Kazu

I went out with W today and had such a lovely time. It's nice to have a girl friend to go out with. I have to admit, I hadn't seen her in quite a while and felt like we had lost touch. I was really glad I got to catch up with her today and hope I can see her more often next year.

We had a nice walk on Mont Royal and took plenty of pictures of the newly fallen snow. Winter might just be my favourite season because of the fluffy white snow and mainly because I just don't like hot weather haha!

We decided to have dinner at Kazu which was a restaurant we both really wanted to try and heard plenty about. Located on Sainte-Catherine Street West, it's the perfect spot for business. It's a tiny restaurant with only a few tables and a small bar. Along the wood panelled walls, were all sorts of specials they had. All the waitresses were Japanese, as well as the cook. It's really hard to find a Japanese restaurant that is actually owned by Japanese people or have a Japanese chef here in Montreal, so I felt pretty good and didn't worry about it's authenticity when I heard random Japanese words being spoken every so often.

Essentially, Kazu is an izakaya. I have never been to an izakaya before, and I've never been to one in Japan. But I've always seen it in dramas and episodes where Anthony Bourdain would go to Japan (*squeals* I'm sort of a Bourdain fan girl. He would be freaked out by me)! An izakaya is sort of like a casual bar that serves drinks and a variety of foods like soup, ramen, rice, and plenty of snack foods like dumplings and what not. I don't think they serve sushi, but they did have sashimi.

We arrived at Kazu at around 7:30pm and there was a line of people waiting to get in. We didn't wait that long though, and got a table next to the window. The waitresses were really cute and fast paced as the place was just so busy! The whole place was bustling with people, the cieling was lined with giant paper laterns, and everyone seemed to be enjoying their food. I felt like I was transported to Japan the moment I walked through their doors.

We decided to have the Okonomiyaki because I literally have always wanted to try it. I have never tried the real thing, but it tasted exactly as how I imagined it. I guess the only way for me to find out if it was authentic  or not is for me to go to Japan and try it!

It was served with a huge pile of salad on top with pickled ginger and bonito flakes. All the pictures I've seen of okonomiyaki have always been the okonomiyaki without salad, but I was happy I got my serving of greens. It was delicious and I especially liked the pieces of shrimp and cabbage. I loved the sauce they put on it...whatever sauce it is... I believe it's okonomiyaki sauce or some sort of vinagry barbecue sauce.

We then had the 48 hour pork rice bowl. It was good, but W and I came to the conclusion that it tasted and looked like something our moms would cook at home. It looked like thinly sliced pork, stir fried with onions and some soy sauce. I'm not sure if their pork was really cooked for 48 hours, but it was very tender, so I'll give them that. Overall, it was ok and wasn't that special. But I have to take into account that an izakaya serves food that's pretty much home style food/street food?

Kazu was pretty good, the prices are reasonable and portions were big. I would really like to go back and try their tuna salmon bowl, pork neck, and their homemade tofu (only on Sundays). Tonight, we preferred the okonomiyaki and regretted that we didn't order the the pork neck that the waitress recommended.

As for service, it's ridiculously fast! The waitresses also don't come up to you constantly to ask you how everything is. I'm not one for people coming up to me every few minutes while I'm eating to ask how I'm doing. That's just me. I'm Asian through and through, and I like fast service, water when I need it, and no small talk! Kazu just serves straight up good humble food. No pretrentiousness.

It was nice to catch up with W today. We did some last minute Christmas shopping afterwards :)

P.S: I'm off to Hawaii this Saturday! New food to try! I'm so excited!

Wendy's Hot & Juicy

I love burgers. If I was genetically predisposed to having an incredibly fast metabolism, I would eat burgers every day all the time, as much a I want.

Burgers are the perfect combination of carbohydrates, protein, dairy, greens, and all the other fatty juicy, saltiness that comes along with burgers.

I'm not sure if I have a favourite burger, but when it comes to fast food, A&W's is probably my number one burger place. Unfortunately, there aren't many A&W's around. La Belle Province is another great place for burgers in Quebec. Last winter, I happened to try Le Gourmet Burger on Bishop Street with D and had the best veggie burger of my life. This summer, D and I tried Cheeburger Cheeburger and loved it so much that we kept going back! Unfortunately, Cheeburger Cheeburger is now closed (in Montreal at least).

Anyways, back in the beginning of November, I recieved coupons in the mail from Wendy's and they offered their Hot & Juicy for free if you bought fries and a drink. To be quite honest, I felt ripped off because I paid $4.23 for fries and a drink! I basically got the burger for $4.23 and got the drink and fries for free. Stupid taxes...

Anyways, I ate it and here's the review.

What I like about Wendy's is their packaging of their burger. It's wrapped up nicely and held in a box so your burger doesn't lose it's shape and drip all over the place. It's cute! Though, I don't like that they place it in a sideways upright position since all the sauce just drips to one side.

The fries were a bit cold, but it was probably due to my walk from Wendy's to my appartment. It was cold that day but I don't think it should make the fries soggy.

Let's talk bun. Part of the bun got soggy due to it's position in the packaging, but overall tasty. The bun itself was a bit too sweet for my taste though.

The burger contained ketchup, mayonnaise, but no mustard. I love my burgers with mustard, but I was pleasantly suprised at just how good a burger could taste with only ketchup and mayonnaise! Thumbs up for ketchup and mayo Wendy's!

