Lunch at Nudo in Montreal, Canada + Beaver Tail from La Cremerie

More Asian goodness.  For our final meal we went to The Eaton Center, which is a mall.  But before you disparage the food selection the place we ate at actually has a branch in the mall with main hub in Chinatown.  This place serves home-made noodle soups.  Ramen but Chinese.  You can see the guy beating the dough and cutting your portion in front of me.  So fresh!  A bowl is under $8 and super filling and tasty.  Somehow all the best noodles I eat are in mall kiosks ha.

After lunch I was going to get ice cream at La Cremerie, but then I saw they had beaver tails!  Deep fried dough in the shape of a beaver tail topped with whatever you want.  We went for the simple chocolate with confectioners sugar.  Sooo rich and a giant portion.  The chocolate kind of dripped all over our clothes/bags haha, but it was worth it.

Beef shank soup with veggies.  The beef was well cooked and the broth had nice flavor

My mom's chicken soup with sesame sauce - a milder flavor.  Still tasty and seemed healthier

My BBQ pork soup.  Soo good I didn't want it to end

Beaver tail with chocolate and confectioners sugar.  You can't tell but this is ginormous

Dinner at L'Express in Montreal, Canada

For our last big dinner in Montreal we went to L'Express, which is touted as the quintessential French bistro in all of Montreal.  I made a reservation a few days before we arrived after being denied at APDC and Joe Beef.  The food was honestly incredible and as good as APDC but totally different element.  L'Express I think has some very clearly French dishes and all done supremely.  The food was all so rich though that I felt supremely food coma-ed and in pain until the next morning lol.  Worth it for sure though.  And my parents got to try some new things, so it was a really nice experience.

Fresh baked baguette, butter, and house pickles.  Why is french bread and butter so damn good?  We had three loaves/pats of butter and I could've def had more.  So so good.  Even their pickles were good, and I usually loathe pickles.  It was just more tart than sour

Bone marrow appetizer with toasted bread

With the leaves removed

See the marrow scooped out.  Soooo delicious and rich.  Even my parents liked it.  How could you not?  Just meat fat spread on butter bread yummm

My mom's Housemade Raviolis - stuffed with pork and beef and topped with mushrooms and rich sauce.  On of the top ordered dishes and you can see why

Sauteed duck confit with salad - I wanted to order quail but it was sold out, but this was a great poultry alternative.  Spinach bed topped with croutons, nuts, radishes, and of course duck confit.  There was a TON of duck.  No skimping here.  It was definitely filling for an entree even though it was a salad.  The duck was very rich though.  The fat kind of dripped on the veggies

Fresh sea bass and veggie - my dad ordered this and really liked it.  The fish was melt in your mouth soft.

Chardonnay.  Soo good they thought we ordered two haha

Ile flottante with caramel - "floating island"  Meringue and creme fraiche with almond brittle and hardened caramel shell. Soooo good and huge.  Enough for at least 4.  The best part was dipping the almonds in the sauce

Chocolate tart - only thing I didn't love because it was very dark and bitter, which I'm not so into it

Dessert at Patisserie La Legende Bakery in Montreal, Canada

After dim sum we went strolling through Chinatown and stopped by a bakery for dessert.  Everything we had was pretty delicious.  Nice and light but very sweet and flavorful.  The service was ehh but there was plenty of space to sit down so there wasn't much interaction.

Green bean bun cake, coco bun cake, and chocolate twist.  The top two buns were very hearty and very sweet, in a good way.  The twist was super light and had nice chocolate spread throughout. 

Dim Sum Brunch at Maison Kam Fung in Montreal, Canada

We went to the "best dim sum in Montreal" and were veryyy pleasanstly surprised by our meal.  After the previous night's pathetic Asian dinner, it was so refreshing to have an authentic Asian meal.  Plus for dim sum it was pretty up there in awesomeness.  The whole meal was so cheap too.  Around $35!

Bok Choy with oyster sauce

Shrimp steamed dumplings (L) and pork and shrimp shu mai (R)

Shrimp in rice wrappers

Some delicious shrimp and crab fried dumpling

Congee - the only thing I didn't love

Shrimp and scallop steamed dumplings

Fried calamari - such huge pieces almost seemed like an octopus.  Also a huge fried portion

Dinner at Sesame in Montreal, Canada

We were pretty tired after a long day of site-seeing, so just went to an Asian-fusion restaurant near to the hotel.  Though the presentation was nice the food itself was ehhh and I'm pretty the chef was not Asian.  Sad.  At least it tasted kind of healthy.

