Eating out in Montréal, part III: Resto L’Avenue, Pâtisserie Au Kouign Amann, & Cantinho de Lisboa

Part III of our gastronomical tour through Montréal takes us to Resto L’Avenue, Pâtisserie Au Kouign Amann, and Cantinho de Lisboa. Check out the other posts here: part I (Atwater Market & La Panthère Verte), part II (Bocata, La Gargote, & Olive et Gourmando), and part IV (Gibbys and Modavie).

Resto L’Avenue was a super funky breakfast joint we happened upon while out for a walk on Mont Royal. They had mannequins, a spray-painted mural wall, and a black-lit bathroom with florescent writing all over the walls. Contrary to the decor, the food was pretty traditional breakfast fare and was yummy and hearty. And, they served watermelon water...interesting!

the huge watermelon water tank

pretty cappuccino

all of the meals came with a fruit skewer

scrambled eggs with bacon, potatoes and cheese
(although I thought the cheese would have been melted over the eggs, lol)

eggs over-easy with sausage and potatoes

Kouign amann is one of my favorite desserts. It's flaky, buttery, and simple but delicious. And, I love making laminated doughs so it's a win-win! I've actually made kouign amann twice with varied results: very successfully as part of the Rose's Alpha Bakers club and once semi-successfully (although still yummy) using David Lebovitz's recipe. So, when we were planning our trip to Montréal, I had to search for the best place to eat kouign amann and found the aptly named...Pâtisserie Au Kouign Amann.

This bakery is a tiny neighborhood place (so tiny they don't even have a website!), which just happens to specialize in this amazing pastry. When we got there (around 10:00 am, I think), they had already sold out of the first batch of kouign amann so we had to come back about 30 minutes later for the next batch which was in the oven. We actually reserved our slices to make sure we would get some when we returned! And, boy am I glad we did - they were warm, caramelized, sweet but not overly so, and buttery. 

a delicious slice

the hot kouign amann, fresh out of the oven,
waiting for a lucky buyer

some of the other pastries they sell

Last in this post is Cantinho de Lisboa. An eat-in or take-out café with a Portuguese flavor. Cantinho de Lisboa was near our airbnb rental so we ate there twice - once for lunch and once for breakfast (when Olive et Gourmando was too busy...see part II for my thoughts about O+G). The food was very good, flavorful and not too heavy, and the atmosphere was fun and comfortable. Even though we were there for lunch, it wasn't too busy so we were able to hang out, write postcards, and read. The counter staff were all very friendly too!

When we went for lunch, I had a warm prosciutto and cheese sandwich on a baguette and my husband had a ham sandwich on a croissant. Both were served with a bit of salad and fried potato sticks...both were also delicious! When we returned for breakfast a few days later, I had a plain croissant, which they served with a sweet tomato jam...which I had never had before, but was surprisingly yummy! My husband had a ham and cheese croissant which was served with fruit.

cute rooster mural and some dishes for sale

my yummy sandwich

the ham and cheese sandwich on a croissant

back for brekkie...a croissant and sweet tomato jam

and a ham and cheese croissant served with fruit

 Bye for now...

Eating out in Montréal, part II: Bocata, La Gargote, & Olive et Gourmando

Part II of our gastronomical tour through Montréal takes us to Bocata, La Gargote, and Olive et Gourmando. Check out the other posts here: part I (Atwater Market & La Panthère Verte), part III (Resto L’Avenue, Pâtisserie Au Kouign Amann, and Cantinho de Lisboa), and part IV (Gibbys and Modavie).

First up for this post, Bocata. Bocata is a wine bar with lots of delicious small plates. They also have a regular menu...everything we had was amazing. The atmosphere was very cozy - a wall of wine behind the bar and several other walls filled, floor-to-ceiling, with books (in fact, they bring your check tucked into a book - cute!).

cute - the check came tucked into a book

Our waiter was also fantastic, very friendly, knowledgeable, and adorable. He explained several wine choices to us, made menu and wine recommendations, gave us wine samples to help us decide, and happily answered all of my questions (I always have lots of questions about menus and food). Here is our waiter, slicing the pata negra de bellota (ham from acorn-fed black pigs from Spain), which my husband had for an appetizer; he added the pan con tomate (basically, a tomato bruschetta). I had the croquette de crabe des neiges (snow crab cake) for an appetizer and the fish special for my main course. Everything was so delicious!

our awesome waiter

the pata negra de bellota - so delicious!

he also had the pan con tomate

a delicious snow crab cake

all crab!

my amazing fish dish

my husband's chop

we had to share dessert, an interesting (delicious) carrot cake - it's vertical!

Next up is La Gargote is a cute little French bistro in Old Montréal which happened to be near our airbnb rental. They have a prix fixe or a la carte menu. I had the carrot potage to start and then pasta with ham and peas in a cream sauce. My husband had a pâté starter with a steak.

yummy carrot potage

pâté with endive

my delicious pasta

steak and potatoes

Olive et Gourmando is last in this post. I'm probably the only person in Montréal who thinks this...but, I'll say it, I thought Olive et Gourmando was a bit overrated. First of all, it's packed from the moment they open until they close so it's hard to even get in and get a table...and then you feel kind of rushed out once you do sit down. I also thought the food was just...good. It wasn't anything special or original or anything not available at many other restaurants or cafés in the city. So, needless to say, we only went once. It was good, but we didn't feel the need to wait in line again a second time.

a cheese croissant

the fruit salad was interesting - currants and toasted coconut!

my husband's panini

the cappuccino was delicious

Bye for now...

