Fig. a: true street food
The best Montreal street food find we’ve made in recent history occurred quite unexpectedly (as the best street food experiences usually do) yesterday.
We were in Cartierville to drop off a wedding cake and we found ourselves in a mysterious little strip mall we’d never visited before. Why “mysterious”? Well, some businesses had evocative names and signs, like Étoile d’Orion, a West African quincaillerie, while other businesses were entirely without names or signs, like the popular hookah bar that was blaring Arab hip-hop through its open door into the parking lot where a makeshift terrasse had been set up for its habitués.
Michelle was in the restaurant/reception hall putting the finishing touches on her latest matrimonial marvel, so I took it upon myself to conduct a close survey of the entire mall, including its centrepiece: a large Asian superstore called C & T that was clearly an important hub for the local community (Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Haitian, Latino, and otherwise). C & T was amazing, of course—just as good as I was hoping for—but what really caught my eye was the sign advertising a “sandwich chinoise” at San Fu, a nondescript little take-out eatery a couple of doors away. I walked in to inquire about this Chinese sandwich, but was instantly distracted by the sight of one of San Fu’s proprietors making a “crêpe chinoise” to order on a griddle. The dish in question was the Jian Bing you see in the photo above, and if you’ve never had one, it’s essentially a Chinese dosa that’s made with a mung dal-based batter. At San Fu two eggs are cracked inside and spread thinly over the surface of the crêpe, then scallions and black sesame seeds are added. Then it gets flipped so the eggy side is down against the griddle and chilli paste is spread on the other side (ask for “extra spicy”—the chilli paste is delicious!), a couple of crackers are placed in the centre and covered with iceberg lettuce, before fresh cilantro and pickles complete the picture. Finally, it is folded over a couple of times (like a dosa), before it is chopped in two and placed into two individual bags. We were told to eat the crêpe while it was hot, to which we replied, “no problem!” We went straight outside and promptly devoured our two halves, then marched right back in to tell San Fu just how good their Jian Bing was. It truly was outstanding!
30 minutes later, after a shopping excursion to C & T, we went straight back to San Fu for a second helping of Jian Bing. We couldn’t resist. Plus, Michelle wanted to get some documentation of the process that went into making this delicacy.
The owners were thrilled that we’d come back for seconds, they were flattered Michelle wanted to take some photos, and the second time around was just as good as the first. Like I said: San Fu, c’est fou!
San Fu, 12206 blvd. Laurentien, Montreal, QC
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