The burger also contained onion, 1 tomato, 1 leaf of lettuce, 3 pickles, and 2 slices of cheese. Everything was good except for the wet, soggy lettuce. I don't like soggy lettuce! I also would've liked more lettuce.

Let's move on to the burger patty. Let's just say, when you name your burger the Hot & Juicy and your burger patty is burnt, dry, and has no flavour, something's wrong.

Overall, the burger was alright. The burger held up nicely and I didn't lose toppings. Perhaps the loads of mayo and ketchup they put in their burgers tried to make up for the extremely dry patty. I kept tasting something fishy in the burger; almost like an oily fish flavour which was not pleasant. I've noticed this taste with many Wendy's burger's I've tried in the past. After tasting each piece of the burger, to my suprise, the fishy flavour came from the pickles! I was horrified. Something has got to be done about them!

Here's a summary:

Bun - 2/5
Toppings - 3/5
Patty - 0/5
Overall - 3/5

The taste of the burger as a whole was OK. Wendy's needs to do something about their fishy tasting pickles and make their Hot & Juicy, HOT & JUICY!

Stay tuned for more burger reviews!

Au Pied de Cochon

For D's birthday, I decided to make a reservation at Au Pied de Cochon. Mind you, his birthday is long gone (I never had time to update this blog. I'm sorry!) I thought Pied de Cochon would be a nice birthday dinner.

Living in Montreal for most of my life, I never had the chance to try this apparently world renowned restaurant. I have seen Chef Martin Picard on The Food Network many times, and loved his show The Wild Chef. Once I saw Anthony Bourdain feature an episode of Montreal and Martin Picard's foie gras poutine, I knew I had to go! I've been wanting to go to Au Pied de Cochon for years now...I know, crazy right?

Well, on November 16th 2012, I got the chance!

Our reservation was at 5:30 (the only spot they had left). We showed up a bit early, so we walked along Ave. Duluth for a bit. There are lot's of interesting little stores, and right next door to PDC is a lovely chocolate shop!

We waited for a bit outside of PDC, and I got a glimpse of Chef Martin Picard and I was starstruck! Near the entrance, there is a large tank full of swimming eel and a giganctic pumpkin! Without notice, the host took our names and seated us near the window. The moment we sat down, people immediately started piling in! It was crazy! People were so desperate to get in and get a taste of the food.

I loved the ambiance of the restaurant. It was warm and reminded me of a cabin with all the wooden tables, chairs, and paneling. Perfect for cold autumn nights! I didn't feel any snootiness from the waiters or customers. Our waitress was really lovely and took her time to explain what specials they had for the day and any questions we had on their menu. That night, they offered sea urchin, which was quite tempting, but I just wanted to try things from their menu. Overall, it was a very nice and comfortable ambiance.

A word of caution: portions are huge. Don't eat too much before going to PDC. Don't be afraid to ask them to pack left overs.

We started off with some sourdough bread and the most amazing butter I've ever had. There's something different about that butter at PDC...I'm tellin' ya!

I had seen so many food bloggers order the foie gras cromesquis, that I just had to order a plate. We were told that we should wait about 30 seconds to pop them in our mouths. The little deep fried molten cubes of foie gras literally melted the moment it was placed in our mouths. It wasn't as good as I had expected, but wasn't terrible either.

D ordered a delicious bowl of French onion soup. It was fucking amazing (excuse the profanity)! Really though! Best French onion soup I've ever had. Very cheesy, piping hot, and even had chunks of pork in it, which is different from other French onion soups. The broth was just..fantastic.

They also offered a pea soup with foie gras that night. We didn't try it, but the couple next to us ordered it, and it looked very very yummy!

I ordered a foie gras tart, and let's just say it was ORGASMIC. No words, just orgasmic. This was a flaky buttery tart served with some sort of cheesy sauce, a bit of mashed potatoes, lobes of cured foie gras, and balsamic reduction.

For the mains, D ordered a special of the day which was a variation of the Happy Pork Chop, but bigger. A lot bigger! The pork chop was a a little too tough in some parts and perhaps too big. It wasn't as good as we'd expected. BUT, I emphasize the "but" because D let me take it home, and this pork chop tasted really good the next day. Like, really good!

I ordered the PDC melting pot. It consists of their cheesy mashed potatoes, topped with pork belly, boudin (blood sausage), pork sausage, and onions. It was oh so lovely! The mashed potatoes are to die for. I had never tried blood sausage and thought I wouldn't like it, but it was my favourite out of everything from the PDC melting pot. It was fluffly, creamy, and filled with wonderful herbs and spices. I highly recommend this dish, especially for cold nights!

We could barely finish our mains, but I really wanted to have dessert. After so much heavy food, we decided to share a poached pear with vanilla ice cream. It wasn't mind blowing, but it was a nice way to clean our palates. I liked the vanilla ice cream more than the pear haha.

Overall, it was the appetizers and the PDC melting pot that stole our...stomachs. I will definatley go back to try other things on their menu, like their foie gras poutine. I went home with a very big doggy bag and thoroughly enjoyed the left overs next morning hehe.

What I love about this restaurant is that they use whatever is in season and constantly change their specials. Like I mentioned earlier, they offered sea urchin that night. They also offered squash soup and other lovely and delicous things!

I highly recommend this restaurant. If you're a Montrealer like me or just here for a visit, make sure to get a reservation at Au Pied de Cochon. Please make a reservation, because people line up for this place! You probably won't get a seat if you decide to walk in without a reservation.

At the end of our meal, D and I waddled our way back to the car. It was definately a happy birthday.