Mon Lapin, One of Canada's Top Restaurants

Mon Lapin gives off relaxed, stylish vibes

Our last stop in Montreal was at Mon Lapin, one of the top restaurants in Canada. It's actually a wine bar that happens to serve fantastic food in a laid-back setting in Montreal's Little Italy. Some friends from Vancouver and Hong Kong recommended I go here so this was one of the first places I made a reservation after I booked my plane tickets.

Miramachi striped bass with brown butter sauce

So there was a lot of anticipation coming here and for the most part, it did not disappoint. Walking in, it feels like entering a casual brasserie, with granite tabletops, dark wooden chairs, and a giant antique silver punch bowl decorated with grapes to hold several bottles of chilled wine (in ice).

Our server, who wore shorts, was very surprised to discover we had made a long trek to Mon Lapin and gave us a warm welcome and explained the menu to us (as it was in French). 

We were mightily impressed by the first dish that came out, thinly sliced miramachi striped bass with half moon slices of turnip with a delicious dressing of brown butter sauce.

This was followed up with a refreshing summerly plate of BBQ cucumbers with plump shrimp. We absolutely loved the scallop sandwiches, thin slices of toasted bread and in between was scallop mousse playing on crunchy and smooth textures.

Whole Quebec lobster with salad and potatoes

Three of us just managed to polish off a whole Quebec lobster, the juicy, tender meat cooked perfectly, and was accompanied with buckwheat and rhubarb, along with a small salad and "crackers" made from thinly sliced potato slices that were deep fried.

We sampled two other mains, decadent roast duck with spinach and shiitake, and a hearty pork steak topped with fresh arugula and a sherry sauce. 

Our pre-dessert was to try two local cheeses, and then we ordered what we saw everyone else was having, buckwheat cake with honey and cheese. It was served on a cake platter and we felt like we were celebrating a successful Montreal trip where we got to try some delicious food!

Lovely crispy scallop sandwiches

Mon Lapin

150 Rue Saint-Zotique E

Little Italy, Montreal

514 379 4550

 

Picture of the Day: Braised Fish Maw

Large pieces of braised fish maw surrounded by goose webs

The other night we went to Sun Sui Wah for a 私房菜 or "see fong choi", the Chinese version of omakase where the chef creates the menu.

However, not all the dishes were winners; some were duds, like a roast duck we had that was marinated in salt for a week and tasted like it! There was also a giant plate of thinly sliced poached geoduck, but sadly wasabi was smothered over them and our nasal cavities had the equivalent of pungent electric shocks each time we bit into the geoduck...

Nevertheless, the undisputed highlight of the evening was a massive platter of braised fish maw with goose webs in abalone sauce. These pieces of fish maw were the thickest I had ever seen in my life and the women at the table were salivating with excitement.

That's because it is believed that fish maw contain a lot of collagen, a protein that helps the skin maintain its elasticity and reduce wrinkles. And who doesn't want that?

While this is a belief rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, there isn't much scientific evidence to prove this sadly. 

According to Marina Medical in Hong Kong, eating fish maw isn't necessarily the most efficient way of absorbing collagen in the body and instead suggests other ways to boost collagen production:

- Collagen supplements

- Vitamin C

- Protein-rich foods like eggs, bone broth, meat and beans

- Zinc and copper from meat, shellfish, nuts, whole grains and beans

- Regular exercise, adequate sleep and avoid excessive sun exposure

I'll still eat fish maw whenever possible! Tastes delicious!

When a Dish Keeps Giving

Braised duck with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, beancurd skin

Once a month my parents and their friends meet up for dinner for 12 people at a Chinese restaurant called Southern Delicacy in Vancouver's Kerrisdale. In the past year the dishes have been fantastic and there are some dishes we order again and again, like the pork liver, eggplant and rice rolls in hotpot, and steamed choi sum with minced pork and egg plant.

This time we tried the restaurant's signature dish, which is not on the menu -- braised duck with canned bamboo shoots, mushrooms, beancurd skin rolls, and napa cabbage. The giant pot arrives bubbling at the table, and the sauce is mesmerising, flavoured with ginger, star anise, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and probably duck fat too.

