I take a lot of pleasure in devouring all kinds of meat. I feel no guilt whatsoever in stabbing my fork in some juicy filet mignon, fried pork chops and grilled tender chicken breast. I don't condemn the vegetarians or anything, I just personally don't believe in the point of denying oneself of the opportunity to take part in the degustation of animal meat. I mean, I guess Westerners allow themselves to "become" vegetarians just because food is not a commodity they are lacking of, so they can permit themselves to fight for the rights of animals that are perfectly edible which constitute a great part of human's diet. But enough about vegetarism, in fact this post is exactly about the opposite of vegetarism; it's about grilled chicken. Chicken is easily one of my favorite meat and I like it grilled, fried, slightly crispy, fumed, and all of parts of that fowl, legs, wings, breast and everything in between. Say what you want about Kentucky Fried Chicken, I love it, mutated chicken or not.
So recently, a friend of mine introduced me to this relatively small Portuguese grillroom takeout restaurant called Rotisserie Romados located further down the Plateau of Montreal on Rachel. I've never heard of this portuguese gem before, and he warned me to be prepared to wait because the lineup can compete with the lineup for the launch of the iPhone. I kid you not. I had to wait nearly 50 minutes for my turn to order my plate of chicken. But that's because we did not call beforehand. When calling in advance, we can avoid the long non-reserved orders line, and only have to wait in the *second* line to pick up our orders. You don't necessarily skip the "waiting" part, there will be waiting involved, but the time in line is considerably less. So what is this fuss all about? Well to summarize, it's cheap, delicious, generous portuguese grilled chicken on charcoal. I cannot even describe to you how the chicken is grilled even though I saw the chicken being grilled right in front of my eyes. Look at the picture above, it is pretty self-explanatory. But the grilling part isn't the best part. When ordering a plate of 1/2 chicken, you get a very generous portion of chicken (you'd think you'd get 1/2 but sometimes you wonder if they didn't just give you a full chicken) glazed in a spicy sauce, a mountain portion of double fried pepper fries, and side of italian salad, and check this out, it is completely recession-friendly! Just a little under 8$! The food was excellent, the service was friendly and very appreciative of our business with them. The place is completely unpretentious, it's not cozy per se, but it's not "dirty" in all account. There are some available tables and seats to enjoy their delicious chicken in house, but most people take them for takeout. My experience was done in house since the weather that night was horrible, a combination of rain and wind.
The downside of Rotisserie Romados is its location. It's in a very remote area of The Plateau and it's a far walk from the Metro, approximately 15 minutes away. Driving there shouldn't be much of a trouble if you know your way around Montreal. The waiting line is terribly horrendous during peak times when you decide to show up without an order reservation, especially when you are very hungry. I was ready to faint until I reached the counter my first time around. But once you are seated and ready to charge into your plate, the wait had suddenly become worthwhile and all that complaning you've done for the past 30 minutes or more with your friends felt like a waste of energy, saliva, and was essentially just useless noise pollution because waiting for that plate 1/2 chicken is definitely worth that wait.
Here's my recommendation if you decide to try Rotisserie Romados:
- Call before going. I can't stress enough how calling will totally get your orders so much faster and you can save so much precious time.
- Ask your chicken to be glazed in spicy sauce. It's not actually really spicy, but it definitely gives a kick and gives a little bit more flavor to your portuguese chicken.
- Do order 1/2 since getting just 1 leg or 1 breast is only a couple of cents less than 1/2 chicken. Don't fret that you have a small stomach and won't finish it. The plates are always already packed in a takeout plate, so you can simply close it and bring it home for later.
- For drinks, get one of their bottles of sprinkly soda in different exotic fruit flavors. It's a shame I can't recall what it's called, but it's not a drink from here, so among the pepsis and 7ups, you will spot that bottle with ease!
- The restaurant offers steak also, but I have yet to try them, and I have yet to see someone actually having them. Don't bother, get the chicken!
- If you decide to show up without an order reservation during 7-8pm, and there is a long line, expect to maybe not have that 1/2 chicken you wanted. I was one of the few that got the last 1/2 chicken and there was still around 20 people behind by 8pm
I'm actually typing this post about chicken because I had to deprive myself of meat today because it's Good Friday. Upon the request of my parents, I had to stay from meat for the whole day. *sigh* But if you are not, this is a place to definitely check out! It's delicious and cheap, that's like the best combination *ever*. Ask for their business card so that you can save their phone number at all time.
Rotisserie Romados, 115 Rachel Est corner de Bullion, considered by the locals as the *best grilled chicken in town*, call 514.849.1803 for your order reservations!
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