Tag Archives: Montreal BYOW

Restaurant Wellington

29 Dec

Sometimes it just takes an occasion. We were looking for a BYOW to celebrate my mother’s birthday. She had once mentioned having a great xmas party experience at Restaurant Wellington in Verdun. I had yet to go and the restaurant is perfectly halfway between my place in the Pointe and my sister’s in Verdun. So after a short apéro at my sister’s, we found ourselves at Wellington a few weeks ago for a nice meal to celebrate prior to the Holidays starting up.

Restaurant Wellington has been around for 7 years now and has developed a solid reputation as a BYOW restaurant. It hits many of the classic tropes you see in the more successful BYOWs in Montreal – simple, clean decor, blackboard menus and a menu that is French in technique but that works with as much local produce as possible. Service was solid through the evening. It was a quiet Sunday night so ambience wise it was very relaxed and low key.

For the appetizer course, I went with the beef tartare served with egg yolk, caramelized onions, dried mushrooms and crispy crackers. A classic but well executed and well presented. I loved the textural element that the dried mushrooms brought by being mixed in with the meat. The yolk and the onions provided the classic sweet and rich notes that pair well with the raw beef.

As a main, I got to try two different ones by sharing with my wife. I went with the Quebec pork belly braised in local beer Botanik by 4 Origines served with cortland apples, Brussel sprouts, mustard and maple sauce. I love a good fatty pork belly and this one was no exception. Botanik is a very herbal beer with strong gin-like notes and I enjoyed how those flavours came through with the pork. All of the sides were very done and paired nicely to the main element. An excellent dish.

My wife had chosen the seared scallops served with roasted garlic polenta, zucchini, parmesan, eggplant and burnt thym sauce for her dish. Scallops were delicious and seared nicely. The really unique element was the polenta and how the roasted garlic really popped and mixed nicely with the cheese melted on top as well. A solid dish.

The final course was dessert and I went with the brownie served with various additions including a spice cream which was excellent – very holiday in spirit. The brownie had a great texture and very chocolately flavour. A solid finish for the meal.

Restaurant Wellington is a solid BYOW option through and through. We left happy and satisfied with our meal. On this occasion, my mother was happy and that was the most important thing. If you are looking for a good BYOW in the Sud-ouest, Wellington is definitely worth your consideration. They will not disappoint you.

Cheers!

Restaurant Wellington
3629 Rue Wellington
514 419 1646

Wellington Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Le Smoking Vallée

16 Jul

Montreal BYOBs are a very much a hit or miss proposition in a lot of cases. One particular group of restauranteurs have seemingly succeeded in establishing a BYOB template that works. Marc-André Paradis, George Blais, and Thierry Dufour and Co. have a large of collections of restaurants that now cover most of the different neighbourhoods in the city. Their names are synonymous with excellent in BYOB and yet, I have never been to any….. a blind spot of mine to be sure. Luckily, recently, I had a chance to visit their St-Henri local, Le Smoking Vallée and see how it stacks up.

Le Smoking Vallée is a simple space decorated sorta post-industrial – well lit, lacquered wood tables, wooden chairs. The only real ‘pop’ element is a large panorama mural of St-Henri as taken from the Lachine Canal. The space is not that big and yet got very loud once full. I honestly do not recall music or at least couldn’t really hear it. The service was very friendly but honestly pretty slow. It took about one hour for us to see our first course which is outside reasonable delays.

The menu is market, slightly french in style. Your options are either a table d’hôte or simply ordering per dish. I was hungry enough that I went with the table d’hôte. The menu changes seasonly and there are daily dishes as well. First up, the bouchée of the day was a mushroom tartar with a mayo and crouton. Solid start.

As a starter, I went with the mushroom puff pastry with poached egg, lardon and truffle. Lovely combination of the earthy roasted sautéed mushrooms, the creamy poached egg, the rich lardon and the flaky pastry. Good execution and great flavours. Very enjoyable. I also tried the cod croquettes with cocktail mayonnaise. The cod croquettes were nicely sized and had a nice crunch. The cod meat was flavourful and plentiful within each croquette. The mayo added a nice creaminess as well.

Following the starters, a little strawberry, whisky and rhubarb trou normand followed to provided a sweet but strong palate cleanser.

As a main, I went with the duck breast served with papaya, sweet potato puree and spice jus. Very interesting blend of french technique and plating but with some south-east Asian flavours. The duck was cooked perfectly and had great flavour. The pickled papaya gave the dish nice heat and the puree had a nice creamy sweetness to it.

