It was pretty wet and gloomy as we arrived in Montréal. We checked into the W Montréal, and of all the Starwood hotels I chose this because it was only marginally more expensive than the other hotels, and the location seemed to be OK. We got upgraded to a suite, so that was fun. As usual, for a W hotel room, the design was fairly edgy, we had our Bliss products, and were happy campers.
We needed to find some lunch, so we went to Schwartz's, a Jewish deli with supposedly the best smoked meat. I think it was beef, since it is Jewish after all. There was a fairly long line around 2pm or so, maybe 12 people or so in front of me, which moved quickly, about 15 mins till we got to the front of the line, following which a short line/no line at all, so I think at this hour the wait is sporadic and depends on your luck. The inside of the place looked pretty much like a dump, reminded me of Ben's Chili in DC that Obama goes to, yet has a loyal following/attracts silly tourists like ourselves. We shared one sandwich, which was tiny and $10 or so. The meat was good but really for $10 the quantity could have been like... twice the size?! The bread was pretty crap though. Also, they took cash only, which posed a huge problem for us, and we had to visit the local ATM. Fun times. We went to take out next door, and bought a few more slices of meat, and enjoyed that in the back of the house. I especially liked the fatty parts, so flavourful. Would go back again, during off hours, and maybe just have the meat, honestly.
Parking was plentiful, BTW, and is metered until fairly late, just like in Quebec City. The machines take credit card, which is great for us, since we had no cash. You enter your license plate number and do not have to display the ticket on the dash.
After our small sandwich, we decided we would get more Jewish things - i.e. bagels! Our friend told us we had to go to St-Viateur and have whatever came out hot from the oven. Shucks after we left the place I thought we should have taken a photo of the operation that was going on inside the shop. The dudes place the bagels on this long wooden plank and stick it into an oven glowing with embers, I think. Lingon got the cinammon raisin, his favourite, which was cold. I got the sesame, since it was the one that had just come out hot from the oven. It was good, but I didn't see what so special about either, but I enjoyed a nice warm bagel on a wet miserable day.
We were trying to find our way to Mont Royal, which should have been quite easy to ascent by car, if not for the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, a bicycle race, that was occurring that day. Quelle malchance (not sure if this saying exists). We had troubles accessing the road at the foot of the mountain, but finally asked a police dude and he told us where to go. When we got to the foot of the mountain, we were then further blocked by either road works or the race. I would have walked, except it was raining, and pretty yucky. So it was mission: failed.
The one good thing that came out of this was that while fumbling around the roads, we found Kem Coba, an ice cream shop. I saw this extraordinarily long line for what I was used to in the little we saw of Montréal, and I told Lingon we had to go there. What was funny was that I read an article about it the day before, and showed it to Lingon, and forgot about it, but Lingon remembered! So I went in to get a cup, and was greeted with a brightly coloured board with tons of flavours on it. I ended up getting peanut and honey and salted butter, and tried a couple of other flavours, but almost instantly regretted not getting soursop or durian, since they were more unique. Other more unique flavours included Vietnamese coffee, honey and orange blossom and passionfruit. I read up a little on the folks who started this, and it was a couple, and I think the lady was from Asia. No wonder such unique flavours.
We walked around a little bit in the rain, found the Chinatown gate, went to the old town which was less pretty than Quebec City's, and then called it quits since the dampness and misery was getting to us.
We tried to visit the Notre Dame Basilica, but they were unfortunately closed, so we had to go the next day. This place is very special and I really wanted Lingon to see it.
Dinner was at La Chronique, a small fancy French restaurant. Their menu was in French only. I knew what I wanted - the foie gras, so I got that as my appetizer, and then a seafood risotto. Lingon got a salmon tartare and sweetbreads (ris de veau, which he pretended to understand in French haha), and the food was all pretty good! The restaurant has a 5 and 7 course prix-fixe menu, but we opted for a la carte, being on a diet and all (trying, anyway). What annoyed me was when an older couple came in, the server explained the 5 and 7 course to them, but we were only told of the 5 course. Did we look poor, or maybe he wanted us out of his restaurant in record time? Who knows. Anyhow, a friend recommended this to me, and a good recommendation at that!
We walked back to our car and found this restaurant, which I distinctly remember seeing and wanting to eat there (forgot if we did) because of its cool name, on my first trip to Montréal! I just had to take a picture of it!
Well, the evening was over. The next morning we went to visit the Basilica. A picture paints a thousand words. I assembled a jigsaw puzzle of this when I was little, I think it was like 5000 pieces or something substantial, and it was the most beautiful church I had ever seen. When I came to Montréal for the first time, I was just so happy that I found it. I wonder if the lighting makes it look amazing, and if I would be just as amazed without the lighting. $5/person, cash only.
