Cartel is all about street food. The twist is that they have incorporated several continent’s street food into one place: Asia, North America and South America (ok…Mexico isn’t exactly in south america, let’s not get too geographic now…)

I was excited for this concept! 3 in 1 how great is that! but…it was merely just false excitement…

Every Tuesday, Tacos are only 2$! You may need to eat quite a few before getting full though! I really don’t know what’s so special with these Tacos…

This is my 2nd time at Maitre Chocolatier. The experience did not change at all.

I love high tea. Just enjoying tea and having some nonchalant conversation.

May I add they have a band, playing purely classical music at the corner. Just perfect. All your worries are put away once you step your foot into Maitre Chocolatier.

I want to also add that the servers/host(ess)s both have super sexy French accent. I loooove.

This place offers all kinds of tea that you can choose once you sit. Some are rather ordinary. Some are more interesting.

How to eat: we start from the bottom to the top. 

To celebrate my sister’s birthday this year, we went to Fibo.

The first course is 

 Mille saveurs en soupe

This soup smelled so good. However, the taste is lacking.. I wish it had a bit more salt in it. But i think the concept of the soup is that we could taste all the different notes and adding salt would ruin the overall taste. I could taste pumpkin and cumin, and curry…just many things fused into one. Quite interesting but just not heavy enough.

 Champignons magiques deglaces au soyable MC2

Without the mousse topping

Contrary to the first course, this dish was much saltier. The mushroom was so salty – but this was compensated by the rice crispy which is tasteless and filled with air. Just to make the meal a bit more crunchy.I like the combination. Very unique.

 Clin d’oeil a la brasserie, ailes repenses

Ok. their dishes have too fancy names. This is basically chicken wing with some fancy saucy and served with duck confit. The chicken wings were perfectly fried. So crispy but can’t taste the oil. It was good. It was no chicken wing from cage aux sports (or any of those sport centers). And yes, 9999999x better than KFC.

Risotto aux champignons

This is mushroom risotto chosen by my sis as her main dish. As you can tell so far, Fibo loves to add a touch of mousse in every dish. (Personally, i find it rather unnecessary as it adds no taste or texture to the dish).This risotto was so goood. It almost made me regret my main dish choice. It was so rich in mushroom flavour. It could be too heavy for some people. But for my sis and I, we loved it.

Jarret d’agneau en facon sotolon

Recently, whenever I see braised lamb (or actually..any dish with lamb),  I would pick it as my choice right away. This time was no exception! And the lamb so so tender and delicious. The sauce that comes with it was so rich. It was hard to define the flavour, but it did taste like curry with some other flavour. Oh molecular cuisine – you make my tastebuds go crazy. The sauce became a bit overbearing near the end. But that point was only reached when I was finishing my plate. So nicely calculated.

and…the finale…

 Creme brule Chanel No 5. – Bubble gum cheesecake – Seduction de chocolat, impression de feux d’artifice en bouche

It’s the first time in my life that I felt like I was eating perfume. Yes. Perfume. The creme brule was inspired by Chanel No. 5 perfume – like the name of the dessert states. However, I do not remember Chanel No. 5 smelling like that. The taste was very floral with a hint of creme brule after taste. It was so … different. Too different. But definitely a positive different. I loved it and wished I could have more. 

The bubble gum cheesecake tasted nothing like cheesecake, nor bubble gum actually. It felt more like a yogurt that is very floral as well. It was weird once again – “eating” perfume. But again, I really loved it.

The chocolate dessert was the only one that I was not impressed. It just felt like another hard brownie sort of ish cake. The twist here is that they put those explosive candies (you know, those that “explodes” in your mouth when you wet them with your saliva?). I would replace this dessert for more Creme brule Chanel No. 5!!!

All in all, I really enjoyed this whole molecular experience. It was so unique. One of a kind. I really do not understand all the negative reviews I read online. The food was delicious. But…the price was very hefty. It’s a restaurant you would try – but would not come again because the pricing is rather not very welcoming. You could easily go somewhere with the same quality of food for less but definitely could not replace the uniqueness of the experience.

The whole experience took us 4 hours. I would have wished that my glass of water was filled more often. But there was only one server, which was the host as well. He was very friendly but just had too much to do. I’m just very picky with my water…I like it always filled (which is usually how I rate the service…lol).

I hope this review would give enough confidence to those that were intrigued with this cuisine but avoid the restaurant due to the negative online reviews.

Zuuchini

My very first smoke meat sandwich was in Florida at Earl of Sandwich (which makes incredible sandwich by the way…or maybe because all other things at Kissimme were barely edible). I did not like. I thought there were way too much meat. I much preferred their 4 cheese sandwich.

Therefore, I thought that I am not really a fan of smoke meat sandwich…

There came another day where my mom bought leftover smoke meat from Schwartz’s. I was curious what was the hype (as all Montrealers know that Schwartz’s often has a line-up). So I took a bite. Unimpressed and confused.

Again, I was really intrigued to the whole hype. I thought maybe I need to go there in person to understand this whole experience.

I did it.

I am no more a Schwartz’s virgin.

and…I looooove it!

It was a Wednesday evening, where there is a line-up of 5 minutes. Service was fairly quick as they want to clear out the seats for the next clients. You eat and you go! It’s no time to be chatty!

Ramen was often my go-to meal during my visit in Japan. So goood – which is why I’m in search of a restaurant that can reproduce the same effect.

Hakata Ramen, situated on Stanley, looked promising – heard the chef is from Japan.

This is no ordinary bubble tea. It is not called bubble tea. The bubbles aren’t the usual tapioca. This drink contains explosive bubbles. Nono. It causes no damage. The “explosive” bubbles simply squirts a sweet liquid once you bite into them. Quite a sensation. 😉 The drinks come in different flavors. I chose Taro.

I know. It looks yummy. And it was yummy. The ramen itself was not fantastic. But the tender pork was. Every piece was sooooooooo tender. I was glad I chose this one. The broth could be better. It’s ok – the pork really solved everything.

I would have wanted to try the waffle ice cream. But I was already full and I was at the start of my so called diet (which is…to try to limit my food overindulgence). Next time!!

Want a quick meal non-fancy meal? Do try Hakata Ramen!

Zuuchini