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| - So here's the thing, the best part about La Banquise is not the actual resto, but grabbing poutine to go, a couple of beers at the dep next door, and then heading to Parc LaFontaine.
I am NO poutine expert, by any means. Everyone (clearly!) has their own (very strong!) feelings about poutine. Mine aren't that strong. But I will say, I found the gravy at La Banquise to be somewhat lacking. It was sort of grease, very similar to what you have at a Saint Hubert. But I've had poutine before in totally nondescript corner diners (like Le Fameux on Saint-Denis/Mont-Royal) where the gravy is actually part of the dish, not just a gel to hold the fries to curds to the fries, gravy with the faintest hint of nutmeg and plenty of pepper, gravy without too much salt, gravy you remember. I've also had crispier fries. Fries that don't sink under the weight of delicious gravy and squeaky melting cheese curds...
So, the fact that you can get better poutine in random diners, better than this place that specializes in poutine, is kind of a draw back.
HOWEVER, we went here because we had a good friend in town and it is ABSOLUTELY something you should do if you or someone you love is visiting Montreal. It's a thing. You stand in line, you marvel at the menu (what! you can get poutine with guac on top! what!) you wait for your order, you get sassed by the sort of unfriendly staff, you look at other people's plates (whaaa! that girl has a corndog on top of her poutine!) and you look at your own plate (how the heck am I going to eat all of this...?) you feel victoriously stuffed and spend the rest of the week biking around the city and eating salad, and it's just a thing that you have to do.
So do it. You may not fall in love with poutine, but it's a lot of fun.
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