What are your favourite restaurants in your city? - Page 41

MolsonExport · #**801** Posted **Jan 30, 2023, 11:10 PM**

I'd rate Montreal higher than Toronto or Vancouver.
Just my personal opinion.

kwoldtimer · #**802** Posted **Jan 31, 2023, 12:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I'd rate Montreal higher than Toronto or Vancouver.
Just my personal opinion.

Most would put Toronto ahead of Montreal nowadays.

urbandreamer · #**803** Posted **Jan 31, 2023, 3:06 AM**

If you can't eat tomatoes, onions, red meat or gluten, it's frustrating trying to eat "ethnic" food - eg even trying to shop at T&T, it's futile asking for help on even a simple label to see if it's gluten-free. I recall a shawarma shop owner saying "everything is gluten-free here but we do use wheat to thicken our sauces and soups." So as far as I'm concerned, Port Alberni is world class!

O-tacular · #**804** Posted **Jan 31, 2023, 3:16 AM**

Ches’ Fish and Chips!

JHikka · #**805** Posted **Feb 5, 2023, 7:53 PM**

Taylor Haase
@TaylorHaasePGH
https://twitter.com/taylorhaasepgh/s...07572377001985

Nick Suzuki on winning a year of Chipotle as a result of winning the golf skill event: “We don’t have a Chipotle in Montreal.”

Acajack · #**806** Posted **Feb 5, 2023, 8:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Most would put Toronto ahead of Montreal nowadays.

Depends for what. For sheer variety of international cuisines Toronto definitely wins.

giallo · #**807** Posted **Feb 5, 2023, 8:53 PM**

YL's Curry Bowl is a hidden gem in Metro Vancouver. Located in the T&T food court in Surrey, it's easy to miss.

We found this place by accident, and ended walking away full with the best Singaporean Laksa I've had outside of Singapore. The question is, is it worth the trip to go back to Surrey for? Yeah, I think so.

Curry Chicken Rice. The curry was buttery, and the chicken was super juicy. You can get chicken rice (white rice cooked in chicken fat) to go with it, but we forgot to add it.

The laksa. They ask you if you want to add their homemade shrimp paste to the broth which seems like a no-brainer to me. Without it, I'd be half as good.

Loco101 · #**808** Posted **Feb 6, 2023, 4:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I'd rate Montreal higher than Toronto or Vancouver.
Just my personal opinion.

I agree with you MolsonEx. Having spent time eating out in all three cities I would say that Montreal is much higher than the other two. But the Toronto and Vancouver areas do have wonderful restaurants.

Acajack · #**809** Posted **Feb 6, 2023, 2:22 PM**

Montreal is your go-to city in Canada if you want unique innovative locally-sourced cuisine. By a longshot I'd argue.

But Toronto and even Vancouver offer a wider range of the world's culinary diversity.

I mean, Vancouver even has what is arguably the world's best Québécois restaurant. But the cuisine itself didn't originate in Vancouver, and even the chef-owner is "imported" from Quebec!

theman23 · #**810** Posted **Mar 24, 2023, 8:16 PM**

Portugal is cheap (and one of my favourite places to travel to in the world), but the food is not very good. Spain is definitely the sweet spot.

MolsonExport · #**811** Posted **Mar 24, 2023, 10:10 PM**

Spain is awesome and so is Portugal, but the latter had much better food. The food in Spain was....pretty boring.

SignalHillHiker · #**812** Posted **Mar 24, 2023, 10:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Spain is awesome and so is Portugal, but the latter had much better food. The food in Spain was....pretty boring.

I have to agree. It was very good for what it is - simple, tasty - but boring. They abhor spice, which is a bit surprisingly for North Americans who tend to associate "Spanish" food with Spanish America, and they're quite spicy by white standards.

Spanish food is like your mother is really good at making chicken nuggets and ham sandwiches, with a side of fried non-spicy peppers and lots of sardines. Now, I've been a pescatarian I suppose for a few years, so this most recent trip to Spain I couldn't get any of the legs of salted meat hanging outside every restaurant, butcher, and... pharmacy lol I imagine that's as poo-pooed by the WASPS as our salt fish, but I also trust it's as delicious as ours and superior in practice haha.

kwoldtimer · #**813** Posted **Mar 25, 2023, 12:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I have to agree. It was very good for what it is - simple, tasty - but boring. They abhor spice, which is a bit surprisingly for North Americans who tend to associate "Spanish" food with Spanish America, and they're quite spicy by white standards.

