Better no galangal than soggy galangal. Ginger is a good substitute. Bon appetit!

You can get it in Chinatown at G&D Market, easy to reach by metro. I buy fresh galangal, slice it up and pop it in the freezer. And keep powder on hand.

I went with my family yesterday after noticing it in the Openings thread. We enjoyed it although didn't realize it was byow but the water offered was good. Everyone kept asking the waiter if the water was okay because of the boil water advisory - he must have gotten tired of it. We had the chicken curry which was very light and my kids loved the sauce, kept spooning it onto their rice. We also had Dad's favourite caramalized Pork which was very hearty and almost like a beef stew in flavour. Both dishes were a bit heavy handed with bamboo shoots so I'd probably try the fish next time. The mango salad was thickly chopped as mentioned in Susan Musgrave's review, very lightly seasoned, and we all enjoyed it. The flavours were new but not all that startling ... I wonder how many Vietnamese or Thai places in town actually have Cambodian chefs?

It's actually pretty hard to find good Indonesian food in NYC and we've got 3 places here now, Nonya (the most upscale), Mia Tapas, and Gado-Gado. I think I might be forgetting a fourth one. I used to have drag piles of Indonesian groceries from a small shop in Manhattan over the border but we have a big Asian grocery store in the suburbs that has everything we need, Marché Hawai. There's an Afghan place called Khyber Pass on Duluth that is byow that is fun. Good vegetarian Taiwanese at Su Shian Yuan, not sure how hard that is to find chez vous. Cheese shops might be fun too, particularly in the markets, for gathering local raw cheese. I had a delicious brebis recently called Zacharie Clothier, for example. And I think Kouign Amann is worth a visit no matter where you are from.

Just a note that Chinatown is right at Place d'Armes and very stroller friendly, although it might not be what you're looking for in terms of an elegant meal. Lots of good food there and you wouldn't have to rush to do an early dinner.

My only hesitation might be that L'Express has a lot of tile and glass which means the acoustics can be noisy so I wouldn't necessarily count on the sleeping. That said, I never encountered any problems bringing sleeping babies early at places in the city. If the weather is nice it might be fun to go somewhere with an outdoor terrace. The only place where I know children are unwelcome is Garde-Manger, something to do with restrictions with their liquor licence.

Also in Quebec City, there's the Fou Bar for music and micro-brewery beer. Apparently they have free tapas on Thursday and Friday. Oh, looks like it's just jazz on Tuesdays.

Nice to hear L'Express praised. I don't find it touristy at all either, just classic which is a good thing but perhaps some chowhounds here get weary of that? That weather was a shocker for all of us, if it's any consolation.

We like to go to Diese Onze, Casa del Popolo, Resonance Café, Upstairs or L'Astral in Montreal. The first two probably provided the most casual or interesting meal options. Modavie in Old Montreal has house bands, often more R&B than jazz these days though. Here's a good listing for what's playing: http://www.sortiesjazznights.com/2/bu...

In Quebec City I'd go to Largo, great pasta, good ambiance.

I've been wondering the same thing. It's been around for a few years and the menu looks good, reviews on their site and Tripadvisor are good. Prices scare me a little which is why I haven't been yet. Photos on Tripadvisor are good too.

Just a note to say they have 10 microbrewery beers and a nice wine list at Taverne Urbaine sur Duluth. Just enjoyed the stout, a pint for $5 at happy hour (only mid-week).

Taverne Urbaine sur Duluth has good poutine and I think they might have some micro-brewery beers, cocktails, happy hour between 4 - 7 ... they do have solid pub food too. It's new, only been open a few weeks. Poutineville on Ontario has good poutine that is a bit gastro-pub-like but not sure how complex the drinks are.

There are a few other places that are like bars with snackfood these days, Mauvaise Reputation and Josephine come to mind. I prefer the first two I've mentioned.

L'Express is a good idea, or Pintxo is an easy walk from Sherbrooke. For a casual meal where you can easily walk in without an reservation, Saint Sushi Bar on Duluth has delicious, original sushi. Or the seafood pancake at the Korean place Restaurant 5000 Ans on St-Denis is always good.

Lallouz is good and the starters would all be vegan, and without the feta the falafel should pass. Gado Gado is not too spicy and would definitely have some vegan options if you just nudge the egg aside in the gado-gado. Su Shian Yuang is a good vegetarian place that meat eaters can enjoy, I find. None are byob though, but Miga is, nice healthy Korean food, and they make vegetarian versions of all their dishes on request.

Tasso bar à mezze on St-Denis has a lot of fish choices and a terrace. I haven't been but it looks alright when I walk by and in it's last incarnation as a grilled fish restaurant, Psarotaverna du symposium, the fish was very good. Might be a bit pricey.

I hunted around for Ribena a few times and was surprised they didn't have it Marché Hawai. Sometimes I get a French cassis syrup which is pretty similar and easier to find. I can get it at Co'pain d'Abord, for example. The brand I have at the moment is William.

