Plateau area - best Indian, best Japanese, other suggestions?

[wanshu]

Greetings Mtl Chowhounds.
We are LA - Chowhounders who are staying in Montreal for 8 weeks. We're on the plateau (Mt Royal/St Denis) but don't mind walking a large radius, or metro.

We're looking for great food, but not too expensive. Don't care about hip-ness or atmosphere... we're all about delicious Chowhound-level food. We're mostly vegetarian, but like seafood and are definitely NOT interested in relegating ourselves to vege-only restos. prefer "ethnic" but will try anything delicious.

Some places we've enjoyed so far: ChuChai, Sentropol, and delicious bagels!

Hated: Eduardos on Deluth - horrible! La Piazzetta - they're kidding about this being pizza, right?

Has anyone been to Blue Nile (Ethiopian)? Is there a better choice?

Best Indian around here?

Best sushi around here? (real sushi, please, not Sushi Shop fast food)

Best Korean?

Other ideas?

We plan to try (unless dissuaded by you guys) Casa Tapas, Kam Fung (dimsum), places on St Viateur (suggestions? someone said there was a good South American place?) La Couscouserie on Amherst...

L'avenue on Mt Royal? Wakamono on Mt Royal? Good or hype...?

thanks much!

[Marty]

Not a comprehensive answer...(but still darned long)

- as Angelenos, you'll probably find that Asian cuisines in general are not particularly noteworthy here. Sushi aficionados in particular seem to be disappointed more often than not. Kam Fung is a competent but unspectacular dim sum; Ruby Rouge is a little flashier, also competent. Thailande, corner Bernard and St-Urbain, is a very good Thai place. No comment on sushi, since I don't have it often enough to know which places to recommend.

- for exploring, Laurier Ave. is where you'll find pricier eats; St-Viateur runs more towards the hole-in-the-wall end of things. Can't think of any South American places there apart from the Caribbean Curry Garden (Guyanese: reminiscent of Jamaican w/ Indian and Chinese influences, not Latin); and Serrano, a Peruvian rotisserie-chicken place which is good but not worth a significant detour. There is also a West African place on the street, but I haven't tried it.

For good cheap South American food I'd suggest La Chilenita (Chilean empanadas, quesadillas and sandwiches + various Mexican-style dishes such as burritos and enchiladas; locations on Marie-Anne near St-Urbain and on Napoléon at Hotel-de-Ville) or the pupusas at Super Marché Andes on St-Laurent near Marie-Anne. There are also a number of Peruvian, Ecuadorian, etc. places farther north, on St-Laurent near St-Zotique, and on St-Zotique itself. Las Americas, at the corner of St-Zotique and Clark, is one I've been meaning to try.

- Nil Bleu has always been delicious for me, but I haven't been in about a year. Yes, it is Ethiopian. I think there are only one or two others in town.

- Casa Tapas has a good rep, but you'll have to rely on recent reports from others. It's a bit on the fancier end for tapas places. Nice ambiance.

- for Indian, pretty much everything south of Jean-Talon is standard North Americanized fare, some better than others. Mysore (St-Laurent near Rachel) comes well-recommended, as does the Golden Curry House (St-Laurent near St-Joseph).

[wanshu]

Marty, thanks for the super info! Very much appreciated. You say Casa Tapas is kinda higher-end... do you have any other tapas suggestions that are less pricy but way delish?

And is there anything we shouldn't miss on Deluth street? The Greek places look interesting from the outside, but it's hard to tell if they are just showy touristy places... we don't like those ;) We do like Greek, though - any ideas on that?

I forgot to mention that we had also walked into an Indian buffet place on Deluth that was supposed to be a great Vegetarian resto... turned out to be a lame buffet put on by the HCs. I'm all for Krishna, but not in LIEU of good food.

[Marty]

Not much of interest on Duluth (spelled like the Minnesota town), IMO, although Au Pied de Cochon is there as a shining exception--but you'll be skipping it if you're on a strict budget. For Greek, I'm partial to Philinos (www.philinos.com). I think they hit a sweet spot: casual atmosphere, great food, huge portions, but not insanely expensive. (Not dirt-cheap either...but I believe this is as inexpensive as it gets for truly worthwhile Greek in Montreal. Still, you could make a nice cheap lunch of a cold appetizer [pikilia] plate.
)
Back to Duluth: a lot of people like Bistro Duluth (mainly Portuguese grill fare, but not a traditional Portuguese setting), but I gave it two tries, had atrocious service both times, and have heard similar reports from others. (Some people will even try to tell you that bad service is endemic to Portuguese places so you just have to grin and bear it, but don't believe them. Search for my posts in the "six weeks in Montreal" thread below for more recos.)

