Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Oh Canada!

So recently, well like two weeks ago, I went back home to Montreal to take care of some business and visit old friends. Well, there's nothing as amazing as the food in Montreal (except the shopping, and night life, and the hockey!). So my first day there I travelled down to Boul. St. Laurent for breakfast @ Cafe Sante Veritas which is a health food cafe that caters to both meat eaters and vegetarians. Everything is cooked to order (except the muffins and cookies, but they're baked fresh). ATTENTION NON-HEALTHY PEOPLE: they don't serve soda. By the way, why are you drinking soda anyway? Its so bad for you. All that sugar, artificial sweeteners, food colouring. I mean, is water that frightening to you? But if you're not into water, they have a wide range of fresh fruit juices, Odwalla smoothies, fresh smoothies and coffee and tea. So anyway, breakfast, right. I had the Belgian Porridge which was delicious! Porridge with oats, mixed nuts, raisins, apricots, and apples topped with soy milk, its just a bowl of happiness.
But if you're not in the mood for oatmeal, they have the fluffiest egg white omelettes you'll ever see (I think they whip up the egg whites in a mixer first) with all sorts of mixings like sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach...

Cafe Sante Veritas
480 Boul. St-Laurent
Montreal, PQ
514.510.7775

So later that evening I needed to find somewhere to have dinner. Well, unfortunately they rain decided to show up during my stay so that night I decided to have dinner @ the Petit Opus in the Omni Hotel (where I just happened to have been staying). Well, like most hotel restaurants, vegetarian options are usually hard to find, but this one, most likely because it is in Montreal, and a really nice vegetarian stir-fry dish with tofu. What I really liked about this dish was that the sauce wasn't thick and didn't over power the meal. A lot of times I have found that restaurant chinese food is drenched in sauce and that the sauce is usually too sweet and over powering. Sprinkled with some black sesame seeds, the Omni's Petit Opus satisfied my appetite and my vegetarian diet.
Omni Mount-Royal Hotel
1050 Sherbrooke St West
Montreal, PQ
514.284.1110

Well my last night in Montreal I had to go to my favourite Italien restaurant growing up: Wienstein & Gavino's. I knew right away what I was going to have: Risotto Con Pera (risotto w/ pear). OMG! It was the best risotto I have had in the longest time (and had me set on a risotto cooking escapade when I returned home). So creamy topped with warm slices of pear. every bite was just bliss. Unfortunately, the dish was a a la carte item so it may not always be there.
After my fabulous risotto dinner I had to go for some gelato. I mean, how can you leave Montreal without having dessert? So the waiter brings my friend and I this HUGE cup that contained two scoops and vanilla gelato and two scoops of chocolate gelato. I'm sure she have one scoop and I completed the other three scoops. It was so good though, I couldn't let it go to waste.
Wienstein & Gavino's
1434 rue Crescent
Montreal, PQ
514.288.2231