Sunday, January 3, 2016

Merci Beaucoup Montreal~

This past winter break we drove up to beautiful Canada for four days. It was a cold but memorable trip with lots of hot cocoa :)

We rented a cozy airbnb in downtown Montreal that was close to the metro, art museums, and Mont Royal (Montreal's central park). Parking and traveling on the metro in Montreal was super easy.


The first night we tried to eat at Kazu, a Japanese restaurant that was highly recommended on yelp. Unfortunately for us several of their restaurants were closed for over a week for the holidays, Kazu being one of them. We ended up at a newly opened alternative ramen restaurant Ichifuku. We were grateful for the refuge from the cold and the delicious bowls of ramen in front of us.



Day 2: 

We started our day by taking the metro to Marche Jean, a public market in Montreal. There we walked past many fresh vegetables and fruits stands. I have never seen fruits stacked so neatly! We bought two tarts, chocolate and original flavored. They were too sweet for my liking. At another stall we bought an Italian sausage. It was just enough to keep our tummies from complaining of hunger. The next stop was at this cute cafe for some slices of pizza and soup to warm our cold bodies. Then we made our way to Old Montreal - Vieux-Montréal. 


In front of a restaurant in Old Montreal - Vieux-Montréal
Basilique Notre-Dame (Built in 1656, one of Montreal's oldest church)

For dinner, I made reservations for Bouillon Bilk. What an amazing meal we had here!

Top Left: hamachi (yuzu, kosho, grapefruit, fennel, cucumber)
Top Right: fluke (soy, truffle, kohlrabi, apple, almonds, quinoa)
Bottom Left: (Beef ribs special for the night)
Bottom Right: Desserts -- rice pudding (vanilla, pecans, juniper, mandarin, clementine) & chai tea (yogurt, pistachios, cranberries)


Day 3

We started day 3 at Deville Dinerbar, where we finally got to eat some poutine! I also ordered their bad girl pasta (is it called this because it's a whole lot of calories?) Anyhow this was way too much food and we ended up packing our entrees to go. Which we really enjoyed later that day! 




After our hefty meals, we made our way to the top of Mont Royal to the Kondiaronk Lookout for a panoramic view of the city. It had snowed quite a lot the day before so the steps to the lookout was covered with snow. But this did not deter us or the many other tourists/natives from going to the top. There were also many people carrying sleds and skis :) When we got to the lookout, there was a great deal of fog and we could barely see the skyline. We went into the historic chalet to thaw our cold feet, drink some hot cocoa and bought some postcards. 

Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal (The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
                     
After visiting their fine arts museum we made our way to Cacao 70, chocolate heaven! Definitely one of my favorite stops in Montreal. Ahhhh. I'm going to try to replicate their chocolate pizza at home!



Chocolate Marshmallow Pizza!

American style hot cocoa, yummy!!

Last Day


One last latte before we go. Hinnawi Bros Bagel & Cafe 


Au revoir Montreal, til next time! Thank you to my wonderful and patient boyfriend for bringing me on this trip! Merci beaucoup!