Taverne Gaspar – Montreal

As Happening Gourmand nears its end, I decided to drop by Taverne Gaspar with S and E for a hopefully better tasting experience than last time. Located facing the harbor water in the Old Port, the entrance to the restaurant is located inside a lobby of an Inn. It wasn’t too crowded tonight and I liked the low-lit pub feel (without the boisterous crowd).

This time around I did some research on the menu and we all ended up choosing the onion soup and lamb shank. I had been craving lamb for a while since I can’t seem to cook it properly yet and so was S hahaha. We were served some cold bread and butter (alas, one day I will enjoy a restaurant with hot bread) before our dishes arrived.

Onion soup garnished with bone marrow

The onion soup was warm and tasty. The cheese was really good though E and S commented that the broth itself tasted a bit sour as opposed to salty. I was okay with it though I didn’t really enjoy the soggy bread in the soup. It was a good choice since we were cold from outside!

Rosemary braised lamb shank with string beans, carrots, sliced potatoes in a braising jus

The lamb shanks arrived hot and I dove in. Mine in particular was the dryer/leaner of the plates and was definitely more gamier. I wasn’t a huge fan of the combination of gamey taste and dry texture but the meat pretty much slid off the bone. The jus was actually pretty tasty and helped with the flavour of the lamb meat. E’s was the most tender and least gamey so she got lucky. She almost cleaned her plate of jus with bread haha

For dessert, E and I chose the pouding chomeur and S chose the chocolate lava cake.

Dark chocolate lava cake with pistachio cream

Pouding Chomeur (or “Hobo Pudding” as E put it) topped with Caramel Ice Cream

S isn’t a fan of chocolate but he didn’t seem to have a strong opinion about his dessert. We tasted it and I’m not a fan of lava cakes in general. It was a warm, cakey consistency which I don’ t really like. Didn’t even notice there was supposed to be pistachio cream!

The pudding was sweet and oh-so-bad for you hahah. I’ve had it before and believe it or not I felt the cold caramel ice cream helped make the sweet syrupy-ness of it. E also called it “Unemployment Pudding”  or “Hobo Pudding” because of the name. After reading up on it apparently it was a cake served during the Great Depression by female factory workers in Quebec.

The meal went well and we had fun chatting. Service was average; we didn’t need help when they came to check on us, and when we needed some they weren’t around? hahah not particularly bad though.

Overall a decent meal at a decent price. But I think my opinion for Happening Gourmand will change next year. There just isn’t much inspiring on the restaurant menus and I feel the quality just keeps declining. Old Port sort of already has a reputation for being a tourist trap and this event hasn’t really helped me find some “hidden gems” in the area. Nothing outstanding so far about my experiences

If you are interested in trying out a restaurant, give Taverne Gaspar a shot though I read that their regular prices aren’t worth it.

Taverne Gaspar

89 Rue de la Commune Est
Montreal, QC H2Y 1J1
(514) 392-1649

www.tavernegaspar.com/

Les Soeurs Grises – Old Montreal

Tonight, I met up some friends after work to wind down at Les Soeurs Grises located in Old Montreal. It was between a 5-10 minute walk there and I was looking forward to trying somewhere new. Next time I’d like to check out more of Mile-End though since there were quite a few restos that caught my eye.

The bistro/pub/brewery was dimly lit but you could see the large brewery containers at the back where we sat. The place was also known for its own smokehouse so I made a mental note to try it. It was surprisingly packed though my friends mentioned it was nowhere near as busy the week before (probably because of the holidays). Once we settled in, the waitress brought us our menus on clipboards and mentioned what they had run out of for the night (the game meat stew), and the special of the night(three braised duck legs).

They had a huge selection of beers in small (13 ounce), medium (15 ounce) and large (17 ounce) formats. There were maybe 10 in-house beers they made along with an extensive list of imported and domestic alcohol. I asked my friend Y if he had a recommendation since I wasn’t a huge beer fan and he was definitely more knowledgeable about it since he knew what I liked. I went for the only white beer available that they brewed: the Sein d’esprit. I also got to taste the chocolate beer (smelt more than tasted like it) and their cider; both good in their own right. I didn’t feel the cider was too acidic either compared to other places like Ye Olde Orchard.

We ordered after we browsed the menu. I ended up ordering the gravlax; fresh salmon cooked in salt and gin, served with a mustard (honey?) sauce and capers with a side of potato salad. I was torn between that, the chicken sandwich and the ribs but I’ll try it next time!

My friend ordered the duck special along with the grilled cheese. She seemed to have enjoyed the duck enough but found the grilled cheese a bit too heavy on the cheese side.

The couple ordered the onion soup with a small rack of ribs, and the trout filet smoked in-house.

And my beer and gravlax/potato salad combo!

To be honest, I thought the salmon tasted a bit too fishy but the capers and a bit of the sauce helped with the taste. I really liked combining the salmon with the bread though next time I’d choose a different side.

Most of us were satisfied with our meals and ended up choosing the popular dessert: pouding chomeur! 😀

Sugary and sweet and oh so bad for you hahaha. Look at that sauce dripping off the sides of my platter! It came with a small bowl of whipped cream. Combining the strawberry, whipped cream and pudding was amazing!

With tips, my bill came up to 37 dollars about. Much more than I intended to pay for supper tonight but it was pretty good all in all. Though, I did get indigestion later that night so I don’t think the salmon was really that fresh at all so I don’t think I’d be trying that again next time.

Would I recommend going? Sure, once in a while or if you’ve got money to spend. It’s got a decent ambiance, not too loud and the food and beer wasn’t bad but there was nothing that really screamed for me to go back just for the food again.

Les Soeurs Grises

32, rue McGill

Montreal

514-788-7635 (reservations recommended during later days of the week)

http://www.bblsg.com/#!Accueil.html