Montreal: French Treat
Valerie Schroth
True to their French heritage,
Montrealers are passionate about food and love to eat out. "We die
poor," one woman told us, "but we have a good time." The city has
over 4000 restaurants of every size and stripe from humble to haute
- with sidewalk cafés and luxurious rooftop restaurants, chic
bistros, salons de thé and sleek sushi bars.
Many restaurant have table d'hôte
menus, in which the price of the main course includes an appetizer
and a simple dessert - a boom to the frugal gourmet. At charming
La Gargote in the Old Port area, a local favorite
with stone walls and wood-beamed ceiling, we enjoyed delicious
traditional French food at remarkably low prices. We had wonderfully
succulent leg of lamb and braised duck au framboises, with
mashed potatoes and vegetables for $14.75 and $14.95 respectively
(which translates to $9.93 and $10.06 U.S.), and that included
choice of soup or eggplant Milanese to start, and île flottant
for dessert. At these prices, we recklessly threw in an order
of escargots à la carte. Served in little shells of phyllo pastry
nestled in a delicious tomato sauce, they were the best we've ever
tasted. |
