Le Chien Fumant
Hearty bistro in Plateau
Photo by Jennifer Ho
Le Chien Fumant was one of our top restaurant choices to celebrate Alex’s birthday. It had been roughly a year since we last went and recollections of our time there were rosy. With the likes of food celebrities such as Gail Simmons having made previous appearances, we knew that we were likely going to be in good hands. Unfortunately, our first thirty minutes there were somewhat frustrating.
Upon arriving exactly on time for our reservation (and I mean 8 o’clock on the dot), we were made to wait just over thirty minutes for our table. The restaurant was completely packed and it being small to begin with, there were no spaces at the bar for us to sit and wait, neither was there an adequate area in which we could stand. So, we stood awkwardly by the door because there was no where else to go. We couldn’t really have a proper conversation as it was interrupted every couple minutes by servers and cooks squeezing past or new customers walking in.
While we waited for our table, we each had a drink. I had the penicillin which was composed of blended scotch single malt, lemon, fresh ginger, house honey and flambée zest and Alex had the tequila old fashioned, made up of tequila, cointreau, jalapeño, angostura bitters and orange peel. The penicillin was pretty delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The old fashioned, on the other hand, was crazy strong and crazy spicy. The strong part wasn’t the problem – the spiciness was. I would venture to say that Alex is an avid spice lover but even this one was a little too much for him. At first sip, you were fine. Only as the liquor slid down your throat did it get fiery intense and burn with a fury. Seriously. It became quite difficult to drink, let alone finish. To be fair, the server did warn us that it was going to be spicy, so perhaps that one was on us.
Photo by Jennifer Ho
Finally, we were seated. Our drinks being long finished at this point, Alex decided to order another, this time getting something a little more familiar – a Tom Collins. After staring at the menu for so long and catching whiffs of passing dishes, we were more than ready to order and our appetites were sufficiently whetted. We ordered the lobster-bacon macaroni and the Chinatown calamari. The macaroni instantly stood out to us as a must-have. Not to mention that friends who had recently eaten at Le Chien Fumant highly recommended it, so this one was a definite go. When it came… oh boy. Super fresh, with the cheese all gooey and warm, strings of cheese hung off almost every piece of pasta making each bite just amazing. The lobster chunks were hearty and generous – more than I expected, actually.
Continue reading Le Chien Fumant review
Photo by Jennifer Ho
Chinatown calamari
Photo by Jennifer Ho
Lobster bacon macaroni and cheese
You must be logged in to leave a comment.
