Montreal Restaurant Review: Roberto's

Roberto's is a nice place to have a gelato, a coffee, or something to eat. It serves authentic Italian cusine with flavors from the old paese.

Roberto's is divided into three parts. The first part is a small store where you can buy Italian products, from cheese and prosciutto, to cookies. The second part is the cafe/gelateria. The gelato is great. Gelato is not ice cream, it is made differently, and I find better. The flavors are really good. You have a lot of choices: tiramisu, cherry, pistachio, zuppa inglese, melon, nocciola, coffee, orange/peace, mint, baci chocolate, and much more. What's nice is that you can order the copetta (a cup), where you can mix up to 3 flavors, which is a great way to try different gelati.

The third part of Roberto's is the restaurant which is on the second floor. I have tried the food before, and it is very good. What's nice is that after you've eaten, you can always grab a nice gelato for dessert.

This is a great place to have really good gelato. On nice nights, you sit on the sort-of-terrasse, which is nice. Go try it, you'll want to go back.

Roberto's is located on 2227 Belanger, in Montreal. Their phone number is 514-374-5653.

June Flowers

Nature at its best...

Montreal Restaurant Review: L'academie

L'academie is an Italian-French fusion restaurant. This restaurant is one of my favorites and I've never been disapointed. It's a great place to eat out at, and I'll tell you why.

The restaurant itself is very nice. I've been to the one in Anjou many times and once to the one in Laval. There is also one on St-Denis. They all have two floors and offer very comfortable seating arrangements.

Now let's talk about the antipasti. I've had salad, escargots a l'ail, and coquille St-Jacques. The salad was very good. Escargots were tasty and I'd recommend them. However, the coquille St-Jacques is simply the best antipasto they have. It's delicious. This is a must have and you should really try it, I quarauntee you'll love it. It's also quite filling, so you might want to choose a lighter primo piato.

The primi piati are amazing and served in big portions. I've had moules et frites (twice), gnocchi con gorganzola, vitello a pepe rosso, and the salmon with basilica sause. I recommend all of these dishes. The gnocchi con gorganzola are really good, but a little heavy. This is a northern Italian dish (northern dishes aren't as well known as their southern counterparts but always just as amazing). However, its really good, and I challenge you to finish the entire plate (I couldn't!). The vitello a pepe rosso was very good. The vitello is served with a red peppercorn cream sauce with some linguini and vegetables. Very good. They have 10 different types of vitello dishes so you really have options. The salmon with basilica sauce was very good. its served with some vegetables. The fish surprisingly goes really well with the basilica. Now for my favorite... moules et frites. There are around 10 different types of dishes for moules et frites. I've tried three and loved it every time. The first time I had the mussles with lobster sauce, the second time the sauce was cognac with green peppercorn, and the third time with leeks. You really get a lot of mussles and fries. And what's good is that the mussle sauce is so good, you can dip the fries in them. I absolutely recommend the moules et frites, you'll love it.

Another very important feature of the restaurant is that it's a bring-your-own-wine place. This is always an extra and makes the lunch or supper even better.

One little beef I have with the restaurant is its popularity. At supper time, there are line ups to get it. If you are over 4 people, it can be difficult to get a table without waiting a little bit. I've waited up to 45 minutes to be seated. It can also get a little loud during these times. However, after you've eaten, you tend to forget about this.

L'academie is one of my favorite places to eat out. You can bring your own wine, the food is great, and it has a nice ambiance. If you haven't been, go!

The L'academie in Anjou is located at 7275 Boul. des Galleries d'Anjou. The phone number is 514-798-8222.

Montreal Restaurant Review: Adega

Adega is a Potruguese restaurant. The restaurant specializes in authentic grilled Portuguese dishes, which are superb. Note... because I don't speak Portuguese, I will give Italian words to the dishes to make it sound nicer than the English translation (which I will also give you). :p

As an entree, I had sardine grigliate (grilled sardine). These sardines are definitely not the same kind that come out of the can. They are quite bigger and more importantly, quite tastier. The entree was quite generous, with three fish. The fish tasted very similar to acciuge portoguesi (Portuguese anchiovies), that I've had once. Anyway, besides the spine (little bones that all small fish have), the fish was very good and I highly recommend it. The plate is also nicely presented with cubed yellow and red pepper.

Other entrees that friends had were calamari grigliati (grilled calamari). I never had grilled calamari before, only fried, but they were very good. Interesting, but definitely worth it. There are many other entrees, but let's move on to the main courses...

My main course was salmoni grigliati (grilled salmon). I've had salmon many many times before, and I consider myself a quasi-expert with fish... and I must say that it was really good. The salmon was perfectly cooked... nice and moist on the inside and grilled on the outside. It was also served with rapini, mushrooms, salad and fries. All I can say is that this dish was perfect.