My Peanut Chicken - chicken slices in peanut sauce with veggies and white rice

Mom's shrimp dim sum - pretty sad attempt.  No discernible taste let alone shrimp taste

My dad's Crispy Sesame Beef with veggies and white rice.  Very deep fried and salty

Lunch at Chez Suzette in Montreal, Canada

I took the 'rents to Old Montreal for traditional French lunch of crepes.  Everything was amazing as it was the first time, but even better because we got more dishes.  A definite must-visit site in Montreal.

Escargot au gratin - snails in a garlic butter sauce topped with cheese and baked.  Amazinggg.  So garlicky and buttery it wasn't even gross to eat the snails ha

My dad's La Laurentienne - crepe stuffed with ham, swiss cheese, asparagus and served with bechamel sauce

My mom's Coquille aux fruits de mer - literally seafood shell.  Shrimps, scallops, and mushrooms in a delicate creamy white wine and lobster sauce topped with cheese and baked.  Super decadent and tasty.  Lots of seafood chunks.

My Quiche Lorraine - ham, bacon, onions, and swiss cheese.  Best quiche ever.  With a side of Caesar salad

We shared La Sonia - crepe filled with bananas, strawberries, and nutella and served with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream

Dinner at Reuben's Deli in Montreal, Canada

My parents' first meal in Montreal was smoked-meat central.  I took them to Reuben's Deli, as it was within walking distance of the hotel and we had had a weird long day of sporadic eating.  I don't think they were too impressed by the meat itself, or the poutine.  Too bad.  At least they tried it without having to go to one of the famous restaurants and waiting on long touristy lines.

Chop Chop Poutine - fries with gravy, cheese cards, and chopped smoked meat.  The base poutine was great.  The curds tasted fresh and gravy had nice flavor.  The meat made it salty and the fries were delish but too thin for poutine in my opinion

Famous Reuben's Sandwich - rye bread with huge portion of smoked meat and mustard, served with a pickle and cole slaw

Reuben Sandwich - pumpernickel bread with pastrami and sauerkraut.  Nice flavor and much more manageable in size

My baked French onion soup.  Perfection

Dinner at Patron Mexican Grill in NYC

Had a nice dinner with Dan in Hell's Kitchen.  I had been to this restaurant years ago with a lawyer at my dad's firm, and fortunately it was good with no wait.  Everything was tasty though the empanadas were a little ehh and definitely needed salt.  The ceviche and tacos were delicious though.

Tuna Ceviche - Yellow fin tuna cured with lime juice, onions, cilantro, serrano pepper, tomatoes, diced avocado and sliced olives.  A great combo and I actually didn't mind the onions.  Olives were unnecessary

Special appetizer - empanadas with chorizo and potatoes

Inside of empanadas - well fried and nice combo of ingredients but lacking salt

Skirt Steak Tacos with pico de gallo, queso fresco and two salasa, plus rice and beans.  The steak was well-marinated and hearty portions.  I think I would have liked it if they were cut a little smaller or shredded though.  The rice and beans had nice flavor

Dinner at Fernandes Steak House in Newark, NJ

After watching "Steak Paradise" on the Travel Channel Dan and I of course had a big craving for some big juicy steak.  After some brief yelping, we decided on Fernandes Steak House, which had like 4.5 stars.   It was truly a bang for our buck as we got 20+ ounces of steak for a fraction of what we could pay in the city.  Accidentally got a giant jug of sangria.  Meant to get the little one aka half-jarra haha.  Woops.  The restaurant has two restaurants across the street from each other.  We technically dined at Fernandes II but I think it looked more formal than the original.  The restaurant also has rodizio, which looked pretty amazing.  Definitely have to come back again with other people to try the all-you-can eat meat.

Dan's Cowboy Steak - 21 oz with balsamic mushroom glaze, amazing potato sticks with pork and caramelized onions, and veggies

My 22oz T-bone steak with rice, veggies, and potatoes. Under $26

Close-up of Dan's amazing onion-y and garlic-y potato side dish

After-math of my T-bone

After-math of cowboy steak

Serradurra - fresh cream and mashed up vanilla wafers