Eating out in Montréal, part I: Atwater Market & La Panthère Verte

My husband and I love to visit Montréal. We're close enough in the US that we can easily drive and we love that the city is so walkable, friendly, and - of course - the food is amazing! From Old Montreal to Mont Royal and everywhere in between, it's a diner's delight. Most of our past trips have been in the fall, when there a lots of fun things going on, like the Montréal Pride Parade and a weekend when they lots of brides walking around the city (we've never figured out what that is about but it happened every fall we were there). This year though, we went in the spring and enjoyed Montréal free museum day, outdoor markets, and lots and lots of walking around (Fitbits, charged and ready!).

Here are some of our eating out photos from our most recent trip. This first post is the Atwater Market, a cool indoor/outdoor market with fruits, veggies, meats, prepared food, desserts, and awesome people watching. Also included are some photos from La Panthère Verte (the Green Panther), an organic vegan restaurant with amazing salads, smoothies, and falafel.

Check out the other Montréal posts for pictures of more mouth-watering food:
Part II - La Gargote, Bocata, & Olive et Gourmando
Part III - Resto L’Avenue, Pâtisserie Au Kouign Amann, and Cantinho de Lisboa
Part IV - Gibbys and Modavie

First stop in part I, Atwater Market --

welcome to Atwater Market!

gorgeous veggies and flowers

more fresh flowers

so colorful

a berry bonanza

Canadian maple syrup

organic meats for sale

the biggest pan of paella I've ever seen!

On to La Panthère Verte! After several days of eating pastries and heavy meals, we were so happy to stumble on to this organic vegan restaurant and fill up on vegetables! I had this fresh, healthy, and delicious salad and my husband had the falafel sandwich. Both were amazing.

something healthy after days of pastries

fresh and delicious

falafel sandwich

And, finally, super cute little dogs at hanging out in the window at La Panthère Verte!

woof woof!

Bye for now...

Milk Bread

Hello blog...I'm back! I've had a really busy couple of years working full-time and going to grad school, and the past year was especially busy as I was working and doing my clinical internship. But, I graduated in May (yippee!) and am now getting back into more of a regular schedule...which means, yay, more time for baking and blogging. I have a bunch of old photos from the past year or so, so I'll be playing catch up with several new posts.

Up first, Milk Bread!

look at this gorgeous bread...

yummy!

I love making bread from scratch. There aren't many things better than the smell of bread happily baking away, or a nice thick slice from a warm, homemade loaf fresh out of the oven slathered with butter and jam. Yum!

Last year I was on a bit of a bread-making kick and decided to try this delicious Asian milk bread recipe from The Woks of Life - a family-run cooking/baking blog. I discovered this blog last year when I made their amazing homemade Chinese BBQ pork and pork fried rice. They have tons of recipes and drool-worthy photos. I might have to make another round of the Chinese BBQ pork, the milk bread dough, and try their pork buns next. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

But for today, here is my take on milk bread. The recipe is very easy - a few simple ingredients, mix them together, knead, rise, shape, rise again, bake, and eat! The bread bakes up to a lovely deep golden color and has a light, tender crumb.

mise en place - so simple!

everything gets mixed together

the first rise

the dough is shaped and set aside for the second rise

baked to a beautiful golden brown

so pretty!

the bread has a wonderful texture - light and airy

time to try a piece...

delicious!

Bye for now...

Rose's Alpha Bakers: Whole Wheat Walnut & Raisin Loaf (bump)

I haven't had a chance recently to bake with my friends in the Rose's Alpha Bakers group, but I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things as the summer winds down (I can't believe it's already August!). This week's bake is Rose's 100% Whole Wheat Walnut Loaf. I made this bread (with a few tweaks) way back in February and it was absolutely delicious!

It quickly became a favorite and I made is about 5-6 more times during the long and seemingly never-ending New England winter we had this past year. It was the perfect winter bread - hearty but not heavy, tasty, and amazing when toasted up and topped with butter and honey.

My tweaks were to add a small amount of white flour and to add raisins. I also started making 1.5x the recipe so I could get two full loaves out of it. The first time I made it I got one loaf plus a few rolls so figured...why not increase the recipe slightly and get two loaves?

This bread is an all-day affair as the starter takes about 4 hours and then there are two rises. I tried once to start the dough the night before and finish it the next morning, but I didn't like that loaf as much so went back to waking up early to start the loaf and finishing it around lunchtime of the same day.

I highly recommend making this bread! Delicious.

yummy and healthy!

delicious with butter and a bit of honey

nothing better than homemade bread on a cold winters day!

My full post for my tweaked loaf that I called Whole Wheat Walnut & Raisin Loaf, plus lots of pictures, is here.

Bye for now...