| rev:text
| - Being born, and raised in Argentina(Buenos Aires) and being surrounded by authentic Argentinian food. I needed to have a taste of my own to see how similar will the food be here, as it is cooked in my own country.
On a Friday around 12:30pm we've arrived(2 people) at their Crescent location. The restaurant is huge, ample space with a very original but beautiful interior. Having said all this, only two tables were filling up the entire restaurant. While it's the beginning of the lunch rush. When most restaurants are quite busy and then you notice that the place you're about to eat at, is surprisingly quiet. That's never a good sign! I was hungry and my curiosity simply didn't stop me from wanting to sit down and see if I could get a taste of home away from home.
Only during their weekday lunch hours they have a table d'hote for $16 a person. Dessert, and drinks are not included. Only entree and main dish. BUT! You also must add an additional $2-3 extra to any chicken or beef dish. Along with $1.00 of an additional charge to some other dishes. Not sure why! So already you can forget about being $16.00 per person. That did not sit well for me.
Anyways..
As an entree we've tried two things. The classic and traditional empanada. Oh my! Talk about bringing back amazing memories of the classic empanadas. They were prepared just like in Argentina. A tender dough, filled with sweet, juicy tomatoes, fresh basil and a very flavorful and stringy cheese. Deep fried and cooked to perfection. I was very very pleased!
Our second entree was little fritters of fresh spinach, along with a very spicy mustard sauce. The fritters were tender, and very flavorful. Crunchy and not at all oily. Perfect! The mustard sauce gave them the perfect touch of heat.
About ten minutes later our main dishes arrived.
I have ordered the entraña(Skirt steak) with their homemade fries. Oh my! Oh my! Outstanding as well. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium, with an traditional taste of the typical charcoal grill that everyone in Argentina uses. The perfect smokey, woodsy taste to a perfect tender, but slightly chew cut of meat.
As for the fries.. Amazing! Crispy on the outside, and tender on the inside. Lightly seasoned with garlic, and salt. Not at all salty! Just perfect.
We've also ordered a beef steak, which was served with cooked vegetables. Once again cooked to an absolute perfection. As for the vegetables, they were just "OK" nothing to brag about. Everyone of our main dishes were served extreme hot, well presented and within a very reasonable waiting time.
As for their dessert. That failed miserable. By far one of the most disappointing dessert I've had. Especially at the cost of $9.00
In Argentina we have a very common dessert that you will most likely see in 9 out 10 menus. It's a freshly made crepe, filled with Dulce de leche, rolled like a cigar. With a light sprinkle of sugar and broiled till the sugar has a golden crust on top.
All this being said, our dessert did not remind me of anything I've had during my many visits to an Argentina restaurant. In fact, our dessert lacked a great deal of freshness, and quality. The crepe was hard, cold, and stale. NOT freshly made. It was served alongside of ice cream. Which the ice cream had no taste at all and it was hard as cement. The dulce de leche was delicious, sadly it was ruined by a unripened piece of cold banana inside the cold crepe. The crepe had a broiled sugar top, which tasted nothing less than burnt. A horrible bitter taste to it.
Overall, I think their main strength is their meat dishes and side dishes as well. The service was quite good, although our waitress lacked a bit of enthusiasm as I noticed her texting from time to time. Disappointing.
Would I go back? I can't say for sure yes or no at the moment. Sadly, Montreal does not offer Argentian restaurants with good quality foods and a lovely ambiance. If ever I'm craving a dish from my home country, I will think twice before giving L'Atelier D'Argentine a second chance. I do strongly recommend you steer far, and away from their desserts.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)