I was reading up on the latest census report on the west island and believe it or not, there are more dumpling restaurants west of highway 13 per capita than there are in all of China. Crazy right? No, that’s not true, I just made that fact up. But imagine all the dumpling restaurants that exist in China. How do you know which ones are good? I took it upon myself to seek out which dump shop is the best in the west. Because obviously when you think West island, you think dumplings. I sought out to see which places are worth eating at. This week, my quest takes me to 1930 Shanghai. [click to continue…]
Picture a dimly lit alley steps away from the hustle and bustle of a typical Tokyo street. Along a row of wooden doors sits a hidden oasis of food and drink where locals congregate and strangers make new friends. A mix of J-pop and Japanese oldies fill the air and ride a smoke scented draft wafting from the kitchen. Small bites of fried goodies and raw seafood, pepper the tables and glimmers and random lights are caught on the edges of cocktail glasses. This is Hanzo Izakaya. Owned and operated by the same team that brought to you Escondites, biirū, La Habanera, Kao Lua, and Gokudo, Hanzo Izakaya is Tokyo at night where wisps of neon lights creep in through noren curtains inviting you into a familiar place for a drink. [click to continue…]
Street food. Why are people obsessed with it? For the same reason my room is painted bright red and I’ve already planned to name my first child Ferrari – we want what we don’t have – my dog is also named Kim Kardashian. Back to “street food”. We don’t have it a legit street food scene here, which leaves us with a crater-sized craving for the things we’ve seen fetishized on tv and Youtube. If you’ve watched that NetFlix Docuseries, you’d understand what I’m talking about. Sure we have food trucks and open-air food festivals, but that’s not the same. No matter how hard we try, we’ll always have a pathetic, second-rate attempt at something authentic and so bastardized it becomes a caricature of itself. This is why when you’re looking for authentic street food, you have too look indoors. This week I checked out a cozy spot in Montreal West serving authentic Chinese street food – Montreal Crêpes & Dumplings Chinois. [click to continue…]
