Driving thru Quebec, three Americans stop by Chinatown, Montreal for lunch. Being Asian-American they should know most Asian restaurants only take cash, and being American they should also know that not every country prefers to take US dollars. Between them they had $18 CAD and the average menu item was $12 CAD.
But this wasn't the beginning of a brain teaser or bad joke.
We were hungry and realized no cash might equal no lunch (for a couple of us). Thankfully Chez Maxim was one of the few places on this street that took credit cards, and the a la carte menu looked decently composed. So although the lunch specials looked completely inauthentic in description, and we walked into the 2nd floor dining area to 5 or 6 tables of non-Asian groups eating lunch in a mostly empty room that seated 100, we bit our tongues and proceeded to order.
At $8.95 the lunch specials were decently priced, including a soup and an entree. Two of us ordered the wonton soup with a lunch entree. Chicken with onions and garlic, and also chicken with vegetables. A spring roll and beef chaufun (wok-fried wide noodles with brown/soy sauce and beef) off the a la carte menu rounded out the order.
There were four good-sized wontons in each soup and we were all pleasantly surprised by the heartiness of each bite and the authentic flavor. Same can be said of the lunch entrees, though we did try to avoid ordering the most Westernized dishes so I can't speak for those. I liked that the portion size was very good and aside from very tender chicken (prob due to the corn starch in the sauce) they included a lot of vegetables in my chicken with vegetables. As in they would say in Asia, you could taste the "wok flavor" in the cooking at this restaurant. It also wasn't overly salty like many Chinese restaurants.
Service was prompt and courteous, when the server found out one of us spoke Cantonese he was extra friendly, and it seemed to be in a genuine manner. We were very satisfied with the service. If we came back next time we would try some of the other a la carte items since it seems the chef has some decent skills.