Lunch With Terri-Lynn

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Terri-Lynn is getting married next July. It'll be a lush and lavish wedding organized with the consummate efficiency only seen in the biggest companies executive management. And I'm not exaggerating. Only four weeks after Randy proposed, the date was decided, the reception hall reserved, the wedding cake chosen as well as the pastry chef who will make it, the flowers and decorations decided on and ordered, the engagement party organized and enjoyed (yours truly attended and had a great time). Three months after Randy proposed, the invitations, envelopes, menus, RSVPs and what's not printed and ready to be stamped and sent (she is waiting for some fancy stamps to be out on the market next month featuring dragonflies -her favorites- and butterflies -Randy's favorites- before wrapping-up the invitations part), the dress and shoes bought, the reception menu decided on, tasted, ordered, the photographer and video people reserved, the thank-you notes design (yes, you heard me, the ones you send after the wedding) chosen, the dancing music all selected...

Ok, you get the picture. Try to be more efficient than this and you might not survive. But not Terri-Lynn. No, no... Not her. She's glowing with a healthy dynamism, her eyes full of twinkles and her voice bubbling like a glass of champagne when she tells you Randy and her will leave the reception hall at 3:00 AM in the morning and fly to a luxury cruise they'll enjoy for their honeymoon. Can we attach empty cans behind your car and paint "Just Married" ? Of course you can!!! That'll be so much fun!

On Tuesday Terri-Lynn invited me for lunch to "Jardins d'Asean", a restaurant which enjoys an excellent reputation on our side of Montreal south-shore. It's difficult to define their cuisine other than using the word "asian". They serve Sushi, Szechwan, Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Chinese... I was happy when I saw Terri-Lynn has chosen that particular restaurant since I heard of it in great terms at several occasions and from very different people. It was high on my "food places to try" list but I never quite materialized the action, I just thought each time I passed by its majestic and huge pair of lions flanking its doors and looking on the incredibly busy 132 road "I have to come and try this restaurant soon".

It was Tuesday and lunch time, also a day when Montreal and its area was healing from the incredible blizzard, ice-storms, minus 30º C temperatures, all-time record highway accidents with the biggest car pile-up in the history of Québec, winds strong enough to make a train derail on a bridge above the Saint-Laurent river at one of the main access to the island... We had it all since last Thursday. Montreal was on the verge to officially declare a state of emergency on Sunday. It was downright ugly.

Picture by EvilGentleman published with the kind permission of Peter at Citynoise (thanks Peter).

Yesterday was the first day of calm after what seemed total chaos and apocalyptic weather. Most of the thick coat of ice melted and we only had to worry about sliding our boots the right way in order not to fall when trying to make the few steps separating the car from the house or any business building we had to go to in or leave. Therefore, I wasn't surprise nor worried by the fact the Asean Garden had only few clients and most of its tables were empty. After all, even the huge grocery stores and malls' parking lots were only 10% of their capacity full, which is really a striking view in plain daylight at lunchtime in a week-day.

It was not too difficult to choose what to eat. I wasn't very inclined to eat maki sushi (cold! oh no more cold please!) even though I rarely resist ordering them. Right away I saw the Pad Thai and since I never quite succeeded in making a decent version of it at home, I decided that's what I'll have. Then I looked again and saw the Singapore Noodles and that my friends, is *the* noodle meal I love the most. The only downside is it's often botched and rare are the restaurants which get it right. I took the risk, telling myself this is a good way to judge Asean Gardens and decide for myself how this address is worth keeping: on top on the desk until it gets lost or in the excel file where it'll stay for years. At my first bite, it was clear the excel file would get a new entry later in the day. The noodles were delicious. The texture was good, the spices balance too. A real treat. The only thing I regretted was the lack of garnish. It had only one, single, lonely shrimp in it. The eggs were a bit on the rubbery side. But I can live with that as long as the noodles were cooked and spiced right.

Terri-Lynn had an other classic, the General Tao chicken. I usually don't even touch those gooey, bizarrely neon colored bits of what seems to be congealed chicken fat dipped in cheap canned gelatinous industrial pie filling. But yesterday I noticed the one served to Terri-Lynn had a *normal* color and actually looked like chicken rather than radioactive waste. I helped myself in her plate and tasted it. YummY !!! I have no reference point since I never tasted a genuine General Tao chicken. I just couldn't bring myself to taste this dish I discovered quite recently actually and which seems to be served in fast food like joints rather than in genuine asean restaurants. What I tasted in Terri-Lynn's plate was just so good and I think I made peace with General Tao.


Before the entrées, we were served soup. I had the sweet and sour and Terri-Lynn the wonton soup. Mine was a bit too heavy on the cornstarch thickener and was definetely less tasty than the one I'm used to have at my favorite place in China Town. It was warm too instead of piping hot.

My friend ordered a serving of deep-fired shrimp toasts that we shared and I loved it. I never had it before, I even never heard of it. When I got back home I did a little googling and found several recipes for this fun appetizer. This is a future project of mine, probably one for this weekend so we have them as TV tray food. They are white bread toasts enclosing a shrimp paste and sprinkled with sesame seeds before being deep fried.


Since we're such fun girls and epicureans... We didn't have dessert. Actually, both of us have to pay attention to our diets. Terri-Lynn have to fit in her wedding dress in few months and I don't need to add up to the awful lot of sweets I had last week-end. Besides, I never really order dessert in asian restaurants.

The service was nice, quick, discrete and featured lots of sincere smiles (I hate the commercial, forced smiles we get way to often). I asked for permission to picture what was served and the waiter agreed very gracefully, not even giving me the "oh how weird" look I expected to have. Terri-Lynn was great with that too. She just told me "Of course, go ahead Zou" and she laughed remembering I have a blog.

Jardins d'Asean
116, route 132
Saint-Constant, Québec
J0L 1X0
Canada
1-450-632-1400