| Savoury seasonal snacks >> Eight exotic ways to put some yummy in your tummy by MICHAEL CITROME
Portugese cake and sausage Smack in the middle of the Portuguese part of the Plateau, Stella Estrela is an area institution, serving coffee and homemade cake to a mixed crowd of Portuguese, local hipsters and others in the know. Step into the sparkling clean bakery and you’ll see a huge display case full of little cakes, from natas (egg custard tarts,) fluffy meringues and giant macaroons to enormous rum balls and a sweet bun filled with custard, chocolate, marzipan and nuts that must weigh half a pound. For something meatier, try pao com choricour, a crusty mini-baguette with thin slices of spicy-sweet Portuguese sausage baked inside. Everything is about $1-2. Stella Estrela, 22 Duluth
E., 843-7012 Bengali sweets and treats
As for sweets, gulab jamun (little dough balls in syrup) are familiar to fans of Indian buffets, but Bangla Bazar also has sticky jellafi (bright red candy pretzels) and milky rossogolla. Plus lots of other little cakes with exotic flavours like coconut and cardamom reasonably priced at $4-6 a pound. Marché Bangla Bazar, 4705 Van Horne, 738-5363 Italian loaves and square pizza A fixture in N.D.G.’s
Saint Raymond district, Boulangerie & Patisserie N.D.G. is an amazing
home-style Italian bakery, with fresh baked breads, pastries and cookies,
not to mention wheel-shaped taralli big enough to fit on the back of
Schumacher’s Ferrari. For something more substantial, try the pizza, which comes both round and square, with meat, cheese and artichokes. Or have a sandwich: anything you want with tomatoes on a crusty roll for about $4. Plus there is an extensive selection of olives, pickled veggies and Italian coffees. Boulangerie Patisserie N.D.G., 5801 Upper Lachine, 481-4215 Filipino fare Real Filipino fare is on the menu at Bahay Kubo, which means “my little house” in a phrase borrowed from a Tagalog folk song. A new addition to the Van Horne strip, this restaurant-bakery is big and squeaky clean.
Bahay Kubo, 4736 Van Horne,
733-1841 New York Jewish bakery Montreal has no lack of Jewish bakeries—we practically invented the bagel. But Cheskie’s Heimishe Bakery, on the border of Mile-End and Outremont is something unique—a New-York-style Jewish bakery. Heimeshe means home-style and Cheskie lives up to the moniker with enormous Black and Whites ($1.50), a Bronxian sponge cake cookie that’s iced half chocolate and half vanilla. There’s also delicious rugelach, diminutive chocolate Danishes that are incredibly sticky. The cheese Danish and fancy cookies are also a treat and you can quench your thirst with normally Brooklyn-specific Mayim Chaim sodas and seltzers. Cheskie’s Heimishe Bakery, 359 Bernard W., 271-2253 Homegrown Michigan Despite the geographical provenance of its name, research suggests that the phenomenon known as the Michigan hot dog, a steamie on a bun slathered with meat sauce, originated in and is confined to Quebec. So for new Montrealers, the Michigan hot dog, best enjoyed at the Lafleur hotdoggeries, is not just a snack, it’s a rite of passage. Lafleur has the best poutine of any fast-food chain, as well as lots of variations on the classic steamie, including cheese, bacon and a vegan version. Lafleur, 3620 St-Denis
near Carré St-Louis and 17 other locations Vietnamese subs Vietnamese subs are still the hottest snack in Chinatown, and they’re now in lots of other places too. A mini baguette spread with butter and paté and filled with Vietnamese ham and bologna, BBQ pork, cilantro, pickled radishes and carrots (and at better places fresh veggies), the subs are a filling way to spend $2. In addition to Chinatown, try the Jean-Talon market area and Victoria in Cote-des-Neiges. Just look for a sign that says “Banh Mi.” Most shops offer a wide variety of side orders, including sticky rice, crispy Imperial rolls and spring rolls filled with rice vermicelli, shrimp and thinly sliced pork. At many places the sandwiches also come in vegetarian and chicken varieties. In Chinatown: Banh Mi Tien
Thanh, 1050 St-Laurent, 954-0113 Pan-Latino lunch People in the know are aware that South American food has nothing to do with ground beef covered in orange liquid cheese. Supermercado Andes combines a pan-Latino lunch counter with an extensive selection of Latin American grocery items. Tamales, a steamed mixture of corn meal with meat, egg and other ingredients, figure big on the menu here, with regional varieties from Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Peru. There are excellent empanadas (with both dough and cornmeal wrappings), home style sausages, carnita (roast pork) and chicarron, a fresh crunchy, meaty pork rind. Tamales are $3-5 and empanadas are $1-2. Meat and salad are sold by weight. You can accompany your meal with a side order of plantains, fried whole or squashed Salvadoran style, and wash it down with sodas from all over the continent, in flavours like fresa (strawberry) and champagne. And before you leave, wander into the grocery section and pick up some authentic cinnamon-scented Mexican chocolate. Priced at $5 a pound, these fragrant bars are for drinking, not eating. Supermercado Andes, 4387 St-Laurent, 848-1078 |
CalendarExerciseFoodSafetyMusicFilmShatnerTheatreBooksArtDance |
If
Doritos, McDonald’s and Second Cup biscotti are leaving you hungry
and uninspired this summer snacking season, here’s something to
whet your appetite. Listed below are eight places to fill your belly
and amuse your palate with some tasty new flavours that may become fast
favourites.
Representing
a culture that bridges the Indian state of West Bengal and the nation
of Bangladesh, Marché Bangla Bazar, a little dépanneur
on the multiculti strip of Van Horne near Victoria, offers a wide selection
of authentic home-made Bengali sweets and treats. Snacky offerings include
samosas and giant spring rolls filled with veggies, chicken or beef
for $1.75.
Must-try
items include siopao, soft buns filled with egg and BBQ pork or cheese
for $1.25 and kutsinta, mildly sweet orange-coloured rice jellies. $2.25
buys you six. Be sure to try lechon, Filipino BBQ pork. Accompanied
by a sweet sauce, it’s a sinful treat for carnophiles. There are
also noodles, smoked fish and daily specials.