Oh Canada - full up Philippe

After an exhausting flight via Toronto we arrived at Montreal. Sebastien, his nibs bestest and oldest buddy (as in years they’ve been friends not his age) picked us up at the airport. We were staying with him and his other-half Dina at their very cool flat in Old Montreal. It had been almost two years since they’d seen each other and of course the first time they’d met me, so I was a little nervous. I was made to feel very welcome though and fell in love with their new puppies. Once in Montreal, his nibs took me on a walk-about to show off his home town. I can understand why he’d want to, it is a beautiful city, with cobbled streets, great little eateries, small galleries and some lovely buildings. That evening the four of us had dinner at an amazing restaurant; don’t ask me the name as it had none, just a symbol outside and if you didn’t know it was there you’d never find it. The staff were great, and even recognised the non-French speaker without me opening my mouth, this would be a theme during my time in Quebec. I was therefore handed the English menu and here’s were the trouble started….

As I’ve mentioned I’m not easy to feed and this menu had only one thing on it I would eat; steak. Of course I like it well done, I cannot eat pink meat; I’m sorry but I don’t like the texture, so of course I’m not normally popular with chefs, they hate to overcook a good fillet! But hey, I’m the one eating and paying for it so if I want it cremated that’s my prerogative don’t you think? Anyway the food was great, his nibs raved about it (you know how he is with food and I think he’s just a bit biased when it comes to Montreal) and the service was excellent. I had an amusing conversation with the bar tender, he asked if I’d enjoyed my meal and I replied by saying “yes it was lovely I’m full up”. Now remember I’m a Northern bird and he’s Quebecois, so not that used to my Lancashire accent, to him “full up” sounded like the French pronunciation of the name Phillip. “Ow do you know my name?” he asked, “I don’t” I replied, “You just said it” he explained, “No I said full up”. This went on for several minutes before his nibs intervened and explained to the both of us, the whole restaurant staff were by this time in stitches laughing at my accent, then asked me to pronounce words for them to mimic. It certainly broke the ice and hopefully the chef forgave me for ruining his fillet!