Super Truck

On July 13th, Just For Laughs had an area filled with food trucks called “Bouffons Montréal” for two weeks. Exactly like last year, except there were two if not three times the quantity of food trucks this time. It was so hard to choose what to eat with so much diversity.

After a day at La Ronde with the family, my mother and I were walking by La Place Des Arts when I suggested stopping for a quick bite. I laid eyes on Super Truck after making a quick tour.

I ordered the Crisp Pork Belly with lime soya caramel glaze, salad of grean papaya, long beans, toasted nuts with an Asian vinaigrette. How can I describe the first bite? Sweet, cold, sour and nutty. It was incredibly refreshing and light. My mother had a bite and she loved it. I asked if she wanted one as she was “devouring” my plate. She declined the offer, claiming it would be extra calories. Instead she sipped on her verbena iced tea with lemon, ginger and honey. I didn’t even get to taste it because she drank it all, claiming it was delicious and I had said no when she asked. Pure lies!

The pork salad was 7 dollars and the iced tea 2 dollars.

I had the chance of tasting the menu of Super Truck again with Ally. I suggested trying out food trucks instead of going to the restaurant, it’s way cheaper.

Ally ordered the Super Sandwich with grain fed chicken, house smoked bacon and spicy mayonnaise. She opted for the trio version, which included fried mac and cheese sticks (Gruyère and Montérégie cheese with fresh herbs) and a drink of her choice. She took the verbena iced tea. Yes I was able to taste it and finally, I wasn’t a fan of the verbena.

The sticks were hot, let it cool down for a couple of minutes or you might burn your tongue. They are crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. I have never tasted something this heavenly, melting upon my taste buds. They came with a sauce that looked like a mayonnaise mix. It was cold so it cooled down the sticks a bit. The sandwich was delicious, the bacon and mayonnaise complimented the chicken well.

Cheese goodness

The sandwich alone is 9 dollars, the sticks 5 dollars and the drink 2 dollars, which is a total of 16 dollars and it only cost 12 dollars for the trio. An amazing deal!

This is definitely one of my favourite trucks and I recommend it to everyone. It’s true that there’s not many options for vegetarians, but those mac and cheese sticks will satisfy your hunger.

No surprise that it gets a 5/5!

p.s. Also I was told that if you took a picture of yourself in front of the Super Truck and that you put it on Facebook or Twitter with hashtags, you’d have free mac and cheese sticks. Need I say more?

Nomade SO6

After too many years of not seeing one another, Marion and I met at Mount Royal park. We were eager to try a new food truck despite the risk of a thunderstorm. Nomade SO6 only has sausages in the menu, which are homemade.

The picture was taken at night, a few minutes after their power shortage.

Marion tried the Peanut and coriander sausage, served with a salad of green beans and covered in a spicy peanut sauce with pieces of peanuts. It tasted good, but somewhat lacking in peanut flavour. The sauce was not spicy at all. She really enjoyed the salad.

I had the Ribs sausage served with polenta (cornmeal boiled into a porridge) fries, candied tomatoes and covered in bbq sauce. It tasted okay, I preferred Marion’s more. The fries were so good but incredibly heavy. They were difficult to cut in pieces and didn’t break easily. I didn’t think of getting a knife, which I should have. Marion thought my sausages weren’t well cooked since they were pretty pinkish. I wasn’t sick the next day so I guess they were fine.

I had trouble finishing my meal, mostly the polenta fries. I would suggest less pieces of fries or add an extra sausage so the balance is perfect. Prices are pretty decent, the Peanut and coriander sausage was 8 dollars while the Ribs one was 9 dollars. They were definitely worth their price.

Also this truck is not recommended for vegetarians and definitely not for anyone who has peanut allergies.

It gets a grade of 4/5.

Alexis le Gourmand

Zoya offered to buy lunch for missing  my birthday party. I spontaneously suggested checking the food trucks out. I verified Streetfoodmtl to see where the food trucks where.  I compared the menus of the few trucks available and Alexis le Gourmand caught my eye with the pulled turkey sandwich. It was parked at Place Canada, near Réné-Lévesque and Peel.

Their specialities were turkey, including the sandwich, a burger or some empanadas. I am not a big fan of turkey but I was curious to try their pulled sandwich with hickory bbq sauce, colesaw salad and pickles in a small bun. The only problem is that it cost 9 dollars for just the sandwich.

This sandwich was very savoury. The taste of turkey was overpowered by the hickory bbq sauce, which was delectable. I love pickles and the salad was pretty good. My only complaint is the sandwich was too small and I had to take tiny bites to enjoy it at a slow pace.

Zoya was extremely disappointed, she at least expected fries or chips at that price. I agree that they should either lower the price or include something with it. My suggestions: homemade fries or chips, homemade drink or homemade dessert.

I’m grading food trucks on 5 and this one gets only a 3. If it had fries or chips to accompany it, it would have gotten a higher grade because the sandwich was amazing.

