The Press Gang's Drill review, and Days 3 & 4 - Montreal

To end off the night of Day 2 in Halifax, I have to tell you about our dinner.  After wandering about downtown Halifax for a half hour or so, we disappeared into the Press Gang, a wonderfully romantic and ambient old building.  Our Hugh Jackman look-alike waiter's name was Alex, and took care of us right away, telling us that The Drill (the restaurant's 4-course fixed price menu) had been prepared for us.  He gave us the option of pairing a wine with each course, and what could we say?  Sold.  Ready for this?

1st course:  Seafood

Paired with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - a light, tangy citrus-note wine.  Good but not incredibly memorable.

Local Nova Scotia Chowder, with mussel, smoked salmon, potato and clam.  I really enjoyed the chowder (except for the odd piece of potato that didn't seem quite cooked), but Roger merely approved.  He liked how the smoked salmon was full of flavour, smokey and salmony, and how it imbued the chowder.  Yum.

Digby Sea Scallop, with peach jam on a bed of roasted brussel sprouts.  Oh man, did brussel sprouts never taste so good.  They had that lovely crunchy caramelized flavour to them without any of the sour/bitter taste that sprouts usually have.  I quite liked the peach jam sweetening the perfectly cooked silky sea scallop, but Roger's favourite was the third item...

Nova Scotia Lobster, on a bed of caramelized red cabbage and pine nuts.  If you think brussel sprouts were awesome, this cabbage blew our minds.  The cabbage had been softened and sweetened with some onions, and the occasional crunch from a slivered pine nut.  Topped with the lobster and a rich sauce I couldn't begin to tell you what it consisted of, and the star to our first course is born.


2nd Course: Salad & Amused Bouche 

(Paired with another New Zealand wine, this one a Pinot Noir.  Neither of us felt this wine was very remarkable, but I got into the spirit of trying to guess what type of food was coming with each wine selection.  For this one, I guessed meat of some kind.)

Salad of Arugula, sun-dried tomatoes and sweet onion.  I don't know where they get their sun-dried tomatoes, but I WANT SOME.  These aren't your typical full-of-acid-bite fruit, they explode with the sweet taste of sun in your mouth.  Paired with the peppery arugula (I'm really starting to like that leaf) and the crunch of sweet onion, and this was one salad Roger and I had no problems finishing.

Pork belly in Molasses sauce.  I gotta say, this was one of the less remarkable dishes we were served.  The sauce was very, very sweet - molasses indeed - with ginger and the thick teriyaki-like sauce saturating the fatty meat of the pork belly.  Too sweet, in our opinion - it needed an extra bit of bite from a vinegar or a spicy layer.

Yam Perogie with Black Truffles and Sweet Potato Chip.  Possibly the BEST part of the entire meal.  Oh, this thing was to DIE for.  The sweetness of the yam encased in the starchiness of the crust was swimming in a rich and delicate truffle sauce.  I actually tried my first truffle on its own, and was a bit disappointed at how little its flavour burst in my mouth.  Much more like a nutty mushroom than anything.  But oh, the perogie.  Whoever thought of topping it with the thin slices of deep-fried Sweet Potato get special kudos, because that sharp salty crispiness of the potato cut through any moment you thought you were getting sick of the cloyingly rich truffle sauce.  EPIC WIN.


Palate Cleanser - Strawberry Sorbet with mint

3rd Course:  The Meat

(Paired with a Californian 'Apothic Red', which is a mix of Shiraz, Pinot and Cab I think.  Whatever it was got better and better with each sip, its undernotes of woodsy vanilla and coffee coming out to play.  Easily our favourite wine of the night.)

Duck Breast with Cherry Sauce and Yam Mash.  The duck was good, but not blow-your-mind good.  In fact, I found I appreciated it much more in between the other two meats there were to try than to start with it.  I'll also confess that this is the one course where I asked Roger to finish my portion.  Mostly, I left him the duck.

Lamb with Cassis Sauce and Mashed Yukon Potato.  I wanted to take this one home and curl up in it, I loved it so much.  However they cooked the lamb was PERFECT.  It was still red and rare, but didn't have any gamy overly-lamb flavour to it.  Then add the soft currant tartness and potatoes I wish I could make (because most people know I am not a potato fan), and I swear there was nutmeg in there too... but of the three parts of this course, the lamb is the one I ate all of.  Couldn't leave any for Roger.  Must eat it all.  All mine.  My precious.

