Maison Kam Fung

Our Rating:

2 Fat Buddhas: Authentic Chinese cuisine in a traditionally hectic restaurant

A big meal for a good price

The Review:

It seems that the only place we've really been to for Chinese food in Montreal is this one, La Maison Kam Fung, hidden away upstairs in the heart of Chinatown. Why is that? Well, mainly because that's where our Chinese relatives recommended as the best such restaurant in town.

It's a very busy place, on the upper floor in La Place de la Quartier, just up from the corner of La Gauchetiere and St Urbain. If you arrive at peak times, which seems to be just about any time anyone would normally want to eat, you may end up waiting some time on the benches in the corridor, unless you have a reservation—in which case you may not have to wait quite as long. It's a big dining room, crammed with tables for large family gatherings, and a few smaller ones in between. The waiting staff zip along the walkways, so watch where you walk. This is authentic Chinese restaurant. You can tell by the population of Chinese diners who frequent the place. Despite the size, it is not overly noisy, and the atmosphere is one in which you can sit back and people-watch.

The service is quick and relatively friendly (for a hectic chinese restaurant). We've been on a number of occassions for dim sum. The selection and freshness of the dishes is great. All the traditional dishes, as well as a few different ones. All well-prepared and hot when they arrive at the table via trolley.

Dinner here is also very good, and we highly recommend the Peking Duck and Lobster set menu. The duck is brought out on display after you order, then whisked away to be carved in the kitchen. The lobster is generously sized and nicely presented, and this is all accompanied by a good selection of fish, vegetable, and meat dishes. It's well priced, and it is rare that, even with our big appetites, we can actually finish off the entire selection.

This is our regular haunt for Chinese cuisine, and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future.


1111 St-Urbain, Chinatown, Montreal

Coco Rico

Our Rating:

2 Fat Buddhas: Tasty rotisserie chicken and ribs on the run

A filling plate of meat and potatoes for under $10

The Review:

With a gruelling night of music at Osheaga ahead, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat on the way at the recommended Coco Rico on St Laurent. It's a bright, little place on the corner with Napolean, the front windows filled with the large rotisserie ovens stacked with chickens. There's a simple service counter along one side, and a bar with stools running along the mirrored wall opposite.

We were greeted by a cheery face behind the glass counter front, which made it terribly difficult for either of us to hear what the other was saying. For a good sampling of the fare we ordered the chicken and ribs combo, the roast pork will have to wait for another night. A good pile of roast potatoes, a quarter of a chicken, and couple of meaty pork ribs definitely filled the plate out. We settled in on a couple of stools, watching the passing crowd come for their dose of chicken at the counter.

Where to begin? Potato first... Not too bad, well cooked, chilli dusting. Nice. Then into the chicken. The tender, succulent meat was no match for my plastic cutlery, although the foam plate did suffer at my unwieldy hacking. The chicken almost fell apart with my prying, leaving me with a collection of juicy meat. Quite flavoursome. Unlike many other rotisserie chickens, this did not have that greasy mouthfeel, or leave a pool of oil on the plate. This I attribute to the amount of fat that comes showering off the chickens in the rotisserie—if you sit in the right spot as the sun is setting, it shines through the glistening diamonds of fat like a sparkling waterfall in the rotisserie. Quite impressive.

Onto one of the meaty rib duo next. Again, tender enough to yield to my plastic cutlery, although much easier to tackle hands-on. Also quite juicy and delicious, with a good coating of sauce. Again, not oily or greasy, but certainly not dry.

Belly full of meat and potatoes, washed down with a can of drink, set me back just over $11 all up. A satisfying, quick, meaty meal. I may not recommend the venue or the menu for a romantic date or business dinner, but if you're after a quick and tasty meal (or some roast chickens, ribs, or potatoes to take home), I'd give this place a whirl. I think we'll be heading back when we're in the area before (or after) a night out.


3907 Blvd St Laurent, Plateau

Pizzeria Napoletana

Our Rating:

1½ Fat Buddhas: Decent pizza in a noisy environment. Not worth the wait

Reasonably priced, but not cheap.

The Review:
Apparently this place is an institution among pizza fanciers in Montreal. Located in the heart of Little Italy, it is reputed to put out thin-crusted, wood-oven pizzas and authentic pastas to a thronging crowd. Well, we thought, we best try that sort of place out, then!

