but this was orgasmic… I really hope you’ll get to experience this small and full of love family restaurant. Beside the minor downfall of the appetizer, this place is a real gem of the Montreal’s Chinatown.

Visit Chez Bong.

1021 Boul. St-Laurent – Montreal, Quebec – H2Z 1J4

(514) 369-7779

When my friend Doug first invited me to go to the sugar shack with a few other of his friends, I jumped in the air like a kid in a candy store. I haven’t been in a sugar shack in YEARS and my last experience, a few years ago, haven’t been that much fun because the place looked like a big open gymnasium with too many people and not enough love in the food. Although I love maple syrup, everything maple flavored and I would never refuse such invitation, I still expect a certain amount of love and “homey” feel in a place like a sugar shack.

If you never heard of a sugar shack before, well…. the first thing you have to know, it’s a Canadian thing. I don’t exactly know to explain it, but I’ll do my best… Think about a wood shack in the middle of the forest where we create maple syrup from the water coming from the maple trees. The owner of the sugar shack usually own a maple farm around his shack and bring back the water from his trees to make this liquid gold that we call maple syrup. In this same place, you have a mini restaurant, that present a variety of delicious maple flavored meals, from salty to sweet. You drink, you laugh, you eat… everybody is there to spend some family or friendly time, everybody is happy, it’s an amazing place with an amazing ora. Maybe one of my favorite places in the world because of the feeling you have when you’re in there, surrounded by the people you love, drinking, laughing, eating… like it was your last day on earth.

Outside, the March weather is still cold but not too intense so you can enjoy some fun time playing in the melting snow with the younger ones and eat some taffy on snow. Sometime, you can even visit the maple syrup “factory” and see the entire process from beginning to end of how we transform the precious maple water in to maple syrup. It’s actually quit simple and I have vivid memories of my grand father doing it in his kitchen while I was sitting close to him watching his every move, hoping some would just fall outside the pot so I can just eat it on the spot without him noticing it. Ahhh memories…

I didn’t know where my friend wanted to bring me but deep inside, I was hoping to go to the famous sugar shack “Au Pied de Cochon” owned by the famous chef Martin Picard that you might have seen on French or English tv in various shows. Martin bought this shack in 2009 and since the reviews have been very good and I always wanted to go there. What an amazing surprise when I realized that it was exactly where we were going! I think Doug might have read my mind without even realizing it. The second he told me that I might even have a chance to meet the big chef in person, I was even more excited! He was indeed right because I did had the chance to meet Martin Picard and you can see the proof by the photo above.

I got to admit that it took me a good hour and 1 maple martini before having enough courage to go ask him for a photo with me for this blog. I don’t usually get starstruck, I have met many mainstreams actors, producers, pornstars (obviously), tv and radio show hosts and more so it’s never something that happened to me. When you think about it, they are just human being like you and me and there is nothing to be nervous about just because they are a public figure. Last week end I realized that there is one type of celebrity that I’m nervous to meet and it’s chefs! Ok that might sound totally ridiculous for you guys but it’s true. I guess it’s because I’m an inspiring chef myself and I know I’m not even close to be up to part with mister Picard skills so I got nervous…. Anyways, the maple martini worked pretty decent because I went to see Marc and asked him to take a photo with me. I brievely told him that I had a food blog and wanted to make a review of his place but I don’t think he really understood me or even cared. Can you blame him? …not really. 🙂

After all, I might have looked like any other random girl coming to him asking for this same request that he’s used to perform like a circus freak. Don’t take me wrong he wasn’t rude at all and I’m sure once you know him he’s really sweet but I didn’t feel like sticking around at the bar with him and his friend like a stupid groupie so instead we exchanged a few smiles, took a photo and I went back to my place. Now who knows, maybe after he’ll read this text I’ll have the chance for a real conversation with him over a nice glass of wine in his first restaurant : Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal to make another review…. A girl can dream right? 😉

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