Omnivore World Tour

This is the second edition of the Omnivore Festival in Montreal. It is a culinary festival  from August 14th to 19th with two entire days of cooking demonstrations, six “maudits soupers” and an omnivorious night.

The invited chefs for the demonstrations are from Montreal, France, Belgium and the United States. According to La Presse’s article, Jeremiah Langhorne and Pierre Sang Boyer are some of the chefs to follow. Langhorne because he mixes traditional food with new culinary technologies in his restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. He will be at the SAT on August 18th at 3:40 p.m. Sang Boyer because he mixes craziness, freshness and a mix of French and Asian cuisine in his restaurant in Paris. He was also a finalist in Top Chef 2011 in France.  He will be at the SAT on August 17th at 3:00 p.m.

The “maudits soupers” are dinners prepared through the collarobation of two chefs or more. There is one every night starting on the 14th until the 19th, except the 18th that will have two dinners. You have to reserve with the restaurant hosting, more information on their website.

The omnivorious night will allow you to taste bites of food from all the chefs. It sounds like the event not to be missed, on August 17th at 7:00 p.m. at the SAT. You can register for a pass for the cost of 40 dollars.

Last year, I found out about the festival towards the end and wasn’t able to attend. This year, I might not be able to attend it either due to my tight budget. I wish I could attend all of the events, maybe next year!!!

 

Matsuri Japon

Matsuri means “festival” in Japanese. In Japan, these festivals mostly in the summer give people an occassion to wear a yukata (a more casual version of a kimono made with lighter fabric for the summer). You can enjoy snacks and drinks while strolling around, playing activities and usually watching fireworks.

Montreal has their own festival called Matsuri Japon, which happens in August. This year’s 12th edition was held on August 10th at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal. I have not been in 2 years since they moved from the Old Port to the JCCCM.

I was really excited to eat Japanese food, I wanted to try everything but unfortunately I couldn’t. My wallet and my stomach would not have survived. Accompanied by Sat and Mick, we tried what we could.  We also rented yukata that you could wear for an hour. You had to leave a piece of ID as well as a deposit of 10 dollars per person. Of course, volunteers are there to help you put them on.

First, we started with yakisoba: fried noodles with beef and seaweed powder over. It was very savoury and the seaweed powder added extra flavour. It was worth its price at 7 dollars with a good portion.

Then we tried some J-dogs aka japanese hot dogs. Sat had the kimchi dog and I had the wasabi one. The kimchi was fresh and delicious. It was ready in the morning, a nice lady told us and we could taste it. The wasabi was mixed with the mayonnaise. It was pretty strong but after a few bites, it was okay. If I was given the choice to get some again, I’d go for the kimchi.  I would have tried the okonomi one but there was no point since we were getting okonomiyaki later.

Kimchi mayo dog

Wasabi mayo dog

On to the okonomiyaki now. It’s a pancake filled with different ingredients. This one was pretty simple with vegetables and potatoes. Only cost 4 dollars for a good portion, which left us full.

Though there’s always space for dessert, especially at 3 dollars! Kakigori is shaved ice dessert with flavoured syrup. You can serve it with azuki (red bean) paste and condensed milk for a dollar more. I opted for strawberry with azuki paste. The taste was heavenly, a mix of cold, sweet and refreshing. Mick had the orange one with condensed milk and azuki paste while Sat had cherry with both. I realized that they were asked if they wanted condensed milk in their kakigori but nobody asked me! I was a bit upset but happy with my flavour as I gulped it down pretty fast. Also the condensed milk was heavier but oh so creamy and decadent. The cherry was like a foodgasm. Luckily, we were abe to eat some of the last kakigori, they ran out about 10 minutes after I ordered. If ever you see shaved ice dessert, taste it and do add the azuki with the condensed milk, you will not regret it!

Strawberry with azuki paste

Orange with condensed milk and azuki paste

Cherry with condensed milk and azuki paste

Somehow we managed to have space takoyaki, small wheat flour batter filled with cheese. You get four pieces for a total of 4 dollars. They had no more shiitake mushrooms when I ordered them. The cheese ones were pretty good. Usually I get the ones with pieces of octopus so they’re more spongy than creamy.

I had also bought some azuki filled buns from Yuki Bakery, a nice bakery in NDG. Their cupcakes are amazing, Em got me some for my birthday and I literaly had some foodgasms eating them!!! I got four buns for 5 dollars. I love snacks with azuki paste to not say I’m obsessed with it.  I ate one bun on my way home from the festival. I had the other three buns for breakfast this sunday morning. Sweet and delicious like always.

 I also bought a green tea scone, I was curious to try it. It cost 2.50 dollars, pretty much the same price as the ones in Starbucks. Also had it for breakfast but didn’t enjoy them as much as the buns. It had pieces of cranberries, which I’m not a big fan and I ended up removing half of them.

 

That’s all for my adventure at Matsuri Japon this year!!!

Mina-san, sayonara! ^^