2023-09-07 23:30:00
In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mainly on the run, his office in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.
Tasting delicious exotic dishes without breaking the bank is possible in Montreal: a neighborhood party is currently enlivening one of the last sectors of Montreal where you can eat at a restaurant at low prices.
Shoni is the nickname of the Shaugnessy district (bordered by Guy to the east, by Atwater to the west, by Sherbrooke to the north, by highway 20 to the south) which might have inherited the nickname Resto-Ville.
Shoni makes the Plateau-Mont-Royal look like a food desert.
On certain “shonian” segments of Sainte-Catherine Ouest, there are almost only restaurants, on both sides of the street.
When a room is vacant, we can see that it was a restaurant, and we suspect that it will still be a restaurant that will settle there… or a grocery store or a bakery or a juice bar or something other likely to make salivate.
An Indiano-Latin-Japanese-Sino-Korean aroma fills the street.
(Relatively) affordable
Why is it still affordable?
Because gigantic residential buildings strung like sardines within a perimeter of less than one square kilometer provide a pool of massive customers not found elsewhere in Quebec.
Add to that thousands of less fortunate but starving students and restaurateurs from all over the world willing to work impossible hours for a modest income… and you have Shoni.
Explosive Baos
If you try Chef Lee’s pan-fried baos (from the eponymous restaurant), watch out for hot broth splashes in your eyes or nose! It happened to me.
Above all, don’t bite into this soup-soaked ball of dough without having first pierced it and conscientiously sucked it up.
Chef Lee, of the eponymous restaurant, has been making baos (dumplings containing soup) for 35 years. Louis-Philippe Messier
“A little drawing on the table explains how to do it,” says Chef Lee, 52, who has been cooking this dish as a cook since the age of 17.
“I prepare them exactly as I did in northern China before arriving here three years ago.”
It’s so good that I would eat it morning, noon and night.
Chayote salad (an unlikely cross between cucumber and apple) and wontons in peanut butter accompany the baos.
Normally at $9, the plate of six baos costs $6 during Shoni Moments.
In his kitchen, Chef Lee introduces me to the “mystery of Caramilk” bao version by revealing to me how the broth is introduced: the soup in its gelatinous solid form is contained in the mixture of cold minced pork enclosed in the ravioli.
Rui, who works for the restaurant Chef Lee on Saint-Catherine West, presents a peanut wonton dish. Louis-Philippe Messier
Flared pearl tea latte
At Xing Fu Tang, another drawing illustrates how to enjoy his “Taiwan brown sugar torched pearl tea latte,” referred to as the Signature brew:
“You have to stir your tapioca pearls with the straw 18 times!” says Théodore, the owner of this Taiwanese franchise.
This torched pearl tea latte is Xing Fu Tang’s signature brew. Louis-Philippe Messier
On the counter, a large container contains the mixture of pearls marinated in the brown sugar mixture.
For the party, Théodore and his wife Rebecca have prepared two pearl yogurts with brown sugar, one with macha (bitter), and the other with ube (sweet)… but the quantity is limited for each and there is no there won’t be for everyone.
The intersection of rue Pierce and Sainte-Catherine will be pedestrianized and equipped with a stage and a dance area. There will be Korean pop, an “evening citypop dancing in 1980s Japan”, Indian dance performances, Latin dance workshops.
On the counter at Xing Fu Tang, a large container holds the mixture of pearls marinated in Taiwanese brown sugar syrup. Louis-Philippe Messier
The full program is here: mtlcentreville.ca/shoni
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