Critic Crowns New Chicken Royalty on the Plateau

Iris Gagnon-Paradis is on critic duty at La Presse this week, and visits her namesake rotisserie restaurant, Paradis BBQ, open about half a year on the Plateau. And it’s a warm, relaxed visit, with perfectly comforting autumnal food: the fried chicken hits the sweet spot of juicy without being too greasy. Gagnon-Paradis is particularly complimentary towards the restaurant’s small twists that shift it away from being just another chicken spot: a caesar salad with fried chicken skin in place of bacon, and a gravy with some sort of mystery spice. There’s one disappointment: a kale side is bland and a little tough, but she’d easily go back. [La Presse]

At the Gazette, Lesley Chesterman is keeping things casual with a visit to Plateau microbrewery Réservoir, almost a year after the owners of now-closed Hôtel Herman took it over. Chesterman was always a big fan of Hôtel Herman and that carries over, although Réservoir is vastly more casual: Chesterman admits that Marc-Alexandre Mercier’s small menu is discouraging, declaring that Réservoir, at its heart, remains more a brewpub than a restaurant despite the changes. That said, the food excels: corn cobs with parmesan and porcini mayo are an “umami bomb”, and haddock croquettes have a “gentle fishy flavour”. It’s a good week for fried chicken on the Plateau: Réservoir’s (served with tarragon sour cream) is the dish of the night. The service might have been only OK, but Chesterman likes the beers, gives the wine list a pass, and has absolutely zero complaints about the food. Two and a half stars. [Montreal Gazette]

Randall Brodeur

Le Devoir critic Jean-Philippe Tastet is at Verdun’s new Cambodian restaurant, and like the first critic to visit, he’s warm about it. He’s happy enough to see something different among all the signs touting chiens-chauds and hambourgeois. The meal starts out a little shaky — spring rolls are over-fried and light on flavour, and a papaya salad is unbalanced with certain elements fading into the background. But the bigger-ticket items redeem it; amok (battered fish) with a red coconut curry fares well, ditto for lemongrass beef skewers and lime-marinated shrimp (although Tastet doesn’t go into much detail about what makes them good). A decent three stars all up. [Le Devoir]

Sushi Hamachi

Finally, Journal critic Thierry Daraize is out in Boucherville for sashimi and maki at Sushi Hamachi. It’s all very efficient, and from crispy tempura to mouth-melting wagyu and bluefin tuna sashimi. That said, the borderline “irritating” playlist needs a rethink, apparently leaning in to top 40 tunes a little too much. Three stars. [Le Journal de Montréal]

• Paradis BBQ: rôtisserie gourmande au coeur du Plateau [La Presse]
• Reservoir a new room for Hôtel Herman's team [Montreal Gazette]
• Hôtel Herman to Take Over Brewpub Réservoir [EMTL]
• Street Monkeys: petits singes cambodgiens rue Wellington [Le Devoir]
• Verdun’s New Cambodian Restaurant Gets a Warm First Review [EMTL]
• Sushi Hamachi: Passion à la japonaise [Le Journal de Montréal]