Unison

My family and I celebrated my birthday in advance at one of our favorite restaurants, Le Club Chasse et Pêche. It has been around for many years. It is a cosy restaurant, dark but not too much, and not too loud. We started with oysters. There were some that didn't have anything on them, but there were also some that came with a passionfruit salsa and some that were cooked with cheese on them. I didn't have any of the hot ones, but passionfruit being one of my favorite fruits, I had two of the ones with the passionfruit salsa. They were pretty amazing. The oysters were pricier than at any other restaurant I have ever been to, though. For my appetizer I had scallop ceviche with autumn strawberries, grapefruit and edible flowers. There was a bit too much pepper on the whole thing and the edible flowers brought a flavor I didn't particularly like. My entrée was duck with oat rice, ground cherries, and almonds. It was a great dish. The duck was crispy at all the right places. Duck and cherries are a combination that I see quite often and I don't particularly care for it, but using ground cherries made it different and much more enjoyable. The almonds brought a bit of crunch to the whole dish. For dessert, I had a maple syrup parfait with chocolate and with a sauce of red berries. It was very sweet, but I love maple syrup and red berries, so it was worth it. Le Club Chasse et Pêche is the perfect restaurant for special occasions, and I look forward to going back there.

Yellow

I first went to La Planque a while ago, with A and F. I didn't think my visit there warranted a blog post that time, because I only had an entrée with oysters. Let's face it, oysters don't tell you much about how good a restaurant can be. It is true that at La Planque, they serve their oysters with raspberry and mango vinegar, which is interesting. My entrée that time was particularly good: I had the fish of the moment, cod. It was served in a lobster bisque with small potatoes and spinach.

I went there a second time later with F and my parents. That time, I had oysters again, an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert. The oysters came with their vinegars but also with a homemade cocktail sauce. My appetizer was salmon with a coconut sauce, my entrée was chicken with thyme, chanterelles and pecans, and my dessert was made with strawberries. Everything was good, but unremarkable.

Both times, I was seated at the terrace, but the restaurant was surprisingly big inside and could easily welcome big groups. I was also very full both times. I would go back there if I wanted to indulge someplace near home (the restaurant is in Limoilou), but I think there are more interesting options downtown.

You and Me

F and I went on a roadtrip for six days at the beginning of July. We departed on a Friday afternoon and stopped in Rimouski for a night's sleep. The next day, we visited Murdochville's old copper mine. It was a short visit, and our guide was a bit weird.

We then drove to Percé where we stayed for the two nights. The first night, we had supper at La Maison du pêcheur, one of Percé's most famous restaurants. We didn't have a reservation, but there was a cancellation and we ended up with one of the best tables in the restaurant, with a view on the water and just underneath the original roof where members of the FLQ had drawn graffiti. The food wasn't that great, though. I had a sea urchin which had a bit too much cream in it and lobster with a maple and algae sauce. The lobster was a bit too rich. 

We finished our evening at the motel bar, at the Pic de l'Aurore. This is the third time we have been to that specific motel. We always end up at the bar talking with the proprietor, Jean-François, and his girlfriend Marie. Even though they live in what is considered to be one of the most far off regions of Quebec, they are more worldly than most people I know. 

The next morning, we headed to the Bonaventure island, where there are four hiking trails which all lead to a huge bird colony. We started with the trail which allowed us to visit all the abandoned houses on the island. We then arrived to the bird colony, which was a lot more impressive than what I had expected. This is what it looked like:

We took the fastest trail on the way back. I would probably go back another time to do the two remaining trails.

That night, we had supper at a place recommended to us by Jean-François, the Bistro Sacs à vin. It looked less touristy than most of the restaurants in Percé, especially since it wasn't by the water. I found the restaurant to be way better than the Maison du pêcheur. First of all, it was less expensive. For 60$, we had two soups, two entrées and one liter of wine. I had cod cakes, and they were amazing. I also tasted F's dish. He had homemade maple sausage. They were also really good and not too sweet.

We also talked with the proprietor, a nice French guy. I will be going back there for sure.

The next day, we drove to Shediac, a beach in New Brunswick near Moncton. The drive was long, so by the time we were done with the beach, it was time for dinner again. We went to a restaurant next to our hotel called Pisces. I had oysters and a bouillabaisse-like dish, which allowed me to taste all kinds of sea food: lobster, shrimp, scallops, salmon, mussels and calamari.

The following day, we went to Halifax. We walked along the harbor for a while. We were supposed to sleep there, but we thought it might be too expensive, so we got back in the car and went to New Glasgow, a pretty small town.

From New Glasgow, we drove to the Glenora distillery, which I believe is the only distillery in Canada which produces single malt whisky. We arrived in time for lunch and we both had a dish inspired by Vietnamese sandwiches. The sandwich had pulled pork smoked with wood from whisky barrels and pickled daikon and carrots in it.

We then visited the distillery and took a hike around it. We had dinner at the distillery restaurant, but it wasn't a particularly memorable meal.

The next day, we returned home. I liked traveling around the Atlantic provinces, but I don't think I will be returning there anytime soon (this was my second time in those provinces). Percé, however, is still a favorite of mine, and I would go back there again and again, even though this was my fifth time there.

Take my Breath Away

I watched Top Gun for the first time recently. At the beginning of the movie, I was really skeptical. A lot of the elements of the movie could have turned me off: the scenes with unidentifiable jets, the fact that you couldn't recognize the actors most of the time because of their helmets... However, the movie really worked for me. It was also a surprisingly sad movie. It is a bit annoying that the same two songs keep on playing, though.

Little French Song

For my dad's birthday, we went to La Chronique. It is a restaurant which has been around for quite some time, and so it wasn't crowded ike more recent Montreal restaurants. Before ordering our appetizers, my sister asked the waitress where the tuna from the tataki came from, and the waitress couldn't guarantee us that the fish came from sustainable fishing. She told us that the tuna tataki was a staple at the restaurant and that it would be difficult to take it off from the menu at times. Even with all those explanations, my sister ordered the tataki, as did my mom and I. It came with a bit of avocado, which is always good. I could understand why the dish was appreciated by most customers: there were a lot of pieces of tataki. For my entrée, I had Kamouraska lamb. It was good, but a bit small for an entrée.

La Chronique is a restaurant I would come back to whenever I really don't feel like dealing with the noise in a restaurant.

Turnip Farm

I went to see Jurassic World. There were some moments that made it seem promising. Some moments made me jump out of my seat a bit. However, the tame Velociraptors and the final fight are simply too ridiculous. The movie also definitely lacked a Jeff Goldblum-like character pondering on the meaning of life.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

After going to Decca 77, I went to see U2. It was something I wanted to do once in my lifetime. I used to listen to U2 a lot when I was younger. I haven't listened to their more recent albums that much, but I do have the latest one on my Apple devices, as all Apple users do. The songs from that album weren't that bad. They played a lot of them in the show, along with some classics like "Pride (In the Name of Love)". "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was a strong moment, with lights the color of the Irish flag:

There was a fair bit of technology in the show. There was a huge rectangular screen in which Bono could walk and images would go around him. Bono still has a great voice, and yes he talks a lot about global causes, and The Edge is pretty cool. I am glad I got to see this show.