We'll have to try it. There's a pizza crawl in my future, I think.

The Taverne Urbaine sur Duluth finally opened up a week ago after waving a banner for several months. Since the weather was so great we decided to give it a try just so we could enjoy the interior terrace. We managed to arrive in time for 4 à 7 happy hour so I had a good pint of dark beer for $5, friends had sangria for $6. We tried a lot of different things on the menu and everyone was pretty pleased. The kids devoured the poutine and the hamburgers which are very big. The paté chinoise was approved, the boeuf bourgignon poutine also was declared very good. I had the fish and chips, a large portion, good batter, okay cod. The fries are more brown and soft than I like, the coleslaw suspiciously gray but tasty. The tasting platter of appetizers was generally a large amount of various patés and the least favourite of our many choices. All in all, a good place to hang out and eat non-threatening, crowd-pleasing food. Attentive service with a few quirks ... they wouldn't cut the hamburger in the kitchen, for example, though two kids were sharing, insisting it would affect presentation. Like as if the kids care, but whatever. Vinegar was brought for my fish and chips in a soy sauce cup. But that's fine as the relaxing terrace makes up for it. I'd probably still opt for Saint Sushi Bar when out on Duluth looking for a great meal, but for a nice beer and some snacks while outdoors, this will do and it is a nice improvement over the previous restaurant in the same location.

I volunteer at my son's primary school and help out with the English class for the bilingual kids in his group, Grade 3 and 4. They wrote short restaurant reviews of their favourite places in our neighbourhood and I thought it might be handy for some chowhounding kids and their parents here. So here it is as a Google Map: http://goo.gl/maps/3n5YB

Saint Sushi Bar is open on Sundays at 3pm, delicious sushi, https://www.facebook.com/SaintSushiBar

You can get very good pancetta at Milano which is pretty close to the Jean-Talon market.

We managed to squeeze 12 in around one long table.

We really should break this thread up into yearly and seasonal threads too, so long to read or to find new info. I went to both seasons last year and preferred the sugaring off season because there was less cream and butter, more bacon and duck fat so that worked better for my cow's milk food intolerance. Lots of foie gras in both meals so that was ideal. I think I posted some photos in this thread
somewhere? Will check and see. Oh, found them: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5904...

The new reservation system is promising and I was wondering about the hahaha.com email address. Looking forward to getting a call.

That's actually $5 less than I paid at a sugar shack recently (never mind the cost of driving) and it was lacking fritters and cretons. Sounds good!

Went back here for lunch today and they have a new lunch special menu. Big portions in the bento box. I had almond crusted chicken which came on a bed of stirfried vegetables, some rice, some interesting dumplings, kim chee and a salad. Oh, and a big bowl of miso soup with a generous amount of seaweed. My husband had a sushi special, big soup, big salad with a nice variety of textures and greens, lots of good sushi so we were both very happy. It was better than I remembered and definitely better than marblebag's experience.

I think the most high class of these actually would be Chu Chai, nice table cloths, good food, full bar, lots of mock meat. Other upscale places with vegetarian options are some of the Indonesian places like Nonya and Mia Tapas. Su Shian Yuang is great for dinner although more expensive than for their buffet lunch, again a fair amount of seitan. No alcohol though. Miga just a few doors down will make a vegetarian version of any of their dishes and is also bring your own wine.

I've only ever had dim sum at Maison Kam Fung but it has always been good. Maybe Keung Kee? Le Cristal Chinois is a nice new place, a bit more expensive than most but an interesting menu and good views so fun for a dinner out. Other places we also like in Chinatown include Little Sheep Mongolian Hot pot, Mai Xiang Yuan for dumplings and the hand-pulled noodles at Nudo.

In the Guy Concordia area Chinatown 2 we like Qing Hua Dumplings, Cuisine Szechuan (most of the time) for spicy food, and Le Roi du Wonton for fried homemade noodles.

I like the Le Grand Garden pesto because it doesn't contain nuts so I can send it off in my kids' school lunches. But tonight we're having pesto from Maison des Pâtes Fraiches which is a very nice one too.

For homemade, off season it can be fun to try different pesto recipes like lemon, parsley and walnut pesto.

Weather should be alright otherwise I wouldn't risk dashing into the city and back again. 10 hours is not a lot of time when you factor in security and passport checks in and out. I was at the airport recently and as the thread posted above mentions, you can get St-Viateur bagels there which is a nice thing to try. There's roast chicken from St-Hubert Chicken which is a chain but a local one, not too bad. I had sushi from Tatami as others suggested - very pricey for what I got and pretty average but fun as a snack anyway. Lester's Deli probably has smoked meat sandwiches. Here's the list of airport restaurants: http://www.admtl.com/Passengers/Aeros...

So cool that faxes still have that kind of power, hey? Congratulations!