Still on Duluth: I haven't passed by recently, but I assume Chez José (corner of Hotel-de-Ville?) is still thriving. Great place for coffee, sandwiches, omelettes...

For tapas, scroll down for a recent review (not mine) of the Sala Rossa. One must-have item not mentioned is the goat-cheese balls. The Club Espagnol du Québec is also worth a look -- this is a very down-home sort of place that only entered the credit-card era about two years ago. Good tapas, take a pass on the paella.

I've never been to the HK place on Duluth, but I did once walk by early enough in the morning to hear the building shake with chanting. :)

[Johnnyboy]

In addition to marty's good recco's:

- for sushi, Miyako (Amherst just north of Ste-Catherine) is excellent, with several inventive rolls. I've heard many raves about Maiko (on Bernard west of Park), but haven't tried them.
- Duluth has a few worthy places. Next door to APDC, there is La Colombe, a very good french BYOW. I've also been to Khyber Pass for afghan, and it was pretty reasonable.
- For greek, I'd avoid the Duluth and Prince-Arthur places. Park ave is probably your best bet, with multiple choices - but I don't know them well enough to recommend.
- Sala Rossa is a relaxed, un-fussy place for tapas. They're a little better than those at Cafe Espanol, and the latter has more of a 'community center' atmosphere (Great if you want to watch futbol, though !)
- I'd second marty's recco of La Thailande on Bernard, though I haven't been there in a while. Thai Grill on St-Laurent is another good choice, but flashier and pricier.
- You won't find much in the way of Korean, Mtl doesn't have a very big korean community.
- For couscous, I'd recommend Les Rites Berberes, corner de Bullion and Villeneuve (BYOW last time I checked). Avoid the St-Denis places (if they're still there).
- I'm a lousy critic of indian, because I like it all so much ! Mysore is a bit on the fancier side, but I've been disappointed by their food (not quite spicy or tasty enough). There are a couple of indian joints further north on St-Laurent above Laurier, which I found pretty good - but they have been described on this site as being too 'westernized', whatever that means.

Enjoy your stay !

[Marty]

Just to clarify, I agree that Duluth is no place for Greek dining; my Greek reco, Philinos, is on Parc near Villeneuve. I like it because it's not the stereotypically Greek blue-and-white, it's casual and noisy but with some class, and it feels more like my memories of Greece (from 20+ years ago) than any other place I've been in Montreal. Admittedly, I haven't tried all that many of the local Greek places; there must be others that also offer good food and value.

[plateaugal]

one of my outmost favourite places in Montreal is Figaro aka La Croissanterie, northwest corner of Hutchison and Fairmount. There is so much character in this neighbourhood cafe/restaurant nevermind probably the most popular terrace in Mile End. The Special Bonjour (croissant with scrambled egg, tomato, ham with melted swiss that comes with a cafe au lait and fresh squeezed OJ) is a winner for brunch and there are always very reasonable lunch and dinner table d'hotes.

[MangiaMuse]

Thank you, Wanshu, so much for this recommendation! We had a wonderful breakfast at Figero Le Croissanterie on Sunday morning. Everything you said was true. Lovely terrasse, great food. The juices were terrific, and my whole family loved everything we ate and drank. We took a few yummy croissants back home with us, too, although they didn't survive the car trip home. I wish we had a place like this in my neighborhood!

[WestEye]

- Le Petit Treehouse on St. Laurent below Prince Arthur makes some wonderful, inventive rolls and some pretty good appetizers as well. There's lounge style dining on the main floor and more formal dining upstairs. The rolls do get a bit pricey for the fancier ones at $10-13 but well worth it. I especially enjoy anything with Kobe steak and the Kobe Calzone appetizer.

- For Thai, I didn't find Thailande's food that impressive and am more inclined to go to Phayathai on Guy street below St. Catherine. Service is very friendly plus you have to order their deep fried shrimps and duck salad appetizer.

[Jorge]

I love Chao Phraya, a thai restaurant on Laurier street. The atmosphere is quiet and reserved but the food is delicious and the menu quite extensive. Service is excellent.

Not far from there is the Thai Grill, which rates better on ambiance, what with the lighting and beautiful people serving you. But the menu is not as impressive, neither is the food (even though it is still quite good), in my opinion.