As a newbie in this city, I was looking forward to MTLàTable to discover more culinary gems in my neighbourhood. And, let's be honest, when other than Montreal's restaurant week are you going to have an affordable three-course meal at a local eatery?
Looking at the long list of participating restaurants, I made my life easier by choosing the nearest location from my flat, which also happened to have one of the cheapest three-course meals.
I ended up going to Little Italy's Saint-Houblon on a Thursday hockey night with two hungry friends.
We were surprised to see most people decided to watch the game while sticking to the traditional pub menu and giant draft beer towers — perhaps no one told them about the sweet deal?
Before we sat down, the waitress specified that the kitchen ran out of duck rillettes and almond cakes, leaving us with only one option for both the first and third services — a fact that deceived some customers, according to the honest staff member who took care of us.
We were starving so we stayed. We all had hummus with squash and flatbread for starters, and a vegan and gluten-free coconut and corn cake with miso caramel during the third service.
My meat-loving friends opted for the plate of ribs while I was craving the salmon tartare. The food was quite decent, averaging seven out of ten among the three of us, but it's the portion sizes which surprised us the most.
There was SO much food, my stomach was already full as they brought the mains to our table. I was able to bring two full boxes of tasty pub food home, providing me with almost another full day of meals.
If you decide to go to Little Italy's Saint-Houblon for MTL à Table, note that waiters bring the next service as soon as the chefs are done cooking. They don't wait for you to finish your plate, so you might want to eat fast or choose a bigger table if you don't want to feel overwhelmed by the amount of food in front of you.
Overall, this was a positive foodie experience given the quantity of food you are given for $35. I decided to renew the experience in another participating eatery shortly.
MTLàTable runs from November 3 to 13 in several locations across the city.
