Friday, March 6, 2015
Review: Peller Estate Fabulicious Lunch, Niagara-on-the-Lake
The Bottom Line
Despite the elegant dining room, the food was ultimately a let-down.
Rating: 5/10
Rating: 5/10
Overview
Address: 290 John Street East, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON. Canada. L0S 1J0
Website: http://www.peller.com/cms/peller/restaurant/make-a-reservation.html
Recommended duration: allow for 2 to 2.5 hours
Recommended duration: allow for 2 to 2.5 hours
The Restaurant
The Peller Estate Restaurant has a very quiet and elegant dining room, with co-ordinated colour scheme of cream, taupe, and a hint of fusia. One side of the restaurant has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the vineyard.
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| Restaurant entrance |
We arrived 10 minutes after our 1pm reservation time (there is a 15 minutes grace period), and were quickly seated at the dining hall. I was impressed by how quickly we were seated. To be honest, with a fully booked restaurant, I was expecting a minimum of a 20 minutes wait.
The Menu
Here is the menu for this year's Fabulicious menu. Fabulicious is a play on words (Fab = Feb = February, get it?), and mimic Toronto's highly successful Winterlicious and Summerlicious events.
The Food
We ordered from the Fabulicious menu, along with the recommended wine pairing.
For appetizers, we ordered the Pear, Riesling and Almond Soup, the Prosciutto Salad, and a Poutine with black truffle fries, aged cheddar and cabernet gravy. The soup has a great creamy texture, and it was well balanced. The prosciutto salad however, was a bit of a let down. It was simply a simple romaine salad with two very small pieces of prosciutto on top. The poutine was also a bit of a disappointment, with the fries greasy and soggy.
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| "Pingue" Prosciutto Salad with Romaine Hearts, Brebis Parmesan, and Black Cherry Vinaigrette |
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| Pear, Riesling, and Almond Soup with Saffron Pear, Toasted Almonds, and Creme Fraiche |
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| Poutine with Black Truffle Fries, Aged Cheddar, and Cabernet Gravy |
For the main, we ordered the Salmon Fettucine with Icewine poached lobster meat, and the Coq Au Vin. The salmon was cooked nicely and had a good flavour to it, but unfortunately both the pasta and the lobster were way overcooked. Imagine rock hard lobster bits, with mushy soft pasta. Ugh! The Coq Au Vin was no better. It was dry, dry, and more dry. They could've redeemed it by adding a nice sauce, but nope, it was sauceless and dry. At this point, I was fairly disappointed with the menu.
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| Salmon Fettucine with Baby Spinach, Walnuts, Goat Feta & Dijon Cream Sauce and Icewine Poached Lobster Meat |
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| "Coq Au Vin" with Roasted Garlic Lentils, Baby Carrots, and Caramelized Cipollini |
For dessert, we ordered the Carrot Cake and the Maple Panna Cotta. Both were … not the best. The carrot cake was again, dry. A good panna cotta should be creamy and melts in your mouth. It is supposedly one of the easiest desserts to conquer as well. However, conquer it not this dish was. It was too dense, and lacks that delicious creamy texture that I was hoping to get. The fruit compote, I would say, however, was delicious.
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| Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing, and Cinnamon Ice Cream |
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| Maple Panna Cotta with Brown Butter Shortbread, Preserved Fruit Compote |
By now, you can sense that I was not having a good dining experience. The one redeeming quality was the wine selection. We had the 2014 Ice Curvee Rose to go with the appetizer salad, and it was just refreshing and delicious. I was such a fan that I end up buying a bottle from the store and bringing it home.
What confuses me somewhat is that the restaurant does have rave reviews. This made me wonder, was my poor dining experience a one-off miss, or were the reviews more of a tourist hype? I'm not sure.
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Peller Estate Winery (8/10)Back to Niagara Region
Back to Canada
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Review: Point G Macarons, Montreal
The Bottom Line
Small bakery serving some of the best macarons in this side of the continent. A must try!
- Rating: 9/10
- Rating: 9/10
Overview
Address: 1266 Avenue du Mont-Royal E, Montreal. QC. H2J 1Y4
Website: http://boutiquepointg.com
Recommended duration: 15 minutes
Website: http://boutiquepointg.com
Recommended duration: 15 minutes
The Store
I first heard of Point G when my friend brought me a box of macarons from Montreal, and since then I have fallen in love with them.
The macarons
Macarons are a French meringue-based confection made primarily with sugar, eggs white, and almond powder.
Point G have many different types of macarons on display, but I find they are slightly on the sweet side, so my suggestion is to ask for a selection of the semi-sweet macarons.
I can't remember the exact pricing, but I do remember them to be reasonably priced, which is an added bonus! Of course, you can't compare them to the deliciously chewy treats from Laduree in Paris, but Point G still has some of the best macarons on this side of the continent.
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Tuesday, February 24, 2015
L'Express dinner review, Montreal
The Bottom Line
Authentic looking French restaurant with above average food.
Rating: 7/10
Recommended Dishes
- Bone marrow with coarse salt
- Bone marrow with coarse salt
Overview
Address: 3927 Rue Saint-Denis, Montreal. H2W 2M4
Recommended duration: budget 2.5 hours
The Atmosphere
My friend, a self proclaimed foodie, insisted on visiting Restaurant L'Express at every Montreal trip. The restaurant is a charming Parisian style bistro, with a long bar and classic black and white checkered floor. Classic and authentic. By the time we arrived, the place is already bustling with guests.
The Food
For appetizers we ordered the french onion soup, fish soup, and bone marrow with coarse salt. My favourite was bone marrow. It's not what I would normally eat at home, but the marrow was surprisingly flavourful and soft.
