Cold Nights, Wind was Blowin' - Montreal

Hi friends !!

Ok I'm back after a hiatus, I just came back from a few weekend trips and have a bunch of new experiences to tell you about. 

First up, Montreal. I know, I know I have my fair share of Montreal blogs are on here, but this time I went to some pretty cool places.

The purpose of this trip to Montreal was just for a long weekend getaway, catching up friends, hanging out with family. And a lot of eating, shopping and more eating, with some partying, oh and a burlesque show. You know typical weekend.

Grub

I visited two awesome restaurants on this trip, one was a gluten free vegan raw food resto, the other a resto with regular food. Both were awesome.

Crudessence - I went to the Mackay location, it was amazing. Its a gluten free, vegan, raw food restaurant. They have items that are nut free as well. I had a delicious gluten free beer, and ordered the Taco Supreme. It was actually very rich, I couldn't finish my meal, which is a testament to how good the food was !!

Holder Restaurant - A great dining option, located in the wonderful Old Montreal area. I highly recommend getting reservations for this place, I was there on a Sunday evening at 7pm and it was packed. The food was phenomenal, my dad had the French Onion Soup and Lobster Ravioli -- and if I could I would have ordered the soup. My dad is becoming quite the foodie, and felt that the cheese overpowered the Lobster in his ravioli dish. I had the Atlantic salmon with potato puree and a lemon beurre blanc, i.died. For dessert we got a cheese plate with some great Quebec cheese's. Go there on your next trip to Montreal.

Places to Party

So normally I don't really hang out in Old Montreal, I like little bars/pubs, unpretentious crowds. But this time I decided to expand my horizons. Also, its a tad pricey, I've warned you, but it was worth it. 

Brasero Hardi - So this place was recommended by my hipster brother, so I knew if he went there it was likely a good bet. It was awesome. I will definitely be going there when I visit Montreal again. Great crowd, great DJ, awesome drinks. 

Velvet - Really neat story about this place, apparently it was a speak easy during the Prohibition. So once you get in (and spend the $15 cover on a Saturday night), make your way down a dark ramp, and you are in the basement/speak easy portion of the bar. Awesome live DJs spin great vibes, not Top 40 though. Just such a cool place, I'd say its worth the high cover price because you won't find something like this in Toronto at least. 

After your night out

Alto Restaurant - Ever had that moment when its 3:58am and you've had a lot to drink, in the cab home you are singing "I knew you were trouble when you walked in" and talking your very limited arabic to your cab driver? Yeah, me neither. But if you did, call Alto restaurant, order the poutine and call me in the morning. 

So there you go, another well balanced night out in Montreal. By now if you ever go to Montreal you have a bunch of places to spend your weekend in !!

Next up, a ski weekend in Ontario !!

Hot night, wind was blowin' - Montreal

Hello !!! Sorry about the lack of posts, I was getting ready for a big music weekend in Montreal. I went to Osheaga , an awesome music festival over the August long weekend (at least it was one in Ontario). So many great bands at such a great price, for a one day pass to the festival for $85 I saw some amazing bands, one of my favorites being The Black Keys. A little musical interlude if you will, here is my favorite Black Keys song...

So I have a new crop of things to do, places to see while in Montreal. It was definetly a party weekend this time, as opposed to last time where it was super relaxing. Here we go:

We had a great lunch in Old Montreal at Bevo Bar and Pizzeria,  my friends had the pizza's and they loved them. I had a great caprese salad, sadly they didn't have any gluten free pizza options, le sigh. But I still highly recommend it, they a great patio as well.

A great street to party on is St.Laurent, now I come from a family of current and reformed hipsters, so these are their favorite places, you will have fun and they aren't you typical bars you would normally go to.

We started off our night at Bifteck, incredibly cheap drinks, 2 pool tables, what more do you need right? Its a great place to start your night off. Once you're ready to move on, just head north on St.Laurent to...

Korova, now this is the most hipster place I've been to, and I used to live next to Kensington Market in Toronto. But for a fun night of dancing, foosball and $5 Pabst you can't go wrong, I happened to have loved the music playing that night, it was retro music great for dancing. Its small, hot, sweaty, but you'll never go to a place like that anywhere else.

After your night of partying you need to go somewhere to help you out the next day, and what better than chicken shawarma, go to/order Boustan, get the trio, you'll thank me the next morning.

So enjoy an amazing night out in Montreal !!

Mini Break: Montreal

So my last mini break was to Montreal in March, now going to Montreal isn't exactly a "vacation" for me since I grew up there (Fun Fact: I've lived in 3 provinces). Nevertheless, its a great City to visit, and its kind of fun to pretend I'm a tourist in that town. 

My dad and I, with Chuck Hughes !!

One of the highlights of the trip had to be having dinner at Garde Manger aka Chuck Hughes' (from the Food Network show "Chucks Day Off") resto in Old Montreal. It was amazing, like hands down one of the top 5 meals I've had in my life. You do have to book in advance, so try a month or so in advance, I was extremely lucky and got a reservation about 1.5 weeks in advance (then again we went on a Tuesday evening).

Lobster Poutine !!

My Main - Chicken thigh,
fried shrimp, mashed potatoes
with a maple gravy. 

 Here are some photos of the food I ate, my Dad and I also started the meal with 6 Malbec Oysters, which were just so fresh. Everything was just so fresh and amazing, its hard to find other words for me to describe it. Didn't have the dessert, mostly because I was completely stuffed, also it tends to be the one meal I will forgo due to the allergy.


Another great restaurant that my family, friends and I love to eat at while in Montreal is Weinstein & Gavino's on Crescent; like its our go to Italian restaurant.


So this post was food heavy, but it had me thinking about the best meals I've had and where they were. Do you have a list of you best meals?