à la IGA?

So. The parents are in town. Or were - they left on the weekend. My family's from Alberta and my dad was craving some STEAK for their special last evening in Montreal dinner. He suggested the Keg (ugh...) or - or maybe that place that has the ads on the metro - Vieux Port Steakhouse (um...).

So I did a little research online and settled for Le Joli Moulin, out in Outremont. Definitely not a tourist trap there. Restomontreal's reviews were positive, especially on the service and value.

The place is a nice classy joint - a man with a flower in his lapel (the owner, presumably), greats you at the door and hangs up jackets. The serving staff are all professional servers, none of those younger, resentful, artist-in-waiting waiters.

My apologies in advance - I brought the camera but it ran out of batteries!

Le Joli Moulin used to be located in the deep east end but they relocated to Outremont around two years ago. It's a nice restaurant, but only half of it was in use that evening, which is a shame. The place does "Continental cuisine" - and sadly, this visit reminded me that that means nice, non-offensive, non-ambitious, rich old man food.

We all went for the table d'hote, which includes a soup, salad, main, desert and coffee/tea. Pretty good for the price: from $22. I went for the barley soup which was a sad choice. It was thin and lacked flavour. My dad joked that it was Campbell's! The husb choose carrot and it was great - smooth, creamy without being overwhelming and the carrot flavour was subtle and nice - yes - I can tell now that we are in a restaurant! I stayed away because I usually hate carrot soup because sometimes there's ginger in it (UK style - ugh), but there was no ginger here, it was just lovely. Too bad.

Salad was decent, but not too exciting. There was a decoration of balasmic reduction around the plate to make things more interesting but this was just mesclun with a simple dressing, which tiny bits of diced tomato.

My dad and the husb chose the sirloin steak, my mom and I the whisky shrimp. The presentation was your standard Continental presentation - nice, but nothing interesting. I felt that they were a little low on the veggie side and what veggies I got were kind of steamed to buggery - there was not a lot of taste left in them. The shrimps, however, were fresh, tasty, large and plump. The sauce was extremely creamy - I think some lemon would have freshened it up a bit. I couldn't detect any evidence of whisky I have to say - just creaminess. The first say, three went down no problem. The last four - well, they were a struggle. Cream overload! It certainly didn't stand as a contender for my favourite shrimp dish in Mtl - the shrimp in pastis sauce at Les Infidèles.

There was praise from the males for the steak - it was nice and soft, very tasty and perfectly cooked for both. They both did mention though that there wasn't enough veggies.

The place was decent, especially for the price, but certainly not exciting. I guess you have to pay a higher price for that. But I don't think the clientele minded - I was certainly the youngest one there by about 15 years. Not to say that only younger people enjoy more exciting cuisine or are more demanding, but that the whole place had a feeling of bourgeois comfort to it. It's good enough, no need to venture somewhere unknown. I saw the owner tie several lobster bibs around the clientele and it just made me think of a geriatic centre. Oh dear.

Actually, towards the end of the meal we all started nit-picking. This isn't a fancy place after all! The candle in the candle holder was a fake flickering tea light. The sugar was in packets in a holder on our table. The milk came in pre-packaged UHT units. The salt and pepper shakers were diner standard issue. The coffee was served in the brewing pot, not in a cafe. All this seemed out of place with the rest of the decor but in line with the I-bought-this-at-the-IGA cake that my mom and I chose for desert (gateau maison avec ananas - à la IGA)

So, Le Joli Moulin, I loved your excellent service and price but I wish you were a little more adventurous with the food and made the little details match the surroundings.

Still, I'm sure it was better than venturing into a tourist trap.