I just got back from a little trip to Montreal, where my sister, a friend, and I spent three days. We decided to stay in Old Montreal, as we enjoy history and we knew from our research that it's an extremely historical and beautiful area.Naturally, we were also very excited about the food there, and we expected to eat Quebecois or even French food. What struck us, however, is that Montreal is so much more than that. It's highly multicultural, and the food in Old Montreal definitely reflects that. Allow me to provide you with some reviews of the restaurants we ate at.
Stash Cafe: Our first stop was the Stash Cafe. After an early morning, a small breakfast of delicious cinnamon rolls made by my friend, and a walk from Central Station to Old Montreal, the Stash Cafe was a welcome lunch. Located on the corner of Rue Saint Francois Xavier and Rue St. Paul, this little Polish place is in the heart of Old Montreal, and it reflects Montreal's multicultural identity.
Although the interior of the restaurant is somewhat dark, the atmosphere is cozy and warm, and the place was extremely busy. To me, the crowd of people was a sure sign that the food at Stash Cafe is good.
We made our choice to eat here partly because our friend wanted to try something she had never tasted before, and also because we knew a hot, Polish meal would be welcome on a very cold winter day. My friend chose to eat potato and cheese perogies, which she had eaten before this time, but the addition of sauer kraut on the plate gave her something new to try; unfortunately, she's not a big fan of cabbage, so she didn't enjoy the sauer kraut too much either. I ended up having perogies as well, but while half of mine were filled with the common potato and cheese, the other half were filled with mushroom and cabbage, a combination that I hadn't previously had the privilege to try. I thought the food was really tasty, and that the only flaw of the restaurant was that their portions are rather small. I was still a little bit hungry after the meal, but at least I knew I wouldn't be too full for dinner that night. My sister had bigos, which is a Polish stew made of cabbage, sausage, and sauer kraut, which she thoroughly enjoyed. It was probably one of the heartier options, and she left the restaurant with a full belly.
Casa de Mateo: Dinner on the first day was eaten at a Mexican restaurant called Casa de Mateo, which is only steps away from Stash Cafe. I have to be honest, it was probably the best meal of the trip, beating out the Stash Cafe only because the portion sizes meant I left the restaurant with a full stomach (maybe a little too full).
Upon arriving at the restaurant, we noticed it was quite empty, but we had heard good reviews of the restaurant so we still chose to eat there. We experienced excellent service from the waitress, and after the initial disappointment of certain items on the menu not being available to us, we nonetheless enjoyed our meal.
In addition to being brought complimentary tortilla chips and salsa, we began the meal by sharing a sampler appetizer of a variety of appetizers they had at the restaurant. The plate consisted of ceviche, guacamole, nachos, black beans, salad, and some kind of folded flour tortillas with cheese. The appetizer was very large, but we all got a chance to try something we liked. I was initially struck by how delicious the nachos were; nachos obviously can be found on many restaurant menus, and they are all quite generic. These nachos were very basic with a tomato salsa and cheese, but the salsa had a really nice garlicky flavour that actually made them some of the best nachos I've ever eaten. The ceviche and guacamole were full of traditional Mexican flavours like lime juice and cilantro, and the salad had an interesting, but really delicious dressing that made a seemingly ordinary salad of lettuce, carrot, and tomato seem exceptional.
Jennifer's main dish was chicken tamales, mine beef burritos, and our friend's was some kind of chicken. Each main dish was well cooked and came with a generous serving of rice, and the same salad we were given as an appetizer. The three us thoroughly enjoyed our food, but Jennifer and I found we couldn't finish our meals after the huge appetizer, so we had to bring some food back to the hotel.
Perhaps my main issue with this restaurant was the price, but then again, Old Montreal generally is expensive. We each easily spent $40 on our meals, but during the next couple days we spent in that price range on a few other meals in Old Montreal as well.
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