Review: Maybelline Volum’ Express The Mega Plush Mascara

I got sucked into buying another Maybelline mascara! Which one? The mousse one : The Mega Plush.

Once again, Maybelline did not deliver again. I should really give up trying volum’express line. Their brush is really not for my lashes – it’s too big, and can’t get really work into my lashes.

And, for some reason, this mascara line dries up so much – my tube was drying up after one month of usage! And then, the flaking starts! urgh…I wish I could understand how come other people love this mascara so much!

But that’s it for me!! No more Volum’Express!!

Zuuchini

Dolcetto & Co. All about Italian tapas

Dolcetto & Co. is a newly opened restaurant in the Old Port. Ever since I read about it from another blog, I have put it in my restaurant wishlist. Little did I know, Mr.Butter checks my wishlist and brought me there on my birthday as a surprise!

Once entered, you will see a big square table that is able to fit about 9 people or more! This seems very typical for authentic Italian restaurant as Italians like to gather in big family and eat together. The decor inside is marine theme.

The concept in Dolcetto is to order a few dishes to share. I think it’s a great concept  in order to avoid overfeeding yourself from restaurant’s oversized servings. If you are looking for quantity food, this restaurant is not the place.

They gave us different types of bread. They were good – especially with balsamic vinegar!

The wine. That got me tipsy but sober enough to play laser quest right after dinner.

Now the interesting part. We are given a menu, just a simple paper, where we put a check mark beside the plates we want to order. However, I would say about 50% of the menu was fill with Italian words, so it’s quite inconvenient to have the waitress explain almost most the tapas one by one.

Nduja

A spicy salami paste. I ordered this because it says “spicy” on the menu. You know me – I love spicy food!! This was good pairing with the bread. Although, I would not say anything spectacular. It basically tastes like pepperoni converted into paste like.

Lobster & fennel cannellonis

This is the most popular dish of Dolcetto according to the staff. Counting on their words, we ordered it. It tastes very butter heavy. The pasta was very soft. I could taste the lobster. But I don’t understand why it would be the favorite dish of the clients. It tastes a bit blend, missing a “something something” to make it memorable. 
Fried risotto with cheese on top
This dish was the special of the date. Because I really like risotto, I decided to order it! But it was a good choice because it was my favorite dish of the day. It’s almost like a comfort food – slightly cripsy from the exterior, but creamy texture from the interior. Added with a big chuck of cheese. It was a very unique combo, I find. 
Foie gras, fig & sea salt focaccia
This pizza was so well executed! The crust was cripsy but not too hard either. The pairing was unique as well – fig with foie gras, that’s a first. Because I heart fig, I really wanted to order this pizza. Sadly, I had found out that I’m really not a foie gras lover…. (and even object to eat any foie gras from now on after I learned how foie gras was produced, not a nice scene at all). Therefore, not because this pizza was not good, just because I found out that I don’t like foie gras, this pizza was not exactly my favorite. I wished I chose another pizza, because honestly, this pizza was perfectly made.
Tiramisu Bianco
We ended our dinner with a Tiramisu. More and more, I am loving Tiramisu. And this Tiramisu is not an exception. It was so creamy and tasty. Not to mention, the biscuit served in it was soft. I’m actually surprised how good this tasted. 🙂 
All in all, I think Dolcetto & Co is a nice place to go when you are 2 people. It is a very intimate and cozy setting where you could just pass your evening chatting away relaxingly. Nothing chic and high class. Sip wine and have a bite here and there. Never feel bloated, but full enough so you would not spend the night with a empty stomach. 
Dolcetto & Co. on Urbanspoon
Zuuchini

Restaurant Park – Under the spell of Park

Restaurant Park has been in my restaurant wish list for quite a while. Because it is higher priced restaurant, the chance never came until recently.

I was over excited when Mr.Butter decided to go with me! I read too many good reviews and saw too many   pictures.

It was a good choice to make a reservation because the evening we went, the restaurant was full-house. There were people that came in later at about 8 pm, and were refused due to full seating. So please take note, make sure to reserve!

The decor of the restaurant is very simple, emitting the Korean feel (which is totally in accordance since Park , the owner and chef, is korean…).

The menu offers Japanese, Korean and some influence of fusion modern cuisine. Our waiter informed us that the menu changes relative to what the season and market offers. This statement already wants me to re-visit it again just to see what’s new!

It was such a difficult task to choose what to order. Everything sounds so good… Well good thing is, Park offers a tasting menu which has 5 services. This allows us to taste a bit of everything. But, because I was greedy and because we were 2 to eat, we ordered 2 more dishes! Yay moooore things to try!

 And…the cast of the spell has started…

Oysters from different places – which I have totally forgotten where…Each time the waiter served a meal, he would explain in great details how the food is cooked and with what ingredients. Very informative!

The oysters were fresh and each was seasoned differently as illustrated on the photo. I had the one on the right, where the caviar added a little flare to the oyster…but I think I am too accustomed to just tabasco and lemon that, i would prefer to eat it with tabasco… Hey, raw oyster is raw oyster! All it needs is to be fresh, and these oysters definitely were fresh!

Ah~ the display of the salad was just so pretty, with little flowers, that were 100% edible! I was totally attracted to this salad as the waiter told me that there were figs in it. This salad has a mushroom (which again I forgot which kind, my guess is portobello) slightly grilled. It also has grapes from Champagne, which added sweetness to the salad. The shrimps, I could care less, they were too tiny and tasteless to bring any value to the salad. But, in general, I really enjoyed the salad because of the great incorporation of the fruits.