Spanish food is like your mother is really good at making chicken nuggets and ham sandwiches, with a side of fried non-spicy peppers and lots of sardines. Now, I've been a pescatarian I suppose for a few years, so this most recent trip to Spain I couldn't get any of the legs of salted meat hanging outside every restaurant, butcher, and... pharmacy lol I imagine that's as poo-pooed by the WASPS as our salt fish, but I also trust it's as delicious as ours and superior in practice haha.

By “legs of salted meat”, I assume you mean Serrano ham.

SignalHillHiker · #**814** Posted **Mar 25, 2023, 12:49 PM**

I’m unsure what it’s called here, but everything was labelled some variant of Iberico there.

Arrdeeharharharbour · #**815** Posted **Mar 25, 2023, 1:19 PM**

A Lisbon local told us that sardines were out of season so if we were to have any they wouldn't be as good as fresh caught. I can't imagine them being better than this plate full I had in Sintra one afternoon. Funny that they don't cut the heads off or clean the guts out. Since returning to Halifax I've been having a tin of sardines at least once a week.

20230209_100559 by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20230208_103809 by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

niwell · #**816** Posted **Mar 25, 2023, 4:28 PM**

I loveeeeee canned Spanish seafood - ditto Portugues. 10 years or so ago it was kinda hard to get the better brands and you had to order it, but lots of places here carry it now. Plus there are more local (well, Canadian) options available too that don't break the bank quite so much. Give me some plain salty chips and a tin of Octopus in Galacian sauce and I'll be happy.

Wigs · #**817** Posted **Mar 25, 2023, 4:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Spain is awesome and so is Portugal, but the latter had much better food. The food in Spain was....pretty boring.

both have the best wine. I wanted to murder the Toronto Star for this article. 3 of the 5 are ones I thought are some of the best bang for the buck at the LCBO, that I've tried. The Julia Florista ones, and I like JP the best out of this batch.

These excellent wines are all less than $10 at the LCBO
Imported wine prices have gone up, but these five picks prove you can still find a delicious bargain.
By Carolyn Evans Hammond/Contributing Columnist
Thu., March 9, 2023

https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wi...-the-lcbo.html

Acajack · #**818** Posted **Mar 26, 2023, 2:00 AM**

Been to these places recently and while I love Portugal for me it's a notch or two below Spain-France-Italy.

ScreamingViking · #**819** Posted **Mar 26, 2023, 5:04 AM**

Went to Spain at the beginning of 2020. Loved it all (4 cities: Madrid, Seville, Granada, and Barcelona) but the heads on the seafood was a non-starter for my travel partner... I didn't mind so much. The breakfasts at the hotels always included the cured hams, which I liked. Leaner than prosciutto, but tasty.

We visited Lisbon and area last fall. Had a terrific time! We ate well and I don't recall how much difference there was from Spain, but the little hole-in-the-wall places were fantastic. My partner preferred the "nicer" restaurants, but I love exploring the ones you'd never notice unless you walk past. One thing I do recall: the olives in Portugal were the best I've ever had, no matter where we were in the region.

Both countries will be re-visited in the future!

Kilgore Trout · #**820** Posted **Mar 26, 2023, 6:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau

What's the deal with "smashed burgers"? I've tried them due to the gourmet burger joint craze currently going on, and I don't get it. I keep thinking it's me, or that they must be good because they're all over the place, but I always regret it afterwards.

They're sickeningly greasy. Eventually the wrapper disintegrates and your hands are completely lubricated. But the worst thing is that the flavour is diminished by how thin the patties are.

I've come to the conclusion that a nice thick pattie, just slightly underdone in the middle, is optimal. Next time I get a burger I'm giving the smashed option a miss.

There are a lot of bad smashburgers out there. A good one shouldn't be greasy, and the beef patties should be nice and crispy. The well-browned texture is the whole point.

I'm eating one right now from Chez Tousignant here in Montreal and it's pretty much exactly what you want from a smashburger – good potato bun (homemade in this case) that is soft but not too moist; nice browned beef flavour; nice melty American cheese (also homemade in this case); everything melds together into oozy goodness (without being greasy).

Generally speaking, Canada is a pretty terrible place for burgers. The average restaurant burger in the US is pretty good whereas the average burger here is an overpriced mess with bland, overcooked beef and terrible bread.