Montréal in the Raw and a Happy Birthday for Scott!

This year Scott’s birthday fell on a Friday so we took the day off and headed north to Montréal. It’s a shame we don’t make this short trip up to Canada more often as it’s an easy drive and so much fun! From our house it’s about 110 miles to the city of Montréal (from Burlington it’s under 100 miles!)

Of course the main motivation for choosing this lovely French speaking city was the new Raw Vegan Restaurant that recently opened!!! Crudessence is the name of this fantastic organic and living foods restaurant! Here is the information:

105, rue Rachel Ouest.
Phone 514-510-9299
Open 10am to 10pm everyday
www.crudessence.com

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on rue Sherbrooke right in the City Centre which was a nice hotel with zero problems and no complaints. From the hotel we walked to Crudessence which took about 30 minutes following St Laurent and making a left onto Rachel. Piece of cake and a nice walk! Here’s what we had for a late lunch on Friday afternoon. Everything was delicious and we were absolutely stuffed afterwards!

For Starters:

Fleurs de macadam.  Endives stuffed with mango chutney, red peppers, cucumbers, jalapenos and topped with macadamia nut sour cream.

This was my appetizer and I loved it. The macadamia nut sour cream was delicious and went so well with the lovely combination of fresh veggies.

Miso Soupe. Traditional Japanese broth made of miso, mushrooms, shallots, and seaweed.

Scott loved this Miso soup! “Oh my god you have to try this” was what I remembered him exclaiming after his first taste. It was truly divine and I’d highly recommend this one! I'm not a mushroom fan and Scott is not a seaweed lover but we both loved everything that was in this miso soup. Well done!!

Here’s the birthday boy just as our main course arrived!

La Super possee (Lasagna et salade). Slices of zucchini, sundried tomato sauce, basil and macadamia nut ricotta, all of which is layered and topped with Brazil nut parmesan. Accompanied with mixed greens and sprouts, daily salad and crackers.

It was such a treat to have someone else make me a luscious raw vegan lasagna. I really liked the brazil nut parmesan and need to learn how to make this! Overall everything was a lovely and filling meal.

Om Burger. A burger made of mushrooms, sundried tomato, flax and various vegetables served on a chapati. Garnished with fresh tomatoes, red onion, lettuce, home-made ketchup and mustard and their famous caper based aioli sauce. Served with greens.

Before Scott became a vegetarian and vegan he did eat traditional burgers so he decided to try this. While it’s quite different than your typical pub fare, we found the whole plate quite good. Scott is still a bit fussy when it comes to raw vegan burgers. So I admit I loved this burger more than Scott. The aioli sauce was delicious!

Here’s the nice lady who took care of us on Friday. Everyone was very friendly and happy to learn that I also have a passion for creating raw and living foods.

I should mention that we also ordered an apple ginger juice concoction and a raspberry smoothie in addition to our appetizers and main meal. So we didn’t have any room left for dessert! Later that night we did manage to get back to Crudessence before they closed at 10pm. I had this generous piece of chocolate mouse and chocolate-banana layer cake. Wow, that was very good! Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos since it was late and we had been enjoying some brews previously ;-)

Breakfast at Crudessence the Next Morning:

Les Crepes Sucrees / Sweet Ones. Thin pancakes made of brazil nuts and bananas with hazelnuts and chocolate sauce.

This was amazing! We were both very impressed with Scott’s breakfast! The waitress said that the crepe was also made with flax meal. It was so good and didn’t have a flax aftertaste. I’d love to learn how to make these crepes!

Le Saint-Graal. Cup of layered fresh fruits, crunchy living granola and cashew yogurt.

I used to love traditional yogurt with baked granola and fruit when traveling (before I became a vegan). I have to say that this raw and living breakfast was just wonderful and better than dairy and baked granola! We were both impressed with the cashew yogurt. It was very cutting edge and tasted like real cultured yogurt!

Crudessence also sells many raw food supplies, nuts, books, etc, etc!