And there came the ………SUSHI!!! I think this is the dish i was mostly looking forward to. Why? This dish offers a variety of different salmons and tunas over the world. Each one was explained by the waiter. My favorite one has to the very first on the right (see below).

As you all know, I am a fanatic of sashimi. And the very first on the right was so fresh and smooth. Almost the feeling it would melt  – i said almost…it just so tender.

I could just re-order this dish again….and again…and again. Or even eat it for a week without getting tired.

Then, the maki arrived! (this is not part of the tasting menu). The waiter told me that this is the best maki he ever tasted. When I heard that, I was very skeptical and had to try it myself to believe his claim. Well? The maki was definitely very delicious. The best? um, not quite. Not to say this maki wasn’t impressive, but it wasn’t as mind blowing as the waiter would make me to believe so. I would much rather go to Mikado to have my maki…. so, let’s just say, this roll isn’t the one who will make me come back to Park.

And then… O ….M…. G. This dish (not part of the tasting menu) was HUGE. it takes a bit more than half of the table, no exaggeration! It was (okok, i’m horrible, yes yes, I am taking the habit of taking notes…from now on) beef ribs. – i don’t wanna say it’s kobe, but my memory is telling me that it might be kobe. Anywho!

This dish was just amazing. Not only was the portion is more than generous (we got 2 huge ribs), the taste is so savory. It was well marinated and well cooked, that the meat was so tender. And I really loved the sweet potato paste served under the meat. Ah…it’s like perfection.

Then, the scallop was served. There were zucchini and shrimps accompanied as well. The scallop was big and juicy. Scallop tastes best when it’s not over flavored and it is light seared to keep its freshness of the sea. This is exactly what Park did. Well nicely executed. But, nothing overly different or original that I have not tasted from other restaurants.

And our diner ended with this dainty dessert. This dessert is derived from korean cuisine, where (if i am not mistaken) the fruits are squeezed into juice, and then it is put into the refrigerator to allow it become ice, and then shaved into this dessert – basically almost like a sorbet. The fruit that was served this time was pear. Other fruits were added to the dessert, as you could see in the pictures, raspberries, grapes, mandarins, apples…

This dessert was very light, just perfect to soothe a very bloated stomach after having a huge meal.

Overall, I am not disappointed at all! My high expectation of this restaurant was clearly met. The hype is evident. Go to the restaurant and test it yourself, and you’ll be just like me, under the spell of Park.  

Restaurant Park on Urbanspoon

Zuuchini

Le Paladar – Cuban food

Other than my short stay in Cuba, Le Paladar is my first Cuban experience.

Apparently, Le Paladar serves authentic cuban food. I cannot ascertain this, but what I noticed is that the hostess is from Cuba. She was overly friendly and very insisting in teaching us Spanish. The whole restaurant is decorated with Cuba related items. Nothing pretentious.

When I noticed that they serve Canchanchara from their cocktail menu, I got overly excited and was the hostess. She was curious how did I know about the drink. Canchanchara was introduced to me during my stay in Cuba and it was my favorite drink; it’s mixed mostly with rum and honey. Le Paladar delivered the drink quite well as it tasted just like the one I had in Cuba. I highly suggest to order a Canchanchara!! – sadly, i forgot to take a picture of the drink.

We also ordered Mojitos. They were good, just like the typical mojito.

That evening, I felt like eating some nachos…

Just looking at the picture, we can tell that it was a huge mistake. There were barely any salsa. After the first layer of nachos, we didn’t have any more salsa. This was the same for the guacamole.

I had

I really don’t remember the name of the dish. The meat is pork – it was definitely too oily and has too much fats in the meat for me to take in. I really did not enjoy the pork. What i actually enjoyed eating in this plate was the rice! It was so delicious! Even Mr.Butter couldn’t stop digging in my plate to get the rice! On the right side of the plate, we have the fried plantains. I actually liked the fried plantains. It’s a nice twist to fried potatoes.

Mr.Butter had fish, which is nothing spectacular…. it was served with plain white rice and fried plantains.

To finish off the supper, we had flans in the flavor of coconut and caramel. The texture is sort of similar to a creme brule minus the brule part and more thick/solid. It was nice, but nothing impressive that I would want to have it again…

All in all, the service was definitely very nice, but the food was mediocre – or maybe I am just not accustomed to cuban food?

Café Bistro Le Paladar on Urbanspoon

Zuuchini

Benny – THE spot for poutine

Many claim La Banquise has the best poutine or xxx place has the best poutine. Well, I claim Benny has the best poutine!

You will agree with me if:
-you do not like soft fries
– you like crispy fries
-you do not like overly dark fries 
-you do not like overly fried fries drippy in oil
-you just want a normal poutine – no fancy ingredient, no fancy sauce
– you want just the good old classic poutine
-you like the curds squeaky and not overly melted
if you agree all of the above, Benny just might be for you! with a slight twist! Their fries are the wavy ones!
Benny has never disappointed me with their poutine – the one in Grand Allee in St-Hubert/ Brossard will usually be happy to put the sauce aside to keep the fries as fresh as possible (it’s not a sit-in restaurant, counter and delivery service only). But I do not think they serve the best of the best among the BennyS. 
The BEST poutine from Benny is from Saint-Félix-de-Valois! Over there, they truly have a sit in restaurant with a nice family oriented decor. Why is it the best? The fries are just crispy and not overdone. The sauce is just not overly spicy and not dull either. The curds are just soooo freshly squeaky!

It’s about an hour drive away… and whenever I go there…I go to Benny to eat. Poutine. Every single time.

Please add benny to your list of must try poutine!

Les Rotisseries Benny on Urbanspoon

Zuuchini



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