Belmont Snack & Liquor
1169 Bank St., 613-979-3663, belmontottawa.com
Open: Tuesday and Wednesday 5 p.m. to midnight, Thursday to Saturday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to midnight, closed Mondays
Prices: snacks $8 to $15, large plates $18 to 30
Access: steps to restaurant, and steps to upper level with washrooms
Until about a year ago and for about a decade, a small, bi-level restaurant called Carmen’s Veranda called 1169 Bank St. home. My predecessor described the place circa 2008 as a “quirky little retro-looking neighbourhood restaurant” and an “eccentric-looking space.” Food-wise, it was “dandy,” Anne DesBrisay wrote.
Now in Carmen’s place is Belmont Snack & Liquor. I’ve had dinner there twice in the last month and was able to try the fall/winter menu as well as its precursor. The values that made Carmen’s distinctive seem to have been passed on to the new tenant. Belmont is a little less quirky, but as retro as it is hipster in its ambience. Its food, which at first was all about small plates but more recently branched out to include a few larger, family platters, has been both eccentric and mostly dandy.
Gone are Carmen’s giant cactus wrapped in mini-lights, collection of mortar and pestles, antique biscuit tins, linoleum tables and Naugahyde chairs. Belmont rolls with maps, pennants and a Belmont street sign on its walls, chunky wood tables and some metal chairs that you might wish were a little more comfortable had your stay been on the longer side.
The blackboard in the middle of the restaurant now focuses on mixed drinks, a few local beers and a short but interesting wine list that leans to New World bottles. For old times’ sake, there are vintage touches including plates from Café Henry Burger, the now defunct classic French restaurant in Gatineau’s Hull sector, plus a vintage arcade game console in the back, near the small open kitchen.
From that kitchen emerged many reasonably priced dishes that showed a lot of assertive flavours, culinary curiosity and global influences. The best dishes might recall Thailand or Japan or Morocco, or possibly some combination of far-flung countries. Other dishes reflect a kitchen keen to go its own way. This is an eatery that claims fried chicken skin as its signature, and isn’t averse to tossing fresh curry leaves on a chocolate brownie dessert.
We thought most highly of the Belmont’s twist on tuna tartare ($15), which was brightened with just the right amount of snappy kimchi, and its seared duck breast tataki ($12), with its maple- and soy-tinged meat and some well-chosen accompaniments (funky, appealing miso mayo and the clean, ungreasy crunch of fried taro).
Tuna tartare at Belmont
Duck tataki at Belmont
Two simple roasted vegetable dishes, both with Middle Eastern accents, made for nice contrasts during our meals. Carrots ($8) came with a dusting of sumac. Brussels sprouts ($8) came with tahini and pickled turnips.
Roasted carrots at Belmont
Brussel sprouts at Belmont
A snack that crossed pork rillettes ($9) with rough approximations of the fixings of a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich fell a little short, mostly because the pork could have been seasoned more punchily. We preferred another adaptation of Asian street food, namely some pork skewers ($12) that were inspired by Thailand’s moo dad deaw, or sun-dried pork jerky. It’s likely that the made-on-Bank Street version was quite removed from its inspiration, but its flavours were more mouth-filling than those of the quasi-banh mi.
Pork confit rillettes “banh mi” at Belmont
Moo dad deaw at Belmont
I’m a sucker for fried chicken skin most of the time — it’s the bacon of poultry, you might say. But I thought that Belmont’s ($7), which I tried at my first visit, were too heavily dosed with Maggi seasoning, a soy-like product that is essential to banh mi, even if a little goes quite a long way.
Fried chicken skin with celery and carrots at Belmont
Belmont’s larger plates have been amply sized and admirably loaded with flavours and components.
On its new menu, is a Southwestern-themed bowlful of very tender short rib meat ($25), offset by a bright salsa verde, a mole sauce of sorts with some depth of flavour, and some cheddar-ized hominy. Tortilla chips on the side brought nachos to mind, but in a good way.
Short rib and tortilla chips at Belmont
Cornish hen ($30) arrived succulent and appreciably spiced with a piri-piri-style sauce. A whole branzino fish ($30) was nicely cooked and given a deluxe Thai and Vietnamese treatment, perked with kaffir lime and lemongrass. (That dish — as well as the pork rillettes, chicken skins and roasted carrots — has been dropped on the latest menu.)
Piri piri Cornish hen at Belmont
Whole branzino at Belmont
A special last weekend of pork tenderloin ($20), which could have been a little better trimmed, played off the sweetness of its squash purée and onion chutney with a fresh paneer-style cheese spiked with caraway seeds.
Pork tenderloin special with squash, pickled onions, chutney, caraway paneer at Belmont
Desserts ($8) have often ended meals with surprises as well as sweetness. In place of carrot cake, Belmont has served a huge block of parsnip cake, moist and approachable. Some still-warm shortcake with peaches was impeccable and quickly devoured.
Parsnip cake at Belmont
Shortcake with peaches and strawberries at Belmont
Chocolate brownies served in a deconstructed fashion, with curry leaves for good measure, were a gamble. The powerful, lingering taste of the leaves made the dessert less appealing for me. Another equally scattered-looking dessert of chocolate brownies with chocolate ganache, crumbled sponge toffee and banana compote was a little overwhelmed by the last ingredient.
Chocolate brownie with curry leaves at Belmont
Chocolate brownie and ganache, banana compote and sponge toffee at Belmont
Still, even the dishes that had some flaws had good intentions and dared to be different. It’s easy to give Belmont’s free spirits in the kitchen some latitude and patience, when the successes clearly outnumbered the fizzles.
phum@ottawacitizen.com
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