Montreal 5 - Beans, beans, the musical fruit

Being an obnoxious, pushy older sister, I don't take kindly to my brother giving me advice.

Not that I don't think he is smart, right or knowlegeable, it's just that as the older sibling, I think I know best.

So when he suggested La Binerie for lunch, I hesitated. I thought we'd stop by for a look since we were in the neighborhood but that we'd pick somewhere else for lunch. I mean come on! A lunch of beans? I don't think so! Besides, I think that my hostess would be appreciative of two beany guests.

Anyhow, we got to the shop and it turned out to be an adorable little diner full of workmen and elderly couples hunched over the counter reading the paper and shovelling mouthfuls of thick Quebecoise Soupe au Pois in their mouth.

Completely charmed, I tripped in (literally, the floor was uneven).

Despite the stares and feeling completely out of place, we persisted in sitting down and were reluctantly handed down a menu by the man on the stool next to us.

We ordered an Asiette Maison, a full lunch which came with soup (My French Canadian pea soup shown here. The boy had beef and barley. I thought mine was better)

the platter with Tourtiere, Ragout de Boulettes (meatball ragout), mashed potatos and vegetables, which pleased the boy to no end, being basically pie and mash,

those 'wonderful little beans' (said the man when he put them down)

all washed down with delicious Spruce beer which tasted like Christmas

and a Pouding Chomeur (cake with a brown butter sauce) for me

and a Blanc Mange for the boy.

Prior to this, the boy and I had no idea what blanc mange was but he declared it was like cold custard and in the time it took me to turn my head around to ask the man for coffee and look back at him, the whole dish was gone. Yep, it had took exactly 8 seconds to inhale that gelatinous white custard.

Needless to say, this was very 'diner' homestyle cooking and very 'stick to your ribs' type of stuff, filling and hearty.

I loved it! I'm sure that it could all have been better and fancier but as it was, in the little Binerie, it was perfect. Especially as we had to walk around in the cold rain for another 4 hours.

La Binerie

367 Ave du Mont-Royal Est,

Montreal, Quebec

H2T 1R1

Tel: 514 285 9078