La Bêtise

We tried the restaurant on August 25th, 2015. We heard that this restaurant's speciality is their tartare and it is true! And we were lucky enough to get their ladies night promotion. It consists of ordering a drink that costs more than 12$ and they offer you for free a salmon tartare. Their tartares are good, good portion and well presented. We were a group of 10 people and 6 of us decided to order on their tapas menu. Here are what we got :

Marinated octopus salad (10$)
I like it, but it was average. Not impress.

Salmon tartare (free with the drink on Tuesday only)
We were all surprised by the relatively big portion of salmon tartare even if it was a free appetizers with the drink. You have to dig into the bottom of the glass to reach the sweet and salty sauce and grab some avocado on your way up. The chips were crispy enough to add crunchiness to this tapas.

Filet Mignon Beef Tataki (13$)
It was fresh in mouth, well cut and the sweetness and sourness were balanced.

Beef tartare BBB (Beef, Bacon, Basil) (15$)
It was fresh but the taste was just alright.


Mac n Cheese shredded duck (14$)
Well done. Creamy cheesy rich enough and we can see the duck. I found that the richness of the mac n Cheese was too overwhelming for the duck... we could not really appreciate the meat inside.



Poutine Filet Mignon (14$)
I was not impressed at all and disappointed that the cheese was not up to what we usually find in a poutine. The filet mignon was alright. Some of my friends commented it tastes a bit like the McDonald's poutine...



Mussels' ceviche (9$)
The lime was not too strong and well balanced with the coriander. They served 6, right enough one for each.



















Fish'n Chips (? $)
It was really average. The sauce was okay, nothing special. Basic Fish'n Chips. The fries were crispy like the "allumettes" French fries. If you want to try something special, I would not recommend this one.



*** For the drink
I tried the Christmas mojito and it was one of the best I had. Strong enough! well done barmaid!
(Rhum, mint, soda, honey, sugar, lime, strawberries and lychees)



Overall, I like how the tapas were presented. The tapas portions were bigger than what we expected. It was a big plus for sharing and being able to taste various tapas. They also have a degustation menu for 4 people, but the ones we wanted to try were not on it so we individually ordered on the tapas menu. The service was excellent, the waitress was always courteous and polite. It is a small restaurant they can hold up to 40 people inside and around 16 people on their terrace.

Rate :
Food : 4/5
Service : 5/5
Price/quality : 4/5
Overall : 13/15

A plus : you can make your reservation online through their website.

http://labetise.com (menu available on their website)
Address : 6015 st-hubert, Montreal, H2S 2L8
Phone : 514-274-8288 

Opening hours :
Monday to Thursday : 5pm-10pm
Friday and Saturday : 5pm-11pm
Sunday : Closed

Copoli Restaurant

As I really wanted and needed to eat meat, one of my good friend introduced me this place. They are known for their big burgers at a low cost and «voted best burgers in Montreal» according to their menu. The picture was actually true about the size of their burgers.

What disappointed me was the slice of beef inside. It was very thin (probably to cook it well and faster) and it was not that tasty. I shouldn't expect too much from a 8,75$ burger though. Now what I liked : the homemade bun was fresh not your usually burger bread and my friend loves their fries large and a bit crunchy on the outside. On my part, they reminded me McCain frozen fries...

I would recommend you this place if you want something cheap, fast and filling. It is located right next to Vendome metro.

Rate :
Food : 3.5/5
Service : 3.5/5
Price/quality : 4/5
Overall : 11/15

Copoli Restaurant NDG
5181, Boul. De Maisonneuve West
Montreal, Qc
514-483-0000

Chocobel - Chocolaterie

I couldn't wait to try this place... I mean to try their chocolate with cheese! Yes you hear it with cheese! They have so many different and unexpected flavor for their chocolate (wintergreen tea, rose petals, fir, maple, etc) and for their truffes for 1.50$ each.

They also have hot chocolate the normal version and the thick one. My friend took the normal one and I can tell you that is really chocolaty and well balanced with the milk, just awesomeness in a glass. It comes with a speculoos cookie.

