old montreal – Fare..Eat..Ales

I love breakfast places. I don’t mean places that serve an array of croissants, scones and in-house baked goods. I’m referring to a place that serves hardcore, greasy spoon type petit dejeuner which push beyond the boundaries of eggs and bacon. I was on a recent trip to Montreal and during one of the boring sessions I was watching I started to flip through urbanspoon and yelp looking for an escape from the monotony of the day. I narrowed down the list before consulting with my buddy who lived in town about where to go. When he mentioned Le Gros Jambon, I quickly agreed and was on my way. The website didn’t rock my world by any stretch. It’s simply a freckled-face kid drinking a glass of milk with a link to a menu. However, it has great reviews and it was close so it made sense.

I enjoyed the Sunday morning walk through Old Montreal. A mosaic of pedestrians littered the street. After dodging clueless cell phone users and many spaced out shutterbugs, I arrived at the doors of this breakfast and lunch nook. It was bustling with people cramming in and slipping out but I managed to weasel my way in the front door. There were a couple of stools at the counter, so I was seated immediately. A look around told me this was my kind of place. It was set up like a 50’s soda shop that had been remade by somebody with a basement full of nostalgia including posters, retro advertisements and a mosiac of licence plates. Within a minute a pleasant waitress with no bias against anglophones came over and poured me a decaf. I gandered at the menu, skipped the burgers and sandwiches and went right to brunch. There were typical items like eggs Benedict and french toast as well as trendy items like huveros rancheros and fried chicken and waffles. In particular, I was interested in the mushroom toast which was described as “creamy mushroom sauce with smoked meat, two fried eggs served on toasted rye” which sounded perfect given it sounded like a nasty mess inspired by local flare. By sitting at the counter facing the open kitchen, I got to watch the meticulous and fluid construction of this interesting dish. First, the jalapeno-potato hash brown thing was dropped in the oil. Next, the eggs were cracked onto the flat top. The smoked meat and rye bread joined the party. Then, within seconds of each other, the bread, meat, egg and mushroom gravy were piled precisely on the pig shaped plate along with the aforementioned potato and a side of baked beans. It wasn’t the prettiest dish on earth but my taste buds didn’t care. Although a tad more gravy would have been sloppy fun , it was delicious.

My Take

When it comes to breakfast, I’m in for either a cheap diner-style spread or something a little more creative and unique. Le Gros Jambon is the latter. Instead of sipping French press coffee and biting into flaky pastries, devouring the mushroom toast with pictures of Mickey Mouse and a creepy freckled kid watching over me along the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal was as ironic as not eating a stitch of pork off a pig-shaped plate in a place named “big ham”. More so, the service was not at all pretentious, busting apart any stereotypes an anglophone in Montreal might have. In fact, it was as genuine as Mabel at the Streamside Diner speaking of her cat’s latest adventure with a ball or yarn or stories of her daughter’s success as the local hairdresser.

In the end, le Gros Jambon is a destination for foodies and which was built by smart culinary minds and those with a knack for interior design inspired by an outdated man cave. It’s has a busy, yet pleasant vibe complete with the ability to watch the cooks construct plate after plate in a melodic and methodological manner. For that I tip my chapeau to the big cheese, or maybe in this case, the big ham.

I was in Montreal for a conference and had a bit of a lunch break. I’m not much for the generic cafeteria food that fills the convention centre, so I decided to talk a stroll into old Montreal to see what kind of lunch options there were. I had a few glasses of wine the night before, so some grease and a little hair of the dog was on the menu.

So I found it rather ironic when I stumbled across Brit and Chips. I mean, as an anglophone with a pedigree from the British Isles, I felt rather naughty seeking out such an ethnocentric joint in Old Montreal. At the same time, I knew nothing would appease my needs better than a greasy piece of fish and some kind of ale to wash it down.

The place was small and was extremely crowded although it was at the tail end of lunch hour (part of me highly suspects that lunch is rarely limited to only an hour in Quebec) but luckily there was a table available in the make shift patio which was set up outside the front door. I was quickly greeted by a server was quick to take my beer order. I opted for a Fuller’s London Pride ($7.50) to further flex my anglo chest muscles amongst those who may otherwise opt for a Kronenbourg or something like that.

The menu is simple. You choose a fish and whether you want fries or not (all the choices are $10 and $12 respectively). What’s interesting is that each fish is matched with a particular batter so it’s the first time I had to weigh the type of fish against the batter and decide which I wanted more. I’m not sure to this day if you can mix and match, so maybe my dilemma was a moot point. I was torn between the cod and the maple syrup batter on the haddock. In the end, I chose the latter and went with the batter. For a downtown Montreal restaurant, it was pretty good…at least enough to forgive the fake newspaper which lined the serving vessel. The batter was crisp enough and was well proportioned to the moist fish within. I thought the tartar sauce, which is often overlooked, was a solid companion to the main.

Haddock and chips in maple syrup batter $12

Going along with the theme of the the British pub, there are also pasties, pies, sausage rolls and even some Indian influenced tandoori popcorn shrimp and curry fish cakes. I couldn’t help but order up a sausage roll and pork pie as my colleague shook his head at the amount of grease that was put in front of me. Both the roll and pie were authentic, even down to the nasty (in a good way) mustard. I could only “mustard” up the courage to eat about a quarter each as my colleague watched in utter horror.

When I went inside to pay, I noticed a soft serve ice cream machine promising an authentic chunk of a Cadbury Flake if you ordered one. I couldn’t resist and found it a nice end to a decent meal.

My Take

If I ever chose to film “An Anglophone in Montreal”, I would definitely film a scene here. The fish and chips and even the environment rival any chipper in English Canada. From the fish to the mustard to the greasy yet flaky crust of the pork pie, the place screams authentic even when they infuse a little maple syrup into the mix. There is no shortage of chic cafes, adorable bistros and fine dining in this fantastic city but if you want to be a limey for an hour, this is the place to go. Not only is the food good, there is little risk of getting a sabot in the back of the head for ordering fish instead of poisson.

Tag: old montreal

Ironic eating as I Tip my Chapeau to the Big Ham (aka Le Gros Jambon)

Review:Montreal:Old Montreal:Brit and Chips