by MARK SLUTSKY

Upper St-Laurent pan-Asian mainstay Soy now has a companion restaurant, and the proprietors haven’t strayed far. Bô, their new venture, is barely a block away from its distinguished sister eatery. (It’s also barely a block away from the much-talked-about restaurant and winery Bu, which is certain to lead to some confusion.)

Bô is located in the space previously occupied by Café Ciné Lumière, a good-looking cinema/café that I could just never get around to visiting. Well, too late for me! From the looks of it, they’ve kept the large space more or less intact, while re-decorating and covering a couple of walls in large Chinese characters. It’s a nice, multi-levelled space, although a little too open to call it cozy.

Bô serves up a similar brand of fancified Asian cuisine, as does Soy, and in some cases the dishes are practically identical. This isn’t a bad thing—Soy’s reputation is well deserved—although it is a little weird to open a new restaurant some 100 metres away and not come up with a completely new menu.

Bô’s main courses are in the $14–$18 range, and an extra $7 gets you the table d’hôte, which means you get an appetizer of your choice, tea or coffee and a small dessert. This isn’t quite as good a deal as it seems, as most of the appetizers are $5–$6, and the ones that are $7 require an extra $2 surcharge to make it into the table d’hôte. So basically you’re not really saving any money (as the green tea should by all rights be complimentary anyways).

But enough about the prices—let’s get to the food already! As far as entrées go, don’t miss the salmon tartar ($7). Served in a cocktail glass, it’s made with a delicious miso-lime marinade and accompanied by strips of nori, a little pile of marinated ginger and slices of cucumber, so you can kind of make your own sushi. A fun and tasty dish. The cold gai lan broccoli ($6) was also a refreshing treat, served with thin, sweet slices of green thai mango, a pair of grilled, interlocked shrimp and a mustard-based vinaigrette. The pork dumplings ($5), served in a steamer with ginger vinegar and szechuan sauce, were a great simple appetizer, hot and hearty.

Bô proudly and simply advertises its General Tao chicken ($14) as “Notre poulet General Tao,” so I was curious as to what made them add that possessive. The same thing that makes Soy’s unique, apparently, as the dishes are pretty much exactly the same. It’s a pretty good, fancy interpretation of the standard, light on the breading and served with an intimidating tower of crispy dry noodles. A much more interesting dish, though, if you’re in the mood for chicken, and maybe the tastiest thing on the menu, is the Indonesian-style tamarind chicken, served with ginger rice and baked inside a lotus leaf ($14). Spicy and aromatic, the chicken was wonderfully tender and flavourful, and the rice was just amazing—satisfyingly clumpy and deeply imbued with rich ginger flavour. Absolutely delicious.

Perhaps not reaching the same rapturous heights, but still good, is the grilled beef with thai basil ($17). A slight caramelized flavour gives the dish a certain sweetness, and its simplicity is charming—it reminded me of a more complex version of the grilled beef at Vietnamese restaurant Milani, on Bernard W., a personal favourite.

Bô doesn’t skimp on the seafood front, either. Although I’m not a huge scallop fan, I was very partial to the wok-fried scallops with Chinese chives in a light garlic sauce ($18). The little guys were cooked to perfection, tender and not the slightest bit rubbery, and they soaked up the tasty sauce like a sponge. Delightful.

TIPS? QUESTIONS? COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF? E-mail eattothebeat@gmail.com

BÔ
ADDRESS: 5163 St-Laurent (between Fairmount and St-Viateur)
PHONE: 272-6886
HOURS: Mon-Thu 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m., 5–10 p.m.; Fri 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m., 5–11 p.m., Sat 5–11 p.m.
BEST FEATURES: The spicy roast chicken served
wrapped in a lotus leaf
ALCOHOL: Yes
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Some tables located up a half-flight of stairs
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: A few dishes, though not many
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
NO-SMOKING SECTION: Yes
PRICE: $9–$12 per person for lunch, $14–$25 per person for dinner, before wine, tax or tip
RATING: *** out of ****