Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Wedding Edition

So The Waffle tied the knot.  

My apologies to the many Broken Hearts out there who are devastated for not being the lucky one.

Many readers, notably Andrea C. and Kayle H.,  called on The Waffle to review his own wedding dinner.
 
Although he irritated the bride slightly by taking pictures of the food, The Waffle is happy to oblige. One doesn’t marry The Waffle without marrying his thousands of fans.

The wedding was celebrated on the shore of Lac Leamy, in the Hull sector of Gatineau, a stone’s throw from the Casino.  The reception was held on site, in a neat little French place called Bistro Le St-Eloi.

The friendly staff kicked off the dinner part by serving a soup, a potage of vegetables.
The concoction was heavy on tomatoes, but you could definitely taste red peppers as well.  Nicely spicy, they finished it off with a few bits of chives. It was quite smooth, not bland at all.  Delicious.

Next came their salad, called Méli-Mélo because it involved a mix of greens and lettuces, with some garden vegetables.

As with most restaurants, it was a bit heavy on the dressing, but nothing overwhelming since the dressing was not powerful in flavour.

3 mains’ were offered by the Bride and Groom:

34 went for the Bride’s pick, a Chicken Breast stuffed with Merguez, accompanied by Bell Peppers.

The chicken was tender and juicy, and the merguez was mild in order not to offend the delicate palates.

32 selected the Groom’s choice, a Veal Cutlet with Asparagus.

The veal was very tender, the asparagus adding some crunchy-moisture, a combination that worked very well.  The sauce finished the dish perfectly, adding an extra touch of depth to it all.  Quite satisfying.

25 decided to go with the Sole and Shrimp combination, served with rice.

The sole was cooked perfectly. I mean perfectly.  There was a hint of spice which worked great with the fish.  There could have been more shrimp, but overall the balance wasn’t bad.  The sauce was present as a very subtle finishing touch, to add some moisture to the dish.

Every main was served with a piece of corn on the cob on the side.  The corn was fresh, juicy and quite a nice addition to the meal.

2 had vegetarian restrictions and were served some vegetarian stuff that the Waffle didn’t and wouldn’t try.  

3 were young enough to be able to pick from the kids’ menu.

And for dessert, we had a magnificient wedding cake made by Judy Randall as a favour to the newly weds.  One of the best researchers the NDP has ever had on staff, she put a lot of effort and energy into creating a delicious chocolaty masterpiece.

Overall, a great dinner.  Kudos to Gilles, Camille and all the staff at Le St-Eloi for their part in making the evening memorable.

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Posted by The Waffle at 02:00:44 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Guinea: The Conakry Food Experiment

I was in Conakry for 8 days at the beginning of July, at the invitation of NDI for a Retraite Politique, ahead of the scheduled Fall election.

I figured I couldn’t blog much while in Guinea, and wouldn’t be able to write about everything. So I decided I would do a photo-blog.

Every picture below is clickable and you can have a closer look at the food. Generally, the Guinean food is either from the sea or spicy. Lots of stews. Generally, they have a plate of hot crushed peppers available to increase the heat.  Perfect. You can also find skewers and all sorts of food stands while wandering the streets of Conakry, as everybody tries to sell some food for a bit of money. But I decided to stick with restaurants, except for the food cooked in the little shack attached to Café Obama.  If you plan a trip to Conakry, you may want to look at this dining guide.

Obviously, French cuisine is very present in Guinea as well as Lebanese. A couple of Chinese and Korean restaurants are there too to serve the workers who came to work in the mining or fishing industries.

Butterfly Fried Half-Chicken, fries and fried plantain, tomato and onion salad.
Thiebou Dienn, a fish stew served with local brown rice and boiled vegetables. 23 000 GNF. Africana

A traditional Guinean musician entertaiting the patrons at the Africana Restaurant.

Hors d’oeuvres served to the participants of the Retraite Politique at the Novotel Ghi in Conakry during the registration.

World Cola. Made in Conakry by Sobragui. Very, very sweet and low carbonation.
More hors d’oeuvres. Note the rounded-off chicken wings.
Flag Spéciale. Bière de luxe. Very popular everywhere in West Africa. Owned by Castel. A pale lager, refreshing with a hint of bitterness.
Skol. Brewed under license by Sobragui, it originates from Bermuda. Not bad - but only if cold.
Sorro.
Seafood Pizza. Late-night snack. A bit salty. 96 000 GNF.
Typical Guinean Fish Stew. Quite spicy. You serve on the rice.
Côté Mer.

Vanilla and Brown sugar cake.
Côté Mer.

A Guiluxe by the sea. The national beer brewed by Sobragui. Smooth. 4 times cheaper than at Sorro. Only 7 000 GNF.

Café Obama.

Garlic Shrimp.
Restaurant Chinois.
Chicken and green onion, sautéed, and served in thin crèpes.
Restaurant Chinois.
Snow Peas and Garlic. Lots of Garlic.
Restaurant Chinois.
Very spicy Beef Skewers.
Restaurant Chinois.

Typical Guinean Beef Stew. You serve on rice.
Côté Mer.

Sponge Raisin Cake with papaya sauce.
Côté Mer.
Grilled Calamari and fries. Nice big pieces, no chewiness.
Café Obama.
Beef skewers with hot sauce. Good meat.

African spicy meatballs. You serve on rice.