Back again for a late lunch on Saturday before returning home:

Scott was enjoying a delicious, sweet and refreshing Kale smoothie: Vert Doux. This consisted of kale, banana, mint, cayenne and almond milk. We had these for breakfast as well as lunch since it’s the best smoothie we’ve ever had. After walking around in the old section of Montreal in the hot sun, this kale smoothie was most welcomed!

Les Crepes Salees / Salty Ones. Thin pancake made of nuts, avocado, chia and flax. Stuffed with macadamia ricotta, avocado, tomato and green onion.

This was Scott’s super tasty lunch! Since the breakfast crepe was such a big hit, he decided to try the savory version. Wow, this was fantastic! We both really loved the macadamia nut ricotta! Scott found this to be very filling and didn’t have room for dessert.

Pizzuchi. Choice of pizza on an olive crust accompanied with zucchini pasta. Pizza au pesto: cilantro pesto, cashew cheese, various vegetables and brazil nut parmesan.

Now this was a lovely plate which I enjoyed so much! The pizza  crust was nice and thin. The cilantro pesto was heavenly with the cheeses and veggies! I also loved the zucchini pasta which had a very nice sundried tomato sauce (and I’m fussy with sundried tomato sauces!). Even the salad dressing was so good and flavorful. I highly recommend this dish! So beautiful! :-)

The finale: My dessert!

Cheesecake!!

Wow this was absolutely amazing! It actually tasted like a traditional cheesecake. I’m wondering if they used probiotics or rejuvalac. This was a very cutting edge raw and living dessert. My cheesecakes are good but they don’t have that ‘cheese’ taste yet! I must learn how to do this like Crudessence :-)

Truffles made by Crudessence for us to take home:

Before leaving Crudessence I picked out two 4-packs of very tasty truffles from their grab-and-go cooler. Both flavors were excellent!

Zouzou Choco-Noisette boule d’energie: Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, dates, agave, raw cacao, raw carob, cayenne, maca and mesquite.

Zouzou Aux Epices boule d’energie: Sunflower seeds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, chia, raisons, dates, figs, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

Overall, I highly recommend trying Crudessence! This was our first experience eating at a raw vegan restaurant and we had a wonderful experience both days. It was a huge treat to have someone else create this gorgeous living food for us! And the incredible fresh organic food made us both feel so good, physically and even spiritually! You could tell the food was made with love!

The dining area is small but cheerful and cozy. The wait staff is very friendly and also seems passionate about this vibrant food and lifestyle which was truly refreshing. We noticed that most patrons as well as the kitchen workers and wait staff had a special healthy glow. I enjoyed seeing serious looking cyclists stopping in for smoothies. It was quite a busy little place!

There was one beautiful couple sitting across from us on Friday who looked like the gods of youth. After chatting with them, we learned that they work at the Tree of Life in Arizona (which is the world’s leading spiritual, vegan raw and live food retreat center). We both couldn’t stop staring at them as they had the most perfect, youthful and glowing skin! And they were super nice! Raw and living foods are truly the fountain of youth. And it was wonderful to see so many healthy, fit and energetic people coming and going from Crudessence! It was a very inspiring experience for me! I truly feel that raw and living foods are my path………

How about a few random photos of Montréal:

Here are two other places of interest that we also highly recommend:

Aux Vivres: vegan cuisine • juice bar • takeout. For a late dinner on Friday night we ate at this incredible 100% vegan restaurant on rue St Laurent. Our food was absolutely delicious! The service was good and the restaurant was so warm and inviting. We ate outside which was lovely on a warm summer evening. There were fresh veggies growing right next to our table. This is a truly special place, especially if you’re like us and long for vegan food and friendly vegan people :-)

Dieu du ciel brewpub! Scott and I love fresh beer that is brewed right on the premises! Dieu du ciel was down at the Vermont Brewers Festival the previous weekend and we enjoyed sampling their amazing and creative beers. So we just had to pay them a visit while in Montréal. I can’t even begin to tell you what a great time we had at this place!! But since this is a living food blog,  I’ll keep my notes brief ;-)  If you love beer, this is a must! Some of the best brewed beer we’ve had in a long time! (The beer we enjoy is always vegan)

Here’s one of my favorite China Town photos in Montréal:

Au revoir!