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| French onion soup |
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| Fish soup |
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| Bone marrow |
For the main course, I ordered the hanger steak with shallot butter and fries. While I would say that the steak was delicious, I thought that the fries were only average.
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| Hanger steak with shallot butter and fries |
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Monday, February 23, 2015
Hotel La Ferme Review, Le Massif de Charlevoix, Baie Saint Paul, Quebec
The Bottom Line
A delightful gem away from the city bustle.
Rating: 9/10
Overview
Address: 50 rue de la Ferme, Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec. G3Z 0G2Website: http://www.lemassif.com/en/hotel/
Recommended visit: can easily spend half a day here with a spa visit
Hotel La Ferme
Hotel La Ferme is a unique 150 room hotel located in the Charlevoix region. Isolated and tucked away from the city, this hotel will surely carve a special place in your heart. I say unique because from the exterior, you will never guess that this is a hotel. I originally thought this is some sort of learning institution, a college or a school maybe.
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| Original toilet sign |
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| Outdoor Spa |
Unlike other resorts, this complex comprises of several small buildings (hence the collage misconception). This is designed to foster a sense of openness and community.
A ski destination, the hotel has a direct train line that takes you up to the mountains. there is also an outdoor skating rink for guests, as well as an outdoor spa.
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Sunday, February 22, 2015
Peru Trip Budget
How much will a trip to Machu Picchu cost?
For our 8 day tour, we are budgeting ~$3,000 Cdn per person.
This is the rough breakdown of our budget (in Canadian dollars):
Flight - $850
Tour (including hotels) - $1,400
Daily spendings - $100/ day
As my annual travel budget is $5,000, that leaves a healthy $2,000 to maybe squeeze in a mini-vacation later on in the year. I'll think about where after Peru! :)
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For our 8 day tour, we are budgeting ~$3,000 Cdn per person.
This is the rough breakdown of our budget (in Canadian dollars):
Flight - $850
Tour (including hotels) - $1,400
Daily spendings - $100/ day
As my annual travel budget is $5,000, that leaves a healthy $2,000 to maybe squeeze in a mini-vacation later on in the year. I'll think about where after Peru! :)
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G Adventures Peru Itinerary
We visited Peru in spring of 2015. It was definitely a memorable experience. We are a group of 16 - all couples, all friends. We joined a private tour with G Adventures and had an amazing trip! Some highlights include - trying exotic food (alpaca burger, guinea pig), getting food poisoning, crazy 28 course tasting menu, and watching people practice yoga on top of Machu Picchu!
Itinerary
- Day 1 (Sat) - Toronto/ Lima
- Day 2 (Sun) - Lima/ Cusco
- Lunch @ Aguaymento Resto Bar
- Plaza de Armas
- Qorikancha and Santa Domingo
- Drinks @ Starbucks, Plaza de Armas
- San Pedro Market
- Dinner @ PaPaCho's Burger Restaurant
- Day 3 (Mon) - Cusco/ Sacred Valley/ Ollayantambo
- Day 4 (Tues) - Ollantaytambo/ Aguas Calientes
- Day 5 (Wed) - Machu Picchu/ Cusco
- Day 6 (Thur) - Cusco/ Maras
- Moray Inca Ruins, Maras (8.5/10)
- Salineras Salt Mines, Maras (10/10)
- Chinchero Village, Sacred Valley (10/10)
- McDonald's vs KFC Showdown, Cusco (8/10)
- Day 7 (Fri) - Cusco/ Lima
- Day 8 (Sat) - Lima/ Toronto
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Peru Trip Review
Planning
Places (coming soon!)
Places (coming soon!)
- Lima
- Cusco
- Ollayamtambo
- Sacred Valley
- Patacancha Hike
- Aguas Caliente
- Machu Picchu
Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre Review, Quebec.
Beautiful catholic cathedral 30km east of Quebec City.
- Rating: 8/10
- Recommended time: 1 hour
We chanced across this gorgeous cathedral on our way from Quebec City to the Charlevoix region. This is a majestic cathedral in a small town, just 30 km east of Quebec City.
Inside the church, there is a display wall of crutches - which I thought was bizarre until I found out that the location has been credited by the Catholic Church with many miracles of curing the sick and disabled.
Personally, it's just bizarre for me to chance across this majestic cathedral in such a small town. What an unexpected surprise! That being said, I'm pretty sure that this is a well known tourist spot, as the church is filled with tour bus tourists.
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Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Review, La Malbaie, Quebec
Bottom Line
I love, love, love this place. It's a bit far out of the way, but if I have a week's vacation, I would make this trek and stay at this beautiful resort.
- Rating: 9/10
Overview
Address: 181 rue Richelieu, La Malbaie, Quebec. G5A 1X7Website: Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu
Review
What a nice hidden gem! Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu is probably one of the least known Fairmont (I for one don't know of its existence until my friend told me about it), and more lovely in comparison to its more popular sister Cheauteau Frontenac in Quebec City.We visited the Manoir during one cold winter day, and boy was it cold (-30 degrees Celcius cold). The hotel is about a 20 minutes drive from our cottage, and majestically stood on a hill overlooking the St. Lawrence River.
The beautiful ice skating rink allows guests to skate leisurely while overlooking the St.Lawrence River. There is even a small hut in the middle to allow guests to warm up those cold digits. How thoughtful!
During the summer months, guests can also hike along the various trails in the region.
Adjacent to the hotel is a casino, as well as a sports centre for the active ones. This is a beautiful hotel, and I wish we got the chance to stay here for a night.
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