Critic Takes Down Mom and Pop Indian Restaurant

Thierry Daraize is unhappy with the state of Indian food in Montreal. The Le Journal de Montréal critic begins a review of La nouvelle Lune, a small, innocuous restaurant in the Latin Quarter, with this lament (all excerpts translated).

Yet every time you open the door of a small Indian restaurant in Montreal or elsewhere in the province, there are few opportunities to celebrate the meal. I sincerely regret that this little restaurant does not make me change my mind. I look forward to the day when Indian cuisine surges in Montreal.

The mom and pop, mercifully, earns two stars on five from Daraize on the strength of tasty onion Bhaji, vegetable Pakopas [sic] and "very friendly" service. But not before the normally diffident Daraize levels some harsh rebukes.

This is a "Bring your own wine" Indian restaurant. I would highly suggest to also bring your heating because we literally froze.

Cold–and empty.

Upon arrival I thought the restaurant was closed and abandoned ... iiiich, it did not bode well! Everything is very dated; I do not deny that in other circumstances, I would have left. In short, it's not fancy, it must be said.

On to the soup course.

Dahl soup, a decent soup, but the feeblest Dahl I ever ate in my life. There were almost no lentils, but it was very well seasoned.

Butter turkey?

The Sheek kabab were not very pleasant to taste since they were much too dry. To follow, both classic or chicken Tikka Masala and Korma beef were not very good. The rice that we added to our order was lukewarm, bland and dry. Luckily there was a lot of sauce. Also, the butter chicken was definitely not the best I've eaten. (...) The chicken was as hard as leftover turkey. I really wonder if it was turkey. Naan undercooked.

And for dessert, how was the burfi M. Daraize?

Ouf! Non merci!

In a year of controversial and strange restaurant reviews, Daraize's latest is notable. The critic has yet to visit and review a number of new restaurants in the city. Why target such a random hole-in-the-wall?