Ceviches, Épicerie et Traiteur
152 rue Napoléon
Montreal, Québec
H2W 1K8
Telephone: 514-419-6391
http://www.ceviches.ca

Cuisine: Caribbean Latin-American
On a small street corner on Napoleon Street in the Plateau is a quaint little Peruvian family run place called Ceviche. I would have never known it was there. Up until our first Zomato meet up, I had never even heard about it. Zomato for those of you who are guessing is the company that took over the Urbanspoon website in March. For those who do not know what Urbanspoon was or what Zomato is, let me enlighten you. Zomato, not Tomato is a website where you could view any listing of local restaurants and reviews of these restaurants. It is very informative for the average dinner and very interactive and exciting for bloggers. You can download as an app on your cell phone that would allow you to use it whenever searching for a place to eat. If you are ever stuck about where you go last minute, as I am often, this is a great tool to have available at your fingertips.

This evening, I had the privilege of being invited to Ceviches for a meet up that brought together a few Montreal bloggers and introduce them to Zomato and their new platform. A bit shy at first, I was put to ease by the friendliness of the Zomato staff and my fellow bloggers. Everyone was a great bunch, not pretentious at all and the camaraderie was amazing. Our hospitable host and owner Luis was behind the bar, making us two of his special cocktails,
A sweet spiked rum Ice tea served in a mason jar and a fruity concoction of passion fruit and bitter grenadine. I immediately felt we had entered his home.

 

After a few introductions and a short chit chat with our fellow bloggers, we sat down and were regaled with an on slew of entrees and dishes that out shone each other. We started with a basket of fried yucca, crispy triangles of fried yucca which tasted like fries. A staple in Peruvian cuisine these were done perfectly.

Next came a platter of a dozen of the best cod fish balls I have ever tasted. Oval shaped balls of soft mashed potatoes and white salty cod, lightly wrapped in fine bread crumbs. These are my favorites and it had been a while that I had not had any. So I devoured a few more than I should have. Alongside these came some creamy coleslaw that hit the notes perfectly too and was a great accompaniment to the codfish balls.

The piece de resistance was the tacos. Soft shelled mini tacos served with shrimp, fish or pork. I liked them all. Topped with coriander, tomatoes, heart of palms, onions, peppers, marinated agave and lime juice and their special white sauce these were delectable pockets that render you insatiable.

It doesn’t end here, more food with fried plantains, and two types of Ceviche which was so refreshingly fresh and tasty it brought me back to South America instantaneously.
A big kudos for this husband and wife team who not only are amazing, but have carved out a niche for themselves in originality in a city that has no shortage of talent.

The cherry on top of the cake was their three fine desserts, of Tres Leche, Apple crumble and Quesillo.
The Tres Leche a triangle piece of flan was better than any crème caramel I have tasted on any given day. The Quesillo, a soft square piece of cake topped with delicious fluffy vanilla cream was heavenly and moist like a cloud on a sunny day. The apple crumble served in a ramekin was superb in its own right with sweet scents of cinnamon and crunchiness.

I strongly recommend Ceviches, not only for the food, which I highly recommended but the ambiance. Here you will feel at home among the art and the generosity of Luis and his wife. Kind and hard working, they have managed to transport more than a little of themselves here. They have brought to us the flavors of their homeland. Reasonably priced this little restaurant is truly a gem of a place in the Plateau.