food

I went to eat lunch at ITHQ ( Institut de tourisme et d’hotellerie du Quebec). It’s a school that specializes in tourism, hotel and restaurants.

My colleagues were intrigued as Prince William and Catherine went there to eat while visiting Montreal. Therefore, they have decided to try it out as well! All the staffs were students. I couldn’t tell if I didn’t know it was a school.

The staffs were very friendly and professional. All the tables were taken and the clients seem to be from business professions as well! It’s serious business! Not amateur at all so far!

How was the food? Why don’t we just look at the pictures and judge 😉

Some duck confit….something like that. I simply loved this appetizer…I might go back just for this! But sadly, i think their menu changes very often…

I have no clue what this soup is…Judging by the color, i would say pumpkin…Did not taste it…so can’t tell!

Another star appetizer!! It’s scallop with celery ! 

This is the appetizer that I chose…it comes with such a dainty bowl! 

It is a mixture of mushrooms and cheese. The server made it sound so good as it was the special of the day…They said “it comes with shitake!” Sure that is exotic for them…But it’s not exactly exotic for me. It was okay. It didn’t make my tastebuds go crazy.

And then we moved on to main dishes!

 Wapiti. I once ate a wapiti tartare that got me loving this meat so much. However, this dish left me quite disappointed…

Roasted beef with beer. I heard my colleagues said this wasn’t impressive at all…

Cod fish. My colleague that eats very little (known to never finish anything on her plate) actually ate the whole thing! I guess it was really that delicious?

Lamb. It is actually the most generous portion of all the main dishes.

Chocolate mousse to complete the meal. The server highly recommended this chocolate mousse. However, I’m not very fond of mousse cake…but creme brulee was the other choice which I am not very fond of either…so I ended with chocolate mousse (and they delivered an extra creme brulee by mistake so i ended up having creme brulee as well!).

The chocolate mousse was better than the other mousse cakes i have tried in the past. But i still don’t like mousse cake…so I’m a biased here to judge. The creme brulee was a total disappointment. It was very liquid…I thought it was suppose to be gelatine? Anyway..the taste was fine but the texture not so much.

My verdict? ITHQ serves amazing appetizers. For the rest, it is left to be desired. I have to admit the food is all nicely cooked. Just the taste is missing something (I guess that has to be blamed on their recipe that their professors have chosen).

Have you been all eaten well in these holidays season?

Zuuchini

Nowadays, Montreal is populated by so many all-you-can Japanese restaurants that it seems like it’s the first choice of many due to pricing and quantity.

However…I’m a big sashimi lover. All those all-you-can usually have their sashimi come with rice, which full me up very quickly. Also, their sashimi is usually not that fresh…at least nothing like Mikado…

Sure, times to times, all-you-can could be fun! But, for that price (that I probably won’t make it worth it), I rather go to a menu restaurant because I rather enjoy my food than stuffing my stomach.

So which Japanese restaurant do I suggest? Mikado!

It is located:
1731 St-Denis
Montreal, Quebec
H2X 3K4

It is not a traditional Japanese restaurant. So do not expect the sushi rolls to be authentic. Their rolls are a bit inspired from the cuisine of Thai and Vietnamese. Before, my criteria for a good Japanese restaurant has to be owned by Japanese because then i would think “Hey! It’s owned by Japanese, it gotta be authentic and good!” Well…i guess it’s not always true!

Mikado honestly served the freshest sashimi I have ever eaten in Montreal… They cut their fish so well, that every bite of sashimi is heavenly! I highly suggest their red tuna. 


So…you’re not a fan of sashimi? No worry! There are many rolls and many unique ones only to be found in Mikado! I think every time I go there, I try different rolls. My favorite so far has to be Dragon Eye and Chardonnay (a bit of wine in it).

Although I’m not very fond of deep fried food, I have to admit that Mikado deep fried food (tempura, and tempura in their rolls) are rather well made! They are not oily at all and very crispy. You know that they change their deep fried oil very often due to the freshness of their oil. 


Fan of scallop and love crispiness? Try their scallop of heaven (or something like that…their dishes names are slightly too fancy to remember). They serve BIG FRESH SCALLOP!! it is enrobed with very crispy thin noodle (??? i don’t know how to describe better, but i do have a picture!) The sauce that comes with it is so very delicious! a must try!

Not only does the food is good. Their service is impeccable. You will never be left unattended. The moment you sat down, within less than 5 minutes, a waiter or a busboy will pour water to your glass. I guess I am very strict at that because I drink a lot of water and I hate when my glass is empty and have to be on the lookout of a staff for more water! Before I could finish my water, they always come on time to fill it back up! I love! Their service time is rather quick too! I never need to wait overly long for my food to arrive! They actually have quite some sushi chef working at the counter!


If you were to go there Fridays or those busy days of the week….I would suggest a reservation. 🙂

Zuuchini

Ever since Man na closed down in Brossard, I couldn’t find any decent place to eat Korean food around Montreal. Many suggested Hwang Kum on Sherbrooke. I even checked online reviews and the ratings were good. That helps increasing my expectation!

I love the decor. Very homy and coffee-shop like. It’s definitely a small restaurant. I would say more or less 20 seats available. Extra plus, their bathroom is very clean and has a personal touch.

Their food is pricy, I find. The amount they give you is not extremely generous. It’s decent amount. I think their pricing is the most outrageous for their soups. Their soup is really like a size of a rice bowl and it includes a bowl or rice. They charge that like what….12$? The ingredients weren’t even fancy either.

The only note-worthy dish in there was their seafood pancake. Definitely the best i’ve eaten. I would only go back for this….Other than that, no…not worth it.

The side dish was not spectacular. Very normal. It was good.

AH! The seafood pancake! Thick and crispy! Just perfectly cooked! 

and then we started to nom nom nom…

Dukbokki!  I wanted to try the real thing as it seems incredibly delicious on korean variety shows. Man, either the people were very good at acting or just the restaurant makes horrible ones….it’s really not that good at all…The rice cake was a bit overcooked, therefore way too soggy…not chewy enough!

and we nom nom nom more….and i forgot to take the rest of the pictures…..lol

I’m so envious of people that have access to wonderful korean restaurant! 🙁 Montreal really needs better ones!

Zuuchini