Other main courses were the bacala (cod), mixed meats, chicken, steak, calamari, sardines, veal, etc. The nice thing about this restaurant is that some of the main dishes are blown up entrees, like with the calamari and sardines. Everything got good reviews and looked really good. I'll give a special mention to the mixed meat plate. You get Portuguese sausage, quail, chicken, steak, and I think another meat... all grilled to perfection. Definitely a must-have, and I will order it next time I go.

Adega is a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, which claimes to seat 30 people, but I think less. However, it's a cozy atmosphere and great place for a get-together with friends or as a couple. Simply, the food is great and you will definitely enjoy your meal.

Adega is located at 3124 Beaubien Est corner 9th Avenue in Montreal. The phone number is 514-725-6285.

Recipe: Insalata Grigliata (Grilled Salad)

This recipe is super easy. It's a popular summer Italian dish. It's an interesting twist on making salad and most importantly, it tastes really good.

1) Wash the salad.
2) Tear big leaves into smaller sections (not too small). Smaller leaves don't need to be torn.
3) Lightly coat with olive oil.
4) Put the salad on the grill. DO NOT leave it for long. Once you see slight grill lines, it's time to turn the salad.
5) Once both sides are lightly grilled, set aside and let cool.
6) Fix the salad as you would a normal salad.

That's it. Very easy to make and very tasty.

Montreal Restaurant Review: Phuket

Phuket is a thai/sushi restaurant located in Montreal. I'll start off by saying that this restaurant is amazing.

Phuket serves up authentic thai dishes and excellent sushi. The food is simply delicious. What's nice about this restaurant is that you can mix what you want. For example, you can have an entree of sushi and a thai main course.

On the two occaisions that I've been to the restaurant, I ordered a soup as an entree; once a mushroom soup and once a seafood soup. Both times, I was surprised with how different these soups taste compared with usual soups but also with how good the soups taste. What's interesting is that there is a strong hint of ginger in the soup, which is refreshing since I usually only have ginger along with sushi. Now for the main dishes...

The first time I went, I decided to go with chicken/eggplant saute. Excellent. There are undertones of hot pepper and the eggplant is very good. Who knew chicken and eggplant went so well together. It's served with plain white rice, which you eat together with the saute. The second time I went to the restaurant, I had the green curry chicken (also served with plain white rice, like many other dishes). I had never had curry before, so I had no idea what to expect. Well, this dish was really good. It had very interesting flavours, which I liked. The green curry with the chicken and thai vegetables was excellent.

I also tasted their general tao chicken, which was really tasty, probably the best I've had. I also tried the spicy red curry chicken. This is similar in flavour to the green curry dish I had, except for the red curry and the extra spicyness. Very good.

I haven't tasted the sushi for myself, but from very reliable sources, the sushi is excellent, as well as the sushi cones. I will have to try it next time.

Another thing not to overlook is the restaurant itself. Great traditional Thai decor helps create a nice ambiance, which is important in enjoying the meal.

My recommendation... go the Restaurant Phuket. You will love the food, the ambiance and good service. You will not be dissapointed and will defintely want to go back.

Restaurant Phuket is located in St-Leonard. The address is 4673 Jarry Est, corner Viau. The telephone number is 514-721-2888.

Music Review: Terrestre (Subsonica)

For those who know or for those who don't, Subsonica is an Italian alt-rock band. Now when you think of Italian music, sounds of Napolitana music probably comes to mind. However, for those who are new to the contemporary Italian music scene, this group is far from it. Their style is heavily influenced by our own alt-rock groups here in North America.

Subsonica's previous music was very heavy with a lot of experimenting. Sometimes they produced interesting songs, other times, they seemed like a miss. Perhaps two of their best songs (from their older work) are Nuova Ossessione (New Obsession) and Tutti I Miei Sbagli (All Of My Mistakes). These songs are simply great. The music is quite unique and even if you don't understand Italian, you'll find yourself getting into the music. But enough with the old stuff, let's look at the new stuff.

Their new album is called Terrestre. Like I previously mentioned, I found quite a few of the groups older songs were misses. This album is completely different. The group's taste seems to have changed somewhat. Their music seems less heavy metal influenced and more rock influenced. It is a good change. Many of the songs on this album are great. Three songs that stand out are Incantevole, L'Odore, and Dormi. Great sound and interesting beats blend well together to produce Subsonica's best piece of work. The group has not sacrificed their experimental ways, which is good, but they seem to have moved closer to rock. The result is a success.

Whether you understand Italian or not, anyone who's open to an interesting blend of Italian lyrics, alt-rock, indie, and I don't know exactly what will enjoy Terrestre.