A culinary journey to Montreal

Poutine

No trip to a new city is complete without visiting its local restaurants. Here are my notes from the culinary journey to the city of Montreal in Canada. 

Tire sur la neige

Though only open during Spring, Cabane-a-sucre Constantin, located outside the city of Montreal should be on your itinerary if you happen to be in the cit y in search of a cool May. Dishes included cretons (breads) with a pork based marinade, omelettes with fried bacon and ham, pork sausages (Jambon), beans, a pea soup, sweet crepes, pudding (pouding chomeur), sugar pie (tart au sucre), and the meal capped with tire sur la neige (hot maple syrup on a cold snow that had to be rolled on to a stick to be eaten). Every dish was served with maple syrup and a variety of other sauces. It is not someplace I would likely visit again, but I will chalk it up as a cultural experience.

Poutine is another Canadian specialty that comprises of French fries served with cheese. Not something I particularly enjoyed.

Bellagio in downtown Montreal. Italian. I tried their shrimp pasta, and complementary bruchetta. It was very flavorful. A little pricy but completely worth it.

Pork sausages

Gandhi, in Old town, Montreal. Indian. Bland and over-priced. The most lousy Indian food I have ever eaten.

Seafood: Butterfly shrimp and salmon with baked potatoes, and veggies at Holiday Inn's Ace Deli and Bar Grill Restaurant. The seafood was fresh and cooked well with spices. Edible but quite mediocre in taste when compared to the price.

Finally, if you are in Canada and a wine connosieur, don't miss the taste of Peller iced wine. It is a Canadian specialty, made from grapes picked in the winters. I had to bring a bottle back to the States to tide me over until my next trip north.