Shannon asked me what I wanted for dinner tonight and I had a hankering’ for some good old fashioned fish and chips, so I consulted my best friend Internet for some eatery advice and came up with a few selections around town. An Irish pub named Hurley’s was supposed to bring in fresh fish every Friday, batter it on the premises and serve it with some home cut fries and fresh tartar sauce until they ran out of stock. A one night only special of freshly prepared fish and chips sounded exactly what I had in mind, so we headed to Crescent street.
O’Regans Irish Pub…

After finishing my review of Kanda and mentioning Odaki, I figured it was necessary to try their buffet for the purpose of comparison. Odaki’s à volonté is notably more expensive ($13.99 for Kanda versus $18.99 for Odaki for comparative week day lunch pricing) but also offers more luxurious menu items, such as soft shell crab and, my personal favorite, mackerel. On our previous attempt to eat at Odaki we arrived quite late, half an hour before closing of the lunch service, and decided to dine elsewhere. The atmosphere then was upbeat, people were chatting, it was friendly and inviting. Odaki Sushi and Japanese Restaurant…

One of the first things I looked for when I got to this city was all you can eat sushi. While Shannon was looking for her poutine fix, my vision was focused on shoveling copious amounts of California rolls into my gullet. I had found a single “à volonté” restaurant about a 5 minute walk from our basement suite and somehow, just finding the restaurant sedated my desire to eat sushi anymore. Simply knowing that all the sushi I could handle was available sated my appetite for it.

Over a year later, and after moving literally directly across from it, Shannon and I finally decided to check out this restaurant, Kanda Sushi Bar and Restaurant…

The eating in the dark concept originated in Zurich from a blind pastor who went from part-time dinner party blindfolder to aspiring restaurateur. Fast-forward less than a decade and the idea has caught on throughout the rest of Europe, Australia and western hot spots like LA, NY and MO…ntreal. I’d spent the better portion of the year debating eating at our “eating in the dark” restaurant, O.Noir. This weekend we had a house guest that we wanted to give a memorable experience, so we decided to check it out.
O.Noir…

About a week after we first moved to Montreal, our landlords had us over for a barbecue and drinks. Since the language of food is the only one I am fluent in, it wasn’t long before I was commenting on the barbecue, explaining why you salt pasta water and, of course, asking for new restaurant recommendations. My first question was what “all you can eat” translates to in French, since I’d been spending the last week trying to find an all you can eat sushi bar. À volonté sushi is still something to this day that I have not eaten, but at least now I know what I’m looking for.

Then came the recommendations. There were a couple restaurants recommended to us, many of which we’ve now dined at, but one in particular stood out in my mind: Beauty’s. However, this was a recommendation to go and enjoy their wonderful food and atmosphere, but a warning to not believe the hype, fully accompanied by a story involving calling a radio rant line to complain about a certain “iconic institution at Mont-Royal and St. Urbain”, a rude server and a prank phone call. Despite this we were curious, though skeptical, to try it for ourselves. Exactly one year later we find ourselves, totally by coincidence, dining there for breakfast. Beauty’s…

Les 3 Brasseurs, or “The Trois Bras,” as I like to call it, is a chain of microbreweries based in France that has spread out from the fermented bosom of the motherland to 4 locations in Montreal’s most high traffic areas: Ste-Catherine, St-Denis, St-Paul and Crescent streets. Apparently they’re also opening up shop on Yonge street in Toronto some time this year. I am usually skeptical about a chain of anything, especially those that focus entirely on areas tourists frequent. It seems like a reasonable stigma, since all too often I’ve found that these places tend to be catering to convenience over quality. However, Les 3 Brasseurs is different — it’s kind of cool — and not in the feeling less hip unless you’re a hipster sort of way.

Les 3 Brasseurs…