Côté Mer.
Chocolate pastry stuffed with cocoa cream.
Côté Mer.
Another lively evening at Café Obama.
Grilled Gambas with plantain chips.
Café Obama.
Fish Balls. Free hors d’oeuvre before the meal.
Le Rocher.
Shrimp Piri Piri. Quite spicy and rich tomato sauce.
Le Rocher.
Avocado vinaigrette. A pool of dressing.
Le Rocher.
Braised Lamb African-style, with rice. Tasty, but bad cut.
Le Rocher.
Korean appetizers, including KimChi, Sesame spinach, Green Onions with chili, etc…
Korean Restaurant.
Slices of pork, coked on a hot plate.
Korean Restaurant.
Sashimi. Raw fish in Guinea. Hmmm…
Korean Restaurant.
Sweet and Sour Spicy Chicken.
Korean Restaurant.
Pork meat assortment (sausages, salted pork, etc..) with boiled potatoes. Côté Jardin Restaurant.
Kibbe. Stuffed with ground beef.

Lebanese deep fried rolls. Stuff with lamb. Very greasy.
Le Cèdre.
Merguez. Very small, very dry, very mild.
Le Cèdre.
Châteaubriand. Flambée. Sautéed mushrooms. Fries. At 37 000 GNF, a fantastic bargain. Very tender meat, great cut.
Le Cèdre.
Lamb roast with mousseline potatoes.

Le Damier.

Posted by The Waffle at 16:43:25 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Alexandria Bay’s castle

There is a castle in Alexandria Bay.

Cavallario’s is an Italian Steak and Seafood House located on Church street in A-Bay.  An institution near the waterfront, it caters mostly to tourists in the Summer season.  Cavallario’s facade is made to ressemble a castle and the walls inside are covered with items inspired by the Medieval era.  Especially Medieval is one of Don Cherry’s plaid jacket hanging near the entrance.

Having experienced one of the best Bloody Caesar at the Thousand Islands Country Club (extra horseradish, a bit pricy at 7.00$), most of us decided to see if it was an A-Bay area specialty.  Although decent, it was not quite as tasty as it was at the golf club, but it was also half the price.  (Talking of gold, our round today was postponed and then definitely cancelled after 12 holes for cause of thunderstorm accompanied by lightning that fell too close for comfort.)
Cavallario’s menu is quite diversified, which makes it tricky to figure out what is actually worth paying for and what is there just to make sure everybody finds something to order.
I didn’t feel really hungry, so I decided to go for a lighter fare tonight.  Especially since they kept bringing more of their delicious bread, a softy warm loaf covered with garlic butter.
I started with their BBQ Shrimp, stuffed with horseradish and wrapped in bacon, and served with a tangy bbq sauce with a very good kick.  Unfortunately, only four shrimp were on my plate, fairly big ones but still, you expect a couple more for 8.00$. James also went for shrimp as an appetizer, choosing the Shrimp Cocktail Supreme.  Again, four shrimp only, so I guess the supreme would be the price.  Brian decided to go for the Fried Calamari, a good pick once again this year as they were lightly battered and perfectly fried, and there was more then four - (no worries, I didn’t actually count them).  A few others ordered the French Onion Soup, and I heard no complaints about the very cheesy plate they were served.
A cup of a cream of potato was included with my entree.  It was actually quite well done, not heavy at all, which is rare for a cream of potato.  There was no chunks of potatoes however, but instead nice and crunchy green beans, which gave some depth to the soup.
Where is life without love or a dinner without wine?
That is the question Cavallario’s is asking on top of their wine list.  I suppose they are right, so we ordered a couple of bottles of the Cabernet Sauvignon 7 Oaks from J. Lohr’s winery in California, a well balanced wine, with dark cherry flavour and underlying black currant.
As I said, I wasn’t really hungry, so I ordered the baked manicotti.  Manicotti is a preshaped tubullar pasta, stuffed and baked most often with a blend of cheese.  The Manicotti I got where no longer tubular - they looked like crepes.  That is because the blend of cheese inside (ricotta and parmesan) was too soft for the heavy mozzarella they topped it on.  Unfortunate.  The pasta was served with a nice and rich marinara sauce,  and the blend of herbs and cheese inside the manicotti was very good.  The mozzarella however was a bit chewy, and could have been cut with something lighter.
In a previous trip, I had the Diablo Chicken, a spicy breast served on penne pasta and topped with hot peppers.  It was quite good last year, but Mike told me that it wasn’t as spicy this year, although still good.
Norm had the Roast Rack of Lamb.  The chops were juicy and well marinated with herbs.  And with eight bones, they were a good deal at 26.00$.  They came with an industrial mint jelly, uninspiring and unworthy of the meat.
As for Kenny, I could have sworn he had actually ordered half a cow when his King Cut of Roast Prime Rib arrived. Although it was pegged at somewhere around 16 oz by our very professional server - who sounded like Reese Witherspoon at times - there is no way that beast could have been less then 20 oz.  Cavallario’s is roasting their beef piece every day, and consumers are warned that it is available only until it last as it is the house specialty.  The meat was very tender and juicy, despite the thickness of the cut.  The horseradish that came with it was unfortunately too mild and almost watery.
Everybody was full at the end of this copious meal, and once again Cavallario’s is showing why it’s been around for so long. Attentive and fast service (except perhaps when ordering bar items - which we of course barely did…) made this a very enjoyable meal.
We all skipped dessert.
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Posted by The Waffle at 22:46:20 | Permalink | Comments (1) »