Finding Beauty in Everyday Life: May 2012

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Smoke's Poutinerie

218 Adelaide St W
Toronto, ON
http://smokespoutinerie.com/Menu.aspx

Monday, May 21, 2012

St. Viateur Bagel & Cafe Mont Royal
1127 Mont. Royal East
Montréal, Québec H2J 1X6
http://www.stviateurbagel.com/

We stopped by St. Viateur to pick up some Montreal bagel to bring home. We got the classic sesame bagels for about 80cents each. These bagels smells amazing and tastes really really good. Montreal bagels differs from normal bagels in that they are a bit chewier and have a bit more texture to it. They are also slightly sweeter than normal bagels. Also what sets them apart is that they use traditional fire roast oven to bake these bagels so they are super fresh and tastes different from electric ovens. Like!

The other famous one is Fairmount Bagel, which will need to try for comparison.

Resto La Banquise

Resto La Banquise
994 Rue Rachel Est
Montréal, Québec H2J 2J3
http://labanquise.com/

We came to La Banquise for a quick lunch before heading out of Montreal. La Banquise is a hip little restaurant with lots of cool Montreal beer bottles as decoration. If it wasn't for lunch, we would've order some beer to go with our poutine. First off we were having some high expectations of Montreal poutine, but La Banquise was not disappointing at all! For previous experience with poutine, I was found the dish too salty with fries and gravy and topped with bacon and sausages. But here their poutine was not overly salty at all, and you can taste the individual components very well. Their cheese is the authentic cheese, and it doesn't make the weird squeaky noise! Overall I love the place and there are many options to choose from. Will come back =)

La Petite vie (small $7.90) corn, steak, and onions

La Matty (small $7.90) bacon, green pepper, onions, mushroom

La maison du Macaron

La maison du Macaron
4479 de la Roche (angle Mont-Royal)
Montréal, Québec H2J 3J2
http://www.lamaisondumacaron.com/

This macaron place was discovered purely by accident - as we walk back from lunch to the car. I only bought 3 to try, they are on the pricey side, about $2 each. I got the pistachio (green), coffee (light brown), and salted caramel (dark brown) flavors to try. They are the best macaron I have tried. The flavours are soo intensely rich it feels your mouth for a long aftertaste. Definitely coming back for more when I get a chance. And if time permits, sit down at this beautifully decorated cafe and order some coffee and macaron desserts for the afternoon. YUM!

P.S. They also sell larger macarons!

Schwartz's

Schwartz's Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen
3895 Saint-Laurent Boulevard
Montreal, Quebec H2W 1X9
http://www.schwartzsdeli.com/

Schwartz's is a must stop for anyone visiting Montreal. It has a long history making smoked meat since 1928! Be prepared to wait in line for 30 minutes+ to get a seat inside. Also be prepare to squeeze into the tightly spaced seats for a quick service. We ordered Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, fries, pickles, and pop drinks. There is an option for lean or fatty cut for the smoked meat sandwich. I had the lean cut, and a friend had the fatty cut. Next time I would definitely get the fatty cut because the lean cut was on the dry side. There is sooo much meat to bread too, the meat is tender and well seasoned. I might consider to get take out of the smoked meat only for the future.

Montreal smoked meat sandwich ($6.30)