A la prochaine!
We needed to find some lunch, so we went to Schwartz's, a Jewish deli with supposedly the best smoked meat. I think it was beef, since it is Jewish after all. There was a fairly long line around 2pm or so, maybe 12 people or so in front of me, which moved quickly, about 15 mins till we got to the front of the line, following which a short line/no line at all, so I think at this hour the wait is sporadic and depends on your luck. The inside of the place looked pretty much like a dump, reminded me of Ben's Chili in DC that Obama goes to, yet has a loyal following/attracts silly tourists like ourselves. We shared one sandwich, which was tiny and $10 or so. The meat was good but really for $10 the quantity could have been like... twice the size?! The bread was pretty crap though. Also, they took cash only, which posed a huge problem for us, and we had to visit the local ATM. Fun times. We went to take out next door, and bought a few more slices of meat, and enjoyed that in the back of the house. I especially liked the fatty parts, so flavourful. Would go back again, during off hours, and maybe just have the meat, honestly.
Parking was plentiful, BTW, and is metered until fairly late, just like in Quebec City. The machines take credit card, which is great for us, since we had no cash. You enter your license plate number and do not have to display the ticket on the dash.
After our small sandwich, we decided we would get more Jewish things - i.e. bagels! Our friend told us we had to go to St-Viateur and have whatever came out hot from the oven. Shucks after we left the place I thought we should have taken a photo of the operation that was going on inside the shop. The dudes place the bagels on this long wooden plank and stick it into an oven glowing with embers, I think. Lingon got the cinammon raisin, his favourite, which was cold. I got the sesame, since it was the one that had just come out hot from the oven. It was good, but I didn't see what so special about either, but I enjoyed a nice warm bagel on a wet miserable day.
We were trying to find our way to Mont Royal, which should have been quite easy to ascent by car, if not for the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, a bicycle race, that was occurring that day. Quelle malchance (not sure if this saying exists). We had troubles accessing the road at the foot of the mountain, but finally asked a police dude and he told us where to go. When we got to the foot of the mountain, we were then further blocked by either road works or the race. I would have walked, except it was raining, and pretty yucky. So it was mission: failed.
The one good thing that came out of this was that while fumbling around the roads, we found Kem Coba, an ice cream shop. I saw this extraordinarily long line for what I was used to in the little we saw of Montréal, and I told Lingon we had to go there. What was funny was that I read an article about it the day before, and showed it to Lingon, and forgot about it, but Lingon remembered! So I went in to get a cup, and was greeted with a brightly coloured board with tons of flavours on it. I ended up getting peanut and honey and salted butter, and tried a couple of other flavours, but almost instantly regretted not getting soursop or durian, since they were more unique. Other more unique flavours included Vietnamese coffee, honey and orange blossom and passionfruit. I read up a little on the folks who started this, and it was a couple, and I think the lady was from Asia. No wonder such unique flavours.
We walked around a little bit in the rain, found the Chinatown gate, went to the old town which was less pretty than Quebec City's, and then called it quits since the dampness and misery was getting to us.
We tried to visit the Notre Dame Basilica, but they were unfortunately closed, so we had to go the next day. This place is very special and I really wanted Lingon to see it.
Dinner was at La Chronique, a small fancy French restaurant. Their menu was in French only. I knew what I wanted - the foie gras, so I got that as my appetizer, and then a seafood risotto. Lingon got a salmon tartare and sweetbreads (ris de veau, which he pretended to understand in French haha), and the food was all pretty good! The restaurant has a 5 and 7 course prix-fixe menu, but we opted for a la carte, being on a diet and all (trying, anyway). What annoyed me was when an older couple came in, the server explained the 5 and 7 course to them, but we were only told of the 5 course. Did we look poor, or maybe he wanted us out of his restaurant in record time? Who knows. Anyhow, a friend recommended this to me, and a good recommendation at that!
We walked back to our car and found this restaurant, which I distinctly remember seeing and wanting to eat there (forgot if we did) because of its cool name, on my first trip to Montréal! I just had to take a picture of it!
Well, the evening was over. The next morning we went to visit the Basilica. A picture paints a thousand words. I assembled a jigsaw puzzle of this when I was little, I think it was like 5000 pieces or something substantial, and it was the most beautiful church I had ever seen. When I came to Montréal for the first time, I was just so happy that I found it. I wonder if the lighting makes it look amazing, and if I would be just as amazed without the lighting. $5/person, cash only.
A la prochaine!
No comments:
Post a Comment