Saturday, October 13, 2012

restaurant: holder

At the start of the semester, my entire family and some family friends joined me on the trip to Montreal. One of the highlights of the trip was eating at Holder. I sampled everything, but not all the dishes left impressions. The meat entrées generally seemed better than the fish. Overall verdict: superb service, very good food, would definitely go again. 8/10!


Duck confit with roasted potatoes and arugula.

Loved: deep, rich flavour, crisp exterior and tender meat. Roasted potatoes were divine, almost luscious. Seriously, how do you make potatoes that delicious?
Could do without: oil-saturated leaves - would have preferred the arugula crisp and fresh, too salty.


Pan seared tilapia with sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts on a bed of julienned vegetables.

I only tried a sliver of the fish, and it was decently tender but slightly bland. However, I'm hesitant to comment on the overall quality of the dish without having sampled everything on the plate.


"Holder style" fish and chips.

I forgot to ask what kind of fish they used. Whatever the case, it was excellent. Soft, flaky, and sweet on the inside, crisp and savoury on the outside. Among the best fish and chips I've had, but only because of the fish. The fries were decent although nothing that special; a little sweeter than I thought they would be yet pleasantly so.


Lamb shepherd's pie with cognac sauce and asparagus.

The lamb was slightly stringy and no particular flavour in the sauce stood out and grabbed my attention. Good, but I wouldn't order it again.


Swordfish steak with lentils and vegetables.

The swordfish was slightly tough and dry, but the herb blend was strong and suitable for my tastes. Overall though, I'd say I was underwhelmed.


Grilled veal flank steak with marsala sauce and fries.

The friend who ordered this dish asked for her steak well done, which in my books is a waste of a perfectly good cut of meat, but I suppose to each her own. She's also just sprouting from tween-hood, so I'd give it a few more years before she starts really appreciating rare beef. I certainly didn't when I was her age. All in due time!


Seared fois gras on gingerbread with red wine and dried fruit sauce.

Excellent. Divine. This will be the first thing I order next time I'm there. The only thing I can pick about it is that the gingerbread was slightly too chewy, and a bit of a chore to cut. But the sharpness of the gingerbread spices against the rich, velvety texture of the foie gras is to die for.


Seriously, the fois gras was so good that we ordered another.

2 comments:

  1. Ha ha, try writing in English and your blogs will be more impressive. You should really do basic spell check and grammatical checks, will make these blogs (and you) seem more literate that you come across.

    Nothing personal, but re-read the last blog post and also the post you published about Apple.

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    Replies
    1. I think you should take some of your own advice, too! Spell check would have caught your little slip-up.

      Thanks for the eloquent, insightful critique. Hopefully next time I can live up to your high literary standards. ;)

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