Our Neighbors to the North – Celebrating Canada Series!

This is day 28 of the 31 Posts in 31 Days Challenge

Has it really been over a year since I’ve written anything about Canada?

I’m surprised because I go there, quite a lot, actually.

Starting about two years ago, I took on a new role at work where I started working really closely with our colleagues in Montreal. Up until this point, I had worked mostly with people near Oxford in England. I loved those trips to London (and Oxford) and the eating there is pretty phenomenal. However, I do like how Montreal is so close by (only a 6 hour drive!), looks and feels like a mini-Europe (they speak Quebecois!), and has fantastic food.

I’ve been visiting Montreal about twice a year, slowly gather photos from all the restaurants I’ve visited. I’ve blogged a bit about my experiences there, such as their awesome bagels, phenomenal smoked meats, and all around great restaurants.
On top of Montreal, I visited Toronto and Vancouver and tried several restaurants (mostly Chinese!), including a fake Din Tai Fung (which I actually did blog about). We even took a boat to Victoria and traveled around that beautiful part of the country.

Clearly, it’s time to start sharing with you all my wonderful food experiences in Canada. Here’s a peek at what to expect ahead!

I dined solo at this excellent restaurant less than a mile from my hotel where I enjoyed a lovely four -course tasting menu ending in this delectable Kouign-amann with cider foam, salted caramel, and apples.

A beloved high-end restaurant from Quebec opened its second location in Montreal inside the Hôtel Le Germain. Come here to experience the full “made in Quebec” experience, where everything from the designer of the plates to the terroir of the food are decidedly Quebecois.

This quaint little 40-seater in the Outremont neighborhood of Montreal garnered immediate praise when it opened in 2011 (6th best new restaurant in Canada by EnRoute magazine).

Squid ink macaron? This and other fun, creative dishes from a popular restaurant in Old Montreal.

And because it’s been so long, I’ll re-post some of the “promises” or more accurately, “teasers” that I posted the last time I tried to start a series on Canada . . . in 2012 *hangs head in shame*. Although I did manage to publish a few Canada posts, the ones below are the ones I never got around to posting.

It’s totally clear why I needed to do this 31 Posts in 31 Days series. Man, even posting every day this month I still haven’t even come close to catching up on the backlog . .  .

And just a tiny small peek into Toronto . . .

A simple Chinese chain serves up solid, fantastic Chinese dim sum dishes and congee. *Sigh* – Why can’t we have such Chinese chains here??

What can I say? Chinese food in Toronto is just pretty freaking awesome.

And Vancouver .  .

World famous roasted squab that people supposedly fly all the way from Hong Kong to eat.