Peachy keen

>> La Peche Delice is an authentic, downhome Chinatown coffeeshop

by SPANKY HOROWITZ

I've never been to China, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a native Chinese would look at a plate of Montreal General Tao chicken with the same sentiment we would regard a poutine in Beijing.

 I always search for "real" Chinese food, just as I have forever been on the lookout for "real" food from any culture. In my never-ending search, which has actually led me to chart out a map of Chinatown restaurants, I think I may have come across a place that is more of a "restaurant" in Chinatown than it is a "Chinese restaurant" in Montreal--if that makes any sense at all.

 It is called La Peche Delice and I'm not sure what the title implies, but it either means the "delicious peach" or "delicacy of fishing." Both definitions left me puzzled, but enticed me to venture inside. The interior looks and feels like a diner or coffeeshop and is full of people just hanging out and eating rather than going out for a formal Chinese dinner. The menu features a few American dishes (eggs and ham for breakfast, BLT sandwiches) alongside a vast array of Chinese dishes (corn congee, duck lo-mein, BBQ pork, etc.).

 This restaurant/patisserie has been around for a while, but has recently renovated and enlarged the menu in a serious way. The entire front half of the newly decorated room serves as a take-out Chinese bakery. Customers line-up cafeteria-style, filling red plastic trays with pastries, using not their hands, but a pair of tongs taken from a rack. The assortment of homemade pastries is astonishing, ranging from simple cream-filled butter doughnuts to curry-beef buns.

 To reach the dining area, you've got to walk past a counter laden with bamboo steamers full of dumplings and a glass booth that houses the soup guy, who also prepares some of the dim-sum and main dishes. The menu is overwhelming, with 23 pages full of sections devoted to breakfasts, congees, health drinks (including "drunk lady," "eastern beautiful woman" and "purple dream"), and sandwiches (club sandwich, "luncheon meat" sandwich), along with all the regular Chinese fare and then some truly strange dishes.

 The menu is pretty confusing, as are the staff. I attempted to inquire about some items on the menu, but the staff members didn't seem to speak much English or French. I asked for a glass of water, but in this place they automatically bring you tea in a big mug (not those miniscule cups) in place of water. I learned the trick when I overheard a Chinese teenager ask for "ice-water," reminding me that with a little patience and imagination, you can get whatever you want.

 If you don't want to gamble with your money (although the ante is pretty low), you can select dumplings and dim-sum items that are displayed behind a glass partition. These little treats come four to a plate and cost $2.80. I sampled the steamed-chicken dumplings, fried-tofu squares and some little pork-pate sandwiches with slices of roasted purple Chinese eggplant acting as the bread. They were all masterpieces of fingerfood, with just the right flavours complementing the main ingredients.

 The restaurant is usually filled with a younger Oriental crowd, who seem to be there to hang out and eat huge bowls of soup, dim-sum and sip different-coloured beverages while listening to Chinese pop music, which alternates on the TV screens with Chinese variety and circus shows. I encourage you to be adventurous, but if you don't make it all the way to a table, at least walk out with some sticky-buns and a can of sasparilla! :

Patisserie/Restaurant La Peche Delice

Address: 73 de la Gauchetiere W.

Phone: 871-8388

Hours: 8am-11pm, daily

Best features: Very cheap food, but confusing menu

Alcohol: No

Vegetarian friendly: Somewhat

Wheelchair access: Yes

Credit cards: Yes

Price: $3-12 per person, including tax but before tip

Rating: *** 1/2 out of ****