Saturday surprise!

This past weekend, my good friend Simon was in town. He was visiting from NYC, where he currently lives and goes to school. I don't get to see him very often, so I was glad to be able to spend the afternoon and evening with him on Saturday!

When he asked me what I wanted to do, I was pretty honest with him; I had absolutely no desire to be downtown that night (gotta love the chaos when the Habs are playing...not), and would rather hang around his place. When he's in town, Simon lives in Côte-des-Neiges, an area that I've never really spent much time in. I figured it would be a good time to "discover" it. (Side note: I find it pretty funny that I've been working out of Ville-Mont-Royal for over a year and still don't know the area and its surroundings very well!)

We started by walking around and ended up finding a Starbucks, where we sat for some hot drinks and deep discussions, just as we like 'em. By the by, pumpkin spice latte? My new bff. Anyway, afterwards we walked some more (walking = my favourite passtime), onto Queen Mary road, past the Saint-Joseph Oratory, which I remembered visiting many times as a kid. (Side note #2: Can you believe they are talking about renaming that street to honour Frère St. André?! Thoughts? I, for one, am not into it. Says the South Shore resident.)

My whole point for this post is coming up, I assure you! So we were starting to get a little hungry, and Simon pointed out "Oh, a sushi place!". To my surprise, it was Kanda. OK, so if you know me well,  you know my opinion on Kanda. How many times have I been to the Bishop st. location and been sick afterwards? Frustrating. I vowed to never eat there again. However, many people have told me that the Queen Mary location was much better, so I agreed to give it a try. To my surprise, it ended up being a very enjoyable dinner! The waiters were much friendlier at this branch, and the food arrived very quickly in comparison. Best part: I WAS NOT SICK! Notable perk: we were able to benefit from a Saturday night special, which consists of 2 people + 1/2 gallon house wine for $60. Dece! Anyone who goes to all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants knows what is to be expected in terms of sushi quality, so I won't even dive into that. But all in all, I was pleasantly surprised, and might reconsider my avid hate for the place.

Granted, the best part was chilling with Simon. Come back soon, buddy!

xx j

KANDA SUSHI BAR - click here for more info.