We arrived early on a Saturday night, around 5:30, actually. We were off to the semi-finals of the Roger's Cup tennis, and thought a good dose of pizza would see us through. It surprised us that there was already a line-up outside the place. Half an hour wait. Well, we thought, it MUST be good then, so we hung around, and used the time to peruse the limited selection of wines at the depanneur across the road to take advantage of the BYO option (or "apportez votre vin", so that would be AVV, I guess).

Finally inside, it was a noisy and hectic place with long communal tables and a somewhat bizarre inclusion of a fake tree in the middle of the dining room. The service was brisk and not altogether friendly, but the cork was out of the wine within seconds, and orders taken as quickly as a menu with 34 options of pizza and 34 options of pasta, plus other stuff, would allow. And then it was a waiting game. We knocked off the bottle of wine with only some decidedly average bread rolls to accompany, well before our meals arrived. And that has less to do with the speed at which we drink than with the waiting time.

Our dishes arrived one-by-one: gnocchi in a tomato sauce, pizza verona (with zucchini and eggplants), and a pizza napoletana (mushrooms, achovies, tomato). The gnocchi were ok, but the sauce was not too exciting. A bit thin, but reminiscent of a traditional Italian sugo. The pizza was a good size, with a crisp, thinnish base. The toppings were nothing exciting. Fairly generic tomato sauce, scattering of toppings, and light on the cheese. Really should have tried their margherita pizza, which we believe to be the true test of a pizza place. But we didn't. Oh well.

Overall the pizzas are decent. Better than other places we've tried in Montreal (granted none of them have really been pizza restaurants), but not amazingly so. Pizzas came in at around $15 each, A little less for the gnocchi. So not too bad on the wallet.

Most likely, however, we won't bother lining up for it again though. Especially in the rain.


http://www.napoletana.com/
189 Dante Street, Little Italy

Fuschia Epicerie Fleur

The Rating:

2 Fat Buddhas: Delicious, interesting, and healthy!
A cheap, all-inclusive meal that's good value for money

Our Review:

A coworker lead us for lunch to this cute little café that specialises in vegetarian meals, with a good dose of flowers in and around the food. Sounded interesting. On the quiet corner of Duluth and Coloniale, this is a small shop with just 3 tables, where we were welcomed by a lovely white dog spreadeagled on her back in the middle of the shop. The tables altogether seat probably 16 people max, and while we were there we saw a number being sadly turned away. Small groups can share, but our work group lorded over an entire table.

We welcomed the set menu of the day—two dishes and a drink—at a healthy $10. It changes daily, hence being "of the day", but is always vegetarian, often vegan, and also normally gluten-free for any people with coeliac out there. A friendly waitress saw us comfortably seated, and plied us with water, which had a faint aroma and taste of what we determined to be honeysuckle. Did I mention that everything has flowers in it? The salt was laced with what I thought to be rosemary and jasmine, and our menu of the day was an asian noodle salad (pansies), tropical fruit salad (orange blossom), and jasmine iced tea.

The salad was fresh and delicious. Lots of fresh herbs, red cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots, rice noodles, with a peanutty, asian-inspired dressing. And pansies. A decent serving that was remarkably satisfying for a salad. The drink was refreshing, obviously made fresh, and not overpoweringly jasminey. Dessert fruit salad was simple, garnished with black sesame seeds, and fresh.

I followed up with a selection of cookies; this place doubles as a mini-bakery, putting out fresh batches of cookies and cakes, which obviously change every day, since the waitress has to wait to see what emerges from the kitchen before she can write the options on the board. They had 3 types out when we visited, conveniently enough for the $2 per 3 cookie price, so a sample of each was in order. Macaroon with jasmine and chocolate: crunchy and chewy macaroon, as it should be, with a small molten chocolate centre, but not much in the way of jasmine; Rose cookies: a soft and buttery cookie sprinkled with crystal sugar and rose petal pieces, again, the flower flavour doesn't come through; Chocolate and violet: delicious, rich chocolate flavour, but not so much violet. So good cookies, but not strong on the flower flavours (but maybe that's a good thing).

This is a cute and friendly shop, where one can relax and spend some time. The set menu lunch, at $10 including taxes, is delicious, fresh, and great value. A nice spot for lunch or a quick snack in the afternoon. I think we'll go back to this one again.

http://www.epiceriefleur.com/
4050 Coloniale, Montreal (cnr Duluth)
Closed Sunday and Monday