This time with sea cucumber, fresh bamboo shoots

The portion was so large that we couldn't finish it, and we took the leftovers home, but weren't able finish them in one sitting.

In order to finish the rest of it and to soak up the sauce, we rehydrated some sea cucumber and sliced some fresh bamboo shoots. I had bought some large bamboo shoots at T&T supermarket, though after removing the tough and rough outer layer, there wasn't much left!

Nevertheless, the end result was fantastic, both the sea cucumbers and bamboo shoots taking on the flavour of the sauce, and the latter adding a crunchy texture to the dish.

It's awesome when you have a leftover dish that keeps on giving!

Remembering a Macanese Chef

Coelho when we filmed our interview with him in 2018

A culinary legend in Macau has died. Portuguese native Antonio Coelho was the chef and founder of Antonio's who died October 12 at the age of 77. He is remembered for his food that was cooked with many dollops of butter, and the convivial atmosphere he created in his cosy restaurant.

His wife Mercy made the announcement on social media.

Antonio's sauteed clams in white wine sauce

"Our family is deeply saddened to inform you that my beloved husband, Antonio, passed away last Sunday," she wrote. "I cannot express the grief that we are feeling at the loss of such a great man in the family and to everyone else."

Coelho opened his restaurant in 2007, which was known for such dishes as sauteed clams with garlic and white wine sauce, sauteed fresh prawns with garlic, grilled sardines, Portuguese duck rice, and "Portuguese" style steak that was panfried in a lot of butter and served with a fried egg, pickles and potato slices.

Born and raised in Portugal, Coelho did many different jobs from a stint in the army where he was posted in Macau for two years, to working for the government and in a clinical lab before learning about food through his then boss. He would take Coelho to different restaurants, where the young man developed his palate and tried to recreate the dishes for his friends on the weekends.

Coelho enjoyed the media attention

Four years later he started working in a restaurant where he really learned how to cook. After three years there Coelho opened his own place.

In 1997 following his divorce, Coelho decided it was time for a change of scenery and moved to Macau to start fresh. He worked in several restaurants in the former Portuguese enclave and Hong Kong, before opening Antonio's in 2007.

I interviewed him in 2018, an assignment from one of my bosses, as it was his favourite Macanese restaurant. We tracked down Coelho who didn't seem to take our interview request too seriously. But when he saw we showed up with a video camera and keen to shoot, he went all out and allowed us to film him in the kitchen and stay for dinner.

Watching him cook in the kitchen he wasn't particularly meticulous, measuring out things exactly. Instead he cooked with instinct (and a lot of butter), which is probably why he had so many fans who could taste his love in the dishes.

Interviewing him, Coelho talked in tangents, not quite answering the question and would fall into his favourite topic of food and cooking.

The infamous Portuguese duck rice

At the time he also had a roving guitarist who would serenade diners with songs. It was definitely a unique and memorable experience. 

He told our cameraman at the time to come back anytime, and he took him up on his word, bringing his wife for a romantic weekend.

But when they walked into Antonio's again, Coelho didn't remember my colleague at all -- leaving him flustered despite explaining he had filmed him a few weeks earlier...

Shanghainese Restaurant Salty Disappointment

Eight treasure duck too salty for our tastes

Earlier this week we went to a Shanghainese restaurant in Richmond that we'd never been to before, and won't be going back to anytime soon.

It's called Yuan's Garden Restaurant, and when we arrived we hoped it would be a suitable substitute to Suhang, a very good Shanghainese restaurant that closed recently.

Inside, the decor of Yuan's Garden is clean, tidy and contemporary; we were surprised when the waitress told me the restaurant has been around for about 10 years.

Looks good, but tough meaty texture

As we waited for our fellow diners to arrive, we perused the menu and the prices, particularly for the set menus looked very reasonable, featuring ingredients like lobster and steamed fish. Peking duck two ways is $86.98, while eight treasure duck (they call it "duck stuffed with eight delicacies") is $84.98. We had preordered the latter dish.

