Tasty Bytes

Restaurant le St-Amable

Last year I spend 8 months living in Montréal and fell in love with it.  There are so many great things about Montréal, and the diversity of great dining experiences are just the tip of the iceberg.  My husband and I took advantage of the great weather this weekend to go hang out in Montréal.  We both love the fusion of architectural styles in Vieux Montréal, so we decided to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon wandering through the old streets, stopping into the odd shop or gallery, and watching all the interesting characters.  We found a nice French restaurant with a patio along one of the busier squares in the neighbourhood - Place Jacques-Cartier.  Restaurant le St-Amable (located at 410 Place Jacques-Cartier) is a perfect place to sit down for a snack or meal on a sunny day while watching the world go by.  We watched a clown present a great big balloon flower to a bride who was walking through the square with her husband trailed by a few bridemaids and groomsmen and a dutyful photographer.  We watched another bride-to-be sporting a disheveled veil and carrying a tray like a cigarette girl at a ball-game approach two police officers and exchange words with the male officer.  One of her friends was holding up a sign and was obviously egging her on.  The female officer was obviously entertained as her partner shifted uncomfortably.  Tourists were browsing jewelery laid out on tables in the square, and artists had caricature drawings of famous Canadians on display.  The menu had some nice fish options - including mussels, lobster, salmon and tilapia - as well as some wild meat including rabbit and red deer.  It was the middle of the afternoon, however, and we only wanted a snack.  We ordered a couple of glasses of red wine and Joe started with the seasonal soup - potato leak.  The soup came with a dollop of fresh butter dropped right into the centre to slowly melt and add to the creamyness of the soup.  It was delicious.  We had a basket of warm rolls and crispy pieces of baguette and shared a cheese tray.  It was all very appropriate for the setting and we thoroughly enjoyed the service.  Inside it seemed like a nice atmosphere, Joe described it as "aged ambiance" and I couldn't help but notice the puffed-up spikey blowfish on display in one window.  Although we only snacked at the restaurant, we were quite impressed and would go back to sample a complete meal.

Tastiness Factor: 8

Advice: Go there on a nice sunny afternoon, watch the life in the square while indulging in wine and cheese on the deck of le St-Amable.

New Nupur

Tonight we decided to go for Indian.  We usually go to the Light of India or Coconut Lagoon, but wanted to try something different.  New Nupur is located at 589 Bank street in Ottawa.  When I walked in, I was struck by the bright artwork on the walls - in particular, a painting depicting a Shiva-like character surrounded by some very well endowed Indian ladies.  "Nupur," as I discovered reading the menu, is the name of the bells that Indian dancers sometimes wear around their ankles.  There was bollywood style music playing softly in the background.

We were given papadum - described on the menu as "India's answer to a large potato chip". My husband and I ordered some Cheetah Indian beer.  Their menu was quite extensive, and I was impressed to see some south Indian dishes included - like vegetable sambar.  My mom and I ordered Mulligatawny soup to begin with, while my brother-in-law sampled the vegetable samosas.  The soup was pretty good, although mine was long gone before my mom received hers.  The vegetable samosa was verging on bland, but good all the same - not too greasy.  We chose a selection of dishes to share: a Persee (Persian) prawn dish, butter chicken, sag paneer, aloo peas, tarka dahl, and the usual rice and naan.  The service was rather slow, and we were pretty hungry when the food finally showed up (without the aloo peas, mind you).  The prawn dish turned out to be really good - a flavourful tomato-based sauce with onions and garlic, simmered in delicious spices, and just a bit hot for the others at the table.  The dahl was nothing spectacular.  The butter chicken was made with pieces of tandoori-style chicken.  I don't eat chicken, so I only sampled the sauce - which had a very smokey flavour to it - it reminded me of smoked gouda.  Although this dish had been recommended by several people in reviews I had read on-line, and the menu described it as "most essentially flavourful", everyone at the table was disappointed. The sag paneer was also a major let-down, very bland, no sauce, just plain spinach with paneer that seemed to have been deep-fried and was unlike any I had ever had before.  The aloo peas did not show up until we were for the most part done the meal.  It was okay, but again, nothing to write home about.

Overall, the service was pretty friendly but slow, and I was not impressed with the poor timing with the soup and the aloo peas.  They made it up to us by giving us as extra naan, but I was too disappointed in the sag paneer to be overly forgiving.  The only saving grace was the Persian prawn dish.  We also enjoyed the naan.

Tastiness factor: 5/10.

My advice: Stick with the Light of India or Coconut Lagoon for good Indian food in Ottawa.  If you do find yourself at Nupur, order the Persian shrimp, and hope it shows up on time.