Saint-Constant

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Quick Round Trip Into the Laurentians

This afternoon, I set off for Deux-Montagnes, on the north shore of the Saint-Lawrence in the Laurentians, to help an aunt with her computer issues (she’s a Mac user, obviously).

I had fewer than 70km to drive to get there and it took me two hours. It’s amazing that there is a bridge linking PEI to the mainland, but there is not yet a tunnel or bridge linking the two shores of the Saint-Lawrence to bypass Montreal. What a nightmare of construction, potholes, traffic, suicidal and murderous drivers, construction, more potholes, more construction, and more crazy drivers. I have got to stop taking the 10/Champlain Bridge/Décarie Expressway/40 west route. It was good back in the day (and the most direct route to Ottawa/Gatineau), but it has been a nightmare for many years now.

The trip back was slightly better, but I had dinner first to let the bulk of the rush hour traffic go past. I tried out Tako Sushi in Saint-Eustache as it was on the way home and I liked the name (tako is Japanese for octopus, my favourite kind of nigiri).

It was good, if a little expensive, but I was given three pieces of octopus instead of the two that came with the order. I didn’t ask why, but I checked the bill and I was definitely charged only for two. How nice of them!

The spicy tuna roll was good, too, but I could have done without the tempura. And I really like the mango roll (rice, nori, mango) in lieu of cucumber. Mango in sushi really works for me even if it’s not traditional.

The miso soup was hearty, but had way too many mushrooms. I’ve decided that since miso soup is usually close to $4, I am going to stop ordering it in restaurants and get an extra nigiri instead.

For the drive home, I took the 13 south, amazed that the 13 north was at an absolute standstill. The 40 was backed up several kilometres before the exit, so I continued on the 13 to the 20 to grab the Honoré-Mercier bridge to take me to the 30 on the South Shore. Traffic on that route was slow, but better than on the 20 in the other direction, which was also at a standstill.

I still managed to miss my exit after the bridge because there was too much traffic for me to merge into the left lane and I had to get off at the next exit in the wrong direction and loop around. I got all the lights through Sainte-Catherine/Saint-Constant/Delson. Needless to say, I was thrilled to get onto the 30 and speed eastward. Forget grabbing the 10 (construction), so I took the next exit, Grande-Allée, to arrive at my mother’s via Salaberry Boulevard (basically the ‘back roads’ way). All told, the drive back took only 75 minutes.

My mother and I did some renos when I got in. I’m now off to collapse.

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Chez Lien Vietnamese Restaurant, Saint-Constant

It was a spur of the moment invitation from old family friends and former bosses that brought us to a Chez Lien Vietnamese Restaurant in Saint-Constant, a place my mother had been to a few times and really enjoyed. Chez Lien is a chain, but she says that they have different owners and vary in quality. The one in Saint-Constant is the cleanest.

I’ll just make a parenthesis here to say that I started working for my bosses more than 20 years ago. I can’t believe it’s been that long! I last worked for them 14 years ago. We are still close and I can’t believe their boys are all grown up and starting to have children of their own. It makes me feel about 10 years older than I am.

Anyway, back to Chez Lien. They have a basic but mostly authentic Vietnamese menu with some Thai and ‘Chinese’ items as well as a very opinionated server. My mother gets a kick out of him. Everyone else had a combination fish and seafood platter with soup. I went for one imperial roll and the lemongrass chicken sauté. I wanted rice but when the server told me he was bringing me vermicelli, I felt it best not to argue. My mother said that I would have heard about it for five minutes if I’d argued with him for wanting the wrong carb with my meal. That sounds unpleasant, but he was hilarious!

The hearty roll came with fish dipping sauce (a clear and sweet sauce made with fish but not tasting like it at all) and a nice salad with a yummy peanut dressing. My dinner was very late coming out; my companions were halfway finished with theirs when mine arrive. But it was worth the wait! I had a huge plate of perfectly sautéd veggies and nice pieces of chicken swimming in a thin and fragrant lemongrass sauce that had just a bit of kick to it. I threw the noodles in to absorb some of the yummy sauce. Mmm! I adore lemongrass!

Chez Lien serves a variety of fruits deep fried in a wonton wrapper as dessert. Only two of us opted for dessert. My mother chose banana and I chose apple. Dessert was a bit ho hum, needing a little cinnamon or nutmeg, but the sweet sesame sauce made it pretty special. The coffee was very good, albeit a little too close to tepid to really savour.

I really enjoyed our meal at Chez Lien, especially when compared to my last experience at a Vietnamese restaurant! If I were to go back there, I would most likely have the lemongrass chicken again. It was just too good to try something else!