We ordered the rest of our dishes, many standard Shanghainese ones and then waited for them to arrive, while the restaurant quickly filled up.

One of the first dishes to arrive was the appetiser of ma lan tou with minced tofu. It was OK, but the vegetable was not very fresh, more on the older side so it was tougher. 

Xiaolongbao is usually a good test. With eight of us we ordered two servings and they came freshly steamed. Picking it up, the dumpling looked good, the skin practically see-through as you can easily see a lot of soup inside.

The skin was thin at the bottom, thicker at the top, but the pork filling was more on the leaner side, with not enough fat to make the texture smoother. This was surprising for a Shanghainese restaurant that should know better what the ratio of meat to fat.

Stir-fried egg white and broccoli

Next came the shrimp stir-fried with green tea leaves, and honestly the shrimp did not have much of a tea flavour and this dish was left mostly untouched throughout the dinner!

Next came our pre-ordered eight treasure duck and it arrived with quite the procedure. The waitress used a knife to slice it down the middle and then along the sides to make about 10 pieces. 

It looked very promising, with a moist, tender appearance, but the initial taste was salt. It was much too salty and the filling inside was not very discernible except for baby shrimps, a few lotus seeds and mushroom with the salty duck meat. Disappointing.

However, we had a bit of a reprieve from the saltiness with a hot pot filled with napa cabbage, tofu, mung bean noodles, fish balls, ham, and pig skin in a soup. We also ordered broccoli stir-fried with egg white and a raw yolk in the middle. None of us wanted to try the yolk and ate around it.

For dessert, something a bit unusual -- black sesame glutinous rice balls that were studded with crushed peanuts. 

In the end the dinner was $37 per person including tip which made it great value, but quality-wise we weren't persuaded to come back again.

A hot pot filled with ingredients

Yuan's Garden Restaurant

101 - 8077 Alexandra Road

Richmond, BC

778 297 6098

 

Taiwanese Duck and Ginger Hot Pot

A warming duck and ginger hotpot for a stopover in Taipei

On my way to Vancouver I stopped over in Taipei for a few hours and met a friend there for dinner.

Unfortunately my flight was delayed by almost an hour, but I managed to make up for the time by rushing out of the plane at Taoyuan International Airport. I grabbed a cart to put my two hand carry luggage, which helped me breeze down the long corridor.

Vermicelli on the left, emperor vegetables, right

Then picking up my bags again we walked through a temperature check and to ensure we did not contaminate Taiwan, we walked on an elevated platform that was covered in artificial turf that had some sanitiser for the soles of our shoes.

After this walkway we arrived at passport control -- which hardly had any queues! I was amazed I was out of there in minutes. So was my friend who picked me up at the Arrivals area.

He insisted on taking me to eat a Taiwanese dish -- duck and ginger hotpot. It was pouring rain but a good excuse to warm up with this food, particularly with ginger!

We went to a Bawei location near the airport and it was pretty much an open-air restaurant, though it was completely covered, just the area facing the street was completely open, with yellow lanterns hanging outside advertising the name of the place.

There were many low tables with a hole in the middle and stools surrounding it, so it was almost like crouching, but not uncomfortable.

Tick off your orders here

We were given a sheet with ingredients on it to tick off, while a man first brought some charcoal that was heated up and placed them in the hole in the table, followed by a big clay pot filled with the duck soup, mostly duck bones, and big chunks of ginger. Some mushrooms were already added.

While we waited for raw ingredients to arrive, we had a plate of vermicelli, thin rice noodles tossed with sesame oil, a signature dish of this place. 

Unfortunately this particular place didn't have any duck blood! But we had other items like emperor vegetables, tofu, duck intestines, and fish dumpling wrappers. 

The meat from chopped up duck was quite tough and hard to extract from the bone, but the soup was delicious and surprisingly the ginger cooking in the pot for so long did not make the broth particularly spicy. It did hit the spot for me, being a rainy night and after traveling for three weeks the gingery soup helped me re-energise for my upcoming long-haul flight home.