Cheese chocolate expected to highlight the visit (2$ each). We were kind of disappointed by the fact that they didn't have all the choices available (none of their goat cheese combination like with raspberry), so we tried : 

a) blue cheese and dates -- the flavor blend well better than the one with parmesan, the dates bring a good sweetness to the chocolate, but you have to taste it at the end because the blue cheese flavor is strong and stays like the real one.

b) parmesan and apple cider -- I didn't really taste the apple cider flavor. The parmesan was really present. Not my kind of cheese chocolate though.

We also tasted the chocolate :

a) Caramel with fleur de sel -- The caramel was to die for. Advice : one mouthful.

b) Cherry and Kirsch -- I expected a stronger taste of the alcohol and the cherry. Bofff.

Left : Blue cheese with dates
Right : Parmesan with apple cider

Notes :

They also sell chocolate without sugar (which is awesome for diabetes), Chai chocolate, Nougat, Marshmallow and Christmas cards...

They don't really have tables and chairs for customers to enjoy their chocolates on the spot, it is more for to go. They do have a high table with 4 high chairs, but it can't really fit a group of 6 people.

The lady working there was really sweet and helpful --> SERVICE 5/5.

Chocobel

374, rue de Castelnau Est

Montréal, Qc

H2R 1P9

514-276-9875

~V.Cat~

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year!! Wish everyone all the best for 2013!

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
They are very easy and fast to make. They are not really sweet, so if you want sweeter either you add 1 cup of chocolate chip/raisin/cranberries/almond slices or put an addition of 1/2 cup of sugar. Personal preference : 1 cup almond slices to give more crunch.


Ingredients :
BOWL 1
1 egg
3/4 cup margarine softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp water

BOWL 2
3/4 cup white/whole wheat flour (1/2 cup whole wheat flour + 1/4 cup of ground flax seed)
3 cups oatmeal
3/4 tsp sodium bicarbonate
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chip/raisin/almond slices (optional)

Directions :
1- Preheat oven at 350°F.
2- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
3- Whisk BOWL 1 until foamy and light.
4- Add BOWL 2 to BOWL 1. Mix well until all dry ingredients become wet.
5- Spoon out the mixture on the baking sheets.
6- Oven for 12 minutes. Cool down. ENJOY!

How to keep your fresh parsley/cilantro fresh?

As usually recipes call for only a quarter or at best half the bunch of fresh parsley/cilantro you just bought at the store, so what to do and how to keep the rest for future recipes?

1- Wash only when using them. Dry the leaves.
2- Put them in a pot with water.
3- Cover with a plastic bag and put them in the fridge.
(I heard that parsley don't need to be put in the fridge, so left it on the counter)

Baked Falafel

Don't feel like eating meat? Try this recipe. 

Please finely chopped the herbs/onions, otherwise it won't hold together because they will be too big (several trials and errors caused by my laziness).

Baked Falafel 

Ingredients : 

2 cans 19oz fl chickpea, rinsed and drained

2 TBSP white/whole wheat flour

3 TBSP fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 TBSP fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 tsp cumin, coriander, hot pepper flakes

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp baking soda

salt to taste

Directions :

1- Use a fork/potato masher and press against the bowl to mash the chickpeas until no more whole chickpeas visible.

2- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

3- Use your hands/spoon and form balls on a baking sheets then flatten them.
(more they are flat, more they will be crispy/dry)

4- Bake at 375°F (preheated oven) for 15 min each side. 

(Lazy advice : as I don't want to fatigue myself from flipping them, I switch bake mode to grill mode).

Enjoy plain or make pita sandwich with mint yogurt/tomatoes, according to your laziness level :)

~V.Cat~

Eating less meat

When I moved alone in appartement and had to start cooking by and for myself, I realized that touching meat repulse me. It was kind of weird at first because I have always eaten meat without problem. It is the texture and the coldness of touching it which give me chills. I also have to admit with my background of nursing, germs freak me out. Therefore the fear of bacteria propagation from raw meat doesn't help, because I have to say I am a lazy person, so always thinking about cleaning well after preparing meat makes me want to decrease my meat intake. Yes I am that kind of lazy person. Stupid reason maybe but that's me.

The turning that blog will take for the next year coming is to post more vegetarian recipes to share with you my followers and my friends having the same fear as me.

~V.Cat~