Montreal

Yesterday I hung around Montreal's "Chinatown," checking out the shops and such -- I was trying to hit the dimsum, but my lazy ass woke up way too late. I hit Chapters, the big bookstore here in downtown Montreal before heading over, and it took me hours to find a book to read in the most cramped "flagship" store ever. Definitely feel like there's not much reading going on in Montreal. B&N is packed almost every weekend, but this place not so much... Also there isn't much curatorship there. Maybe there are smaller better bookstores to go to. Screw it, I like the big chains though. Anyways, miss home.

So I walked past some really grotty, for the lack of a better word, strip clubs (skinarama's) to get to this Chinatown, which is kind of walled off by these really lame Chinatown gates. I was really looking for a good steamed pork bun, but apparently they don't have these:

Suck it, Momofuko, Mei Lai Wah kicks your ass on these 2 dollar bad boys. But apparently, Montreal is devoid of these old school establishments I used to go to on Mott. Man, did I say I miss NY?

Anyways, this Chinatown is tiny, only a couple of blocks, and I guess it doesn't really have much in the way of Chinois living in the area. It's basically what Little Italy in Manhattan is like for Italians, a must see, but only once a lifetime. Perhaps they have a feast of San Genarro type thing down here, but it's hard to see.

Anyways, ate at a place called Beijing Restaurant, had some dumplings and soup. They put me in the worst table imaginable... next to the bathroom, the service area AND the kitchen. Oh well, I was by myself, so I guess it's understandable. Service was good, good dumplings, terrible chicken corn soup (wayyy too thick it was like sludge.) Will check out Qing Hua later, because I hear they have the only soup dumplings in the City. Hopefully I can get those somewhere here.

If you visit Montreal, don't ask me to check out Chinatown, it's not so interesting.