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| - What Montreal Pool Room lacks in actual pool tables, it makes up for with tasty poutine.
A couple friends and I shared 2 large poutines. We eyeballed the monstrous dishes and wondered if we could possibly finish it all. None of us were really hungry, but we were there on a mission. If you live outside of Quebec, it is not acceptable to visit the province without indulging in a proper poutine. There must be a by-law written about it somewhere...
Gravy flowed over the styrofoam containers as we made a silent agreement that not one curd would go to waste. We ordered a couple sodas to wash down our feast - Cott's Black Cherry and Spruce beer. You can't get more Canadian than that.
The room is essentially a dingy-looking diner and the service is not exactly top-notch, but we didn't go for the ambiance - We went to chow down. And chow down we did...
First up was the chicken poutine. The gravy was piping hot with a rich flavour and thick, but even consistency. There wasn't a lot of chicken, so my friends and I became poutine pirates, trying to find the treasure lost in a sea of gravy. The chicken chunks were grilled, lightly seasoned with herbs and very tender - A great match for the classic fries and fresh, squeaky cheese curds.
The meat poutine is smothered in a rich tomato and ground beef sauce. It's a bizarre fusion of a Quebecois classic with the Italian sauce your neighbour's mamma used to make. They mix a bit of ordinary gravy in as well, which gives the meat sauce a thinner consistency than expected. There is unfortunately very little going on in the way of seasoning - a bit of extra basil and oregano would've lent itself well to this dish. The cheese curds were drowning in meat sauce, but amazingly, they kept their shape and squeakiness.
Overall, the chicken poutine is a winner; the Italian version needs some refinement.
We left with a sense of accomplishment - Our mission was a success! Totally worth the residual shame and instant weight-gain...
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