Last night, we went out for our one and only restaurant dinner on this trip – and it was a great one: Montreal Plaza. To be honest, after our Tokyo trip, Akemi and I were somewhat dubious, but this place really delivered.
Akemi peruses the menu
Sis peruses
Cheers!
Beneath the endives = beef tartare with anchovy
The chicken liver tartelette, my favorite dish of the night
Akemi marveled over the crispiness of the mackerel
The veggie bourguignon with bone marrow
My cute wife
Following dinner, we drove over a little chocolate shop called M. & Mme Chocolat where we picked up a medley of chocolates (exquisitely thin-shelled).
A perfectly sweet conclusion to our evening.
Today, we visited another pet-friendly cafe on the West Island – Coco & Bean where I enjoyed a salted caramel latte and a chocolate lava cookie. While there, I ended up chatting with another customer. Turns out she is a writer working her first novel, a YA fantasy. We talked books, then the conversation switched to Vancouver. Turns out she had lived near me while I lived in Van. After learning Akemi was Japanese, she mentioned she had lived in Tokyo for four years and spoke some Japanese! It was surprising to meet someone with so many common interests. Then, to top it off, we ended up running into my long-time friend Theresa (who I’ve known for some 30 years!) who works across the street from the cafe and is a regular. Timely coincidences upon coincidences. time to play the lotto!
We fly back to Toronto tomorrow and will have one day to clean the place before Dr. Blackjack visits on January 1st, bringing with her some Japanese New Year osechi!
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