Pork Tenderloin with Homemade BBQ Sauce on Bed of Vegetable Salad.  And then when you're not looking, they hit you with this meat!!  I have had tenderloin many times, but nowhere has it tasted like this.  I couldn't figure out what made it so irresistible; it seemed to contain all the ingredients I'd had before.  But it was perfectly seasoned with pepper and salt, and the homemade BBQ sauce actually blended into everything perfectly instead of being "Yeah?  So?"-like... which I admit to expecting.  My one and only critique of this meat is that the portion was insanely large.  Like, on its own it could have been dinner.  But Roger managed to finish off what I didn't, and I wasn't too full to enjoy the pleasure of pairing the meats over and over with our delectable and smoky wine.  And then we dreamed of our last course.  Would it be dessert, or as Roger joked, pasta?  Dessert pasta?  We'll see.

4th Course: Dessert

(Nova Scotia's own Jost Wineries provided us with a not-too-sweet, apple-note icewine to accompany our dessert.  Tasty!)

Creme Brulee.  Okay, I had to start with this one.  It's the first thing I radared towards, and first thing I cleaned out.  These people know what they're doing.  The custard was oh so rich, solid enough to stand up on its own but soft enough to melt like caramel on the tongue.  The brulee... just... yum.  Needless to say, I'm picky about my creme brulees, and Press Gang didn't let me down.

Poached Pear in Red Wine, with Oatmeal Crunch and Creme Anglaise.  Where they did let us down was here.  They had served us dinner with a fork and spoon - no knife - and we found ourselves ill-equipped to dissect the pear.  Too hard, it felt like after-dinner exercise to try and trap the fruit and shear bits off of it.

Also on the plate was a gooseberry (or as we'd discovered earlier at Aunt Norma's, a "ground cherry") with tasty chocolate 'paint' (exactly what it sounds like) and a soft and crumbly shortbread cookie with drops of blueberry coulee to mix it with.  It wasn't the most impressive dessert platter we've seen, but after three nearly perfect savoury courses, it was a nice end to a perfect night.


After the meal, we rolled ourselves back to the hotel and tried out the huge jacuzzi tub.  Awesome.  After floating about like plump little dumplings, we climbed up into the hilariously high queen bed and slept straight to the next morning.  Which takes us to...


Day 3:  Train Time

After a quick breakfast at the Waverley (we were surprised we ate anything after the night before's gluttony), we packed up and checked out.  The VIA station was a five minute walk away, and we had no time getting there for 11, a full hour before the train was scheduled to depart.  Before we knew it, we were on board in our little room for two.

In short, I don't like what they've done with my train.  VIA used to fascinate me - the dome cars, the quaint dining car, the sliding doors between each car, the berths that fold down like origami.  But now it's all gone.  The only type of cars they have now are economy (which we weren't allowed into) and sleeper class, a mix of sleep-two rooms.  No dome car.  No park car.  A 'service' car with a bar and an uninspired list of take-out items, and a dining car that has fold-down seats.  Something seemed wrong and missing.  Sure, it was neat to have our own little room, but I missed the airiness that came with the berths.  I especially missed the dome car, and the walk down to it.  I think when I was little, I had just as much fun walking along from car to car, hoisting the ready-to-close sliding doors open at each juncture.  That's gone now - no doors at all, and our car was one of three sleeping cars before the service car.  No exploration necessary - the sleepers are all identical. 

I know I'll be happier with the train to Vancouver.  Dome cars, berths, showers that aren't your entire bathroom...  But until then, *heavy sigh* VIA.  Heavy sigh.

Day 4:  Montreal

Following a leisurely breakfast in the dining car of toast and coffee (well, I had coffee.  Roger had Apple Juice), we packed up our things and gave our B&B a call.  Rob kindly gave us directions for our cab, and we were at La Loggia before we could blink.  It's nestled to the east of Centre-Ville in "The Village".  Think Church and Wellesley.  Our room is lovely, with a huge bed in comfy linens, a little table with iron chairs for take-out and typing up blogs (guess where I am?), a tv, two windows overlooking the street (we're on the first floor), and our own ensuite with shower.  Already used the shower to try and regain some semblance of neatness, after cramped quarters in our little roomette.  Everything is immaculately clean here, and the two guys who run the place (Rob and Joel) are wonderfully helpful.  They've got wi-fi, hence the updates, and they've already given us a map of the city and a list of recommended restaurants. 

The afternoon was devoted to walking downtown to see exactly how far it was, and to see what's around, so we strolled down Maisonneuve and Rue St. Catherine.  We passed the Place Des Arts, where we'll be seeing the symphony tomorrow night, and discovered the awesome little villages around the University, like the Musee Quarter and the Latin Quarter.  I bought some gloves - because it's a wee bit nippy right now! - and am so glad I brought my hat.  Earflaps are a necessity here right now, with the wind being so fierce and cold.  Tomorrow, who knows?  We know we've got the symphony, but our day may get devoted to Old Montreal, a portion we didn't see today.  We'd also like to head out to the Biodome and the Gardens (Chinese Lantern Festival is going on right now), and maybe climb Mount Royal too.  But we've still got two more days, so lots of time to fit it all in.