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Garde-Manger and L'Express are two very different animals. The former is young and trendy, serves fancy comfort food, and turns into a club after dinner time. The latter is a very, very Parisian brasserie/bistro that feels more like France than Montreal.

If you're already going to Au Pied De Cochon you might find Garde-Manger too similar of a place foodwise. If you want to eat in a bistro, you should consider Leméac instead of L'Express. The food at Leméac is a notch above L'Express and the whole experience is more pleasant.

Kitchen Gallerie is more like APDC and Garde-Manger. These places are much more North-American and therefore much more Montreal than places like L'Express or Leméac. Those places are French restaurants.

I tried it again recently after having avoided it for over twenty years. I really wanted to like it, but as it turns out emulsified meat sponge just isn't my thing.

This just reminded me that I haven't had those things in a while. I'll have to remedy that.

I can't eat food that's been touched by humans. Those things disgust me.

You could start them off with some doner kebabs then maybe go with spaghetti bolognese or chicken tikka masala and for dessert make a nice pavlova.

"Why does the bacon look under cooked?"

@Lvn4life - It's not streaky bacon, it's back bacon.

Braise it covered in the oven with some aromatics and butter. Leeks and carrots are nice. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

You could try red-cooking it. I would cut it into large chunks and use this recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7623888

You'll need to cook the meat a bit longer since it is less tender. Maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

This belongs in Food Media & News.

Some Chinese cooks use lard, some use rapeseed oil, some use peanut oil. It depends on regional styles and specific recipes.

@hungrychristel - I'm no Chinese food expert, but from what I know fish sauce is not typically used in Chinese cooking. It's more common in other Southeast Asian cuisines, but I've never seen it in Cantonese, Sichuan, Hunan, Peking or Shanghai dishes I've sampled or cooked. The most common Chinese flavours are ginger, scallion and soy sauce. Garlic is also used a lot. Sesame oil is used sparingly in the south and more heavily in the north. Shoaxing wine and Chinkiang vinegar are also typical Chinese flavours. Oyster sauce is greatly abused by Cantonese cooks.

"It is meant to be drank straight as an apertif."

It's actually meant to be had as a digestif not as an aperitif. You can either serve it straight or add it to espresso.

So you want tips on how to rationalize away the fact that it's tongue? It's not going to happen. You'll just have to work up the courage to confront your fear and grow out of it. If not you'll miss out on a whole world of deliciousness.