My fiancé had the special of the day which was grilled chorizo and calamari served with chickpeas in a Indian-style curry. Very different flavour profile compared to my dish but equally as well done. Both sausage and calamari was done well and the strong Indian flavours came through very nicely.

Lastly for dessert, a chocolate carré with sponge and pear and matcha tea purée. The chocolate was very rich and creamy. The puree was sweet with the hint of matcha that makes enjoyable and not overwhelming.

All in all, solid technique and plating, great flavours and a comfortable setting makes Smoking Vallee a solid choice as a BYOB within Montreal. Service was a little slow but otherwise no major complaints. So if you want a nice BYOB, look up these gentlemen – there is a good chance they have a BYOB in your neighbourhood for you to enjoy.

Cheers!

Le Smoking Vallée
4370 Notre-Dame Ouest
514 932 0303

Le Smoking Vallée Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Khyber Pass

3 Apr

It is interesting to be taken out of your comfort zone food-wise. Not everyone appreciates it but it’s fun when I enter a restaurant of a certain cuisine and have absolutely zero idea what kind of dishes I can expect. This recently occurred for the event of a friend’s birthday where he brought us to Khyber Pass on Duluth street for a little Afghan BYOW and for no other reason then simply “finding the restaurant looked cool everytime I passed by”.

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And indeed, Khyber Pass does look rather interesting from the outside and equally as much inside. Our table was located in their basement space which has been modelled to look like an cavern. It is a little odd – and because of the use of polycarbonate on the walls, a little hot – but it certainly fits the overall theme. Being in a smallish basement space made for rather noisy acoustics once the space filled up but otherwise no complaints!

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I had never had Afghan food before, so I basically decided to work with their Table d’hôte and wing it! My friends at the table also having never had this cuisine before also decided to simply try stuff which allowed me to sample a bunch of dishes throughout the dinner. We are all curious to see!

First up, there were two soup options available – Mashaba soup and a house soup of red lentils and coriander. I went with the Mushaba. Composed of noodles, vegetables, ground beef, yogourt and fresh coriander, it was a nice way to start things off. A very hearty soup – tons of flavour through both the dark broth as well as the plentiful veggies and noodles.

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I had one starter as well – the eggplant borani. Consisting of fried eggplant slices topped with tomato sauce and garlic yogourt, the texture wasn’t necessarily as crispy as I was hoping but the flavour was all there. Lovely mixture of the sweet tomato sauce, the cool garlicky yogourt and spices overtop brought tons of levels to the party.

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Ashak was my main of choice – Steamed pastas stuffed with leak, served with tomato sauce, ground beef and garlic yogourt. Again, I wasn’t totally happy with the texture of the pasta – steamed but too soft and a little watery underneath – but flavour-wise, this was an excellent dish. The leak stuffing had a nice touch and kept the dish feeling light. Once again, the combination of the tomato sauce, yogourt and beef provided a nice addition and there was a healthy amount of rice and vegetables provided as well.

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Among the other mains I tried, there was the Teka Kebab – filet mignon brochettes – which were nicely tender and flavourful. The Sabzi Chalaw – lamb shank with spinach – was a lovely cooking display of the lamb. Fall off the bone with that lovely lamb gaminess, the spinach didn’t feel super necessary but it was delicious nevertheless. The last main was the Kofta Chalaw – beef meats balls in tomato sauce with afghan spices. A weirdly Italian dish to me but the addition of the middle Eastern spices provided just enough of a change-up to not make me wonder why I was not in a trattoria at that moment. All of these were served with the same amount of rice and vegetables as I got with my main so portion-wise, we all got our money’s worth.

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The last item for the night was our complimentary dessert of rose water pudding with pistachios. Now… I am not a fan of rose water as I have found that typically it is overused and just destroys any dish with its overtly flowery tones. However, in this case, count me as surprised to find that it was pretty good. Weirdly though, the entire table felt the pudding tasted like Fruit Loops! I guess I should check what goes into Fruit Loops. Anyway, texture was excellent on top of being a weird flashback to my childhood!

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Khyber Pass was a very pleasant surprise – huge flavours and nice portions all around. The decor feels pretty hokey to me but I get it and frankly if the food is still enjoyable, I can look past it. Add the BYOW element – and believe me we did – and you have an excellent option for a relatively reasonable night out. Khyber Pass… you showed me what Afghan food was and I am happier for it.

Cheers!

Khyber Pass
506 Duluth Est
514 844 7131

Khyber Pass Cuisine Afghan Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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