Montreal is home to many Middle Eastern foodie gems, but sometimes you just want a quick hummus and shish taouk fix without the sit-down experience, and that’s where Montreal’s fast-food chains, Amir and Boustan come into play. Although both chains serve up a sweet feast, it’s often debated which restaurant does it better. Mike Chaar from MTL Blog put both to the test and finally resolves that question.
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#MTLBlog #Narcity #LebaneseFood #Amir #Boustan
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TravelTranscript
00:00 [upbeat music]
00:02 - A good potato.
00:03 - The turnips, the lettuce, and of course, the chicken.
00:06 [upbeat music]
00:08 - Hey, MTL blog, Mike Scharr coming at you
00:11 with another foodie vid, but not just any foodie vid,
00:14 a Lebanese foodie video.
00:16 And with most Montrealers getting their quick Lebanese
00:19 fast food fix at either Amir or Boudin,
00:22 it's often debated which of the two is better.
00:25 And I'll be settling that one today.
00:27 So we polled MTL bloggers to ask them
00:30 which of the two restaurants is their favorite.
00:32 And after receiving hundreds and hundreds of responses,
00:36 it turns out it's a close call between Amir and Boudin,
00:39 but I'll be settling that one.
00:41 But wait, what makes me qualified enough
00:43 to be the judge of that?
00:45 Not only does my family originate
00:47 from the southwest of Lebanon,
00:48 but I spent every single Saturday at my tete's house
00:52 eating her delicious Lebanese food.
00:54 So I think my palate is qualified enough
00:57 to see which one of these two restaurants does it better.
01:00 Let's find out.
01:01 (upbeat music)
01:04 Can I get a shawarma plate and a shish kebab sandwich, please?
01:15 - All dry? - Yes, please.
01:16 - Rice and potato? - Yes, please.
01:19 All right, so how this is gonna work
01:24 is I'm basically going to be testing
01:26 each of the restaurants on their presentation,
01:29 cost, and of course, taste.
01:31 We're starting with Amir.
01:33 So we've got our chicken platter,
01:35 we have our shish kebab sandwich,
01:37 and of course, they bring you some bread.
01:39 And this is what it looks like basically overall.
01:41 This was $14.99, and the sandwich came up to $6.99.
01:46 The presentation is pretty standard for Amir.
01:49 You've got the hummus, you've got the garlic sauce,
01:51 you've got their house salad, chicken,
01:53 the potatoes, and of course, rice.
01:55 Now let's dig in.
01:56 (upbeat music)
01:59 The chicken is exactly how you would imagine it to be.
02:08 It's yummy outside, it's juicy and soft even on the inside.
02:12 (upbeat music)
02:15 Can't really go wrong with this one.
02:16 So how do the potatoes measure up?
02:19 Let's find out.
02:20 Nothing beats these garlic potatoes with the garlic sauce.
02:25 If you know, you just know.
02:27 Let's give it a try.
02:29 (upbeat music)
02:31 It's a good potato.
02:43 It's a good potato.
02:45 (upbeat music)
02:48 (upbeat music)
02:51 Sandwich, flavors, everything.
02:58 Can't go wrong.
02:59 So Amir definitely hit every spot that I wanted it to.
03:03 When it came to the presentation,
03:04 I would have to give the chicken shawarma plate
03:07 a seven on 10.
03:09 I didn't expect anything less,
03:10 and I didn't really expect anything more.
03:11 It's sort of the classic chicken shawarma plate
03:14 that you'd get.
03:15 But when it came to taste,
03:17 I'd bump that up to at least an eight and a half on 10.
03:20 I didn't love the salad.
03:21 I thought it was a little plain,
03:23 but everything else hit everything it wanted to.
03:26 The potatoes were crispy and crunchy.
03:27 The chicken was juicy and succulent.
03:29 The rice was perfectly cooked.
03:31 And of course, for the sandwich, a clear 10 on 10.
03:34 Amir's sandwich, the sauce to ingredient ratio,
03:38 the turnips, the lettuce,
03:40 and of course the chicken mixed with the garlic sauce,
03:42 everything was just so good.
03:45 So Amir, very, very, very clear contender,
03:48 but we've still got Bustam's to try.
03:50 So let's head on over there and give the exact same dishes
03:53 a try to see how they measure up to Amir's.
03:56 (upbeat music)
03:59 So we're at Bustam's right now actually,
04:08 and I got the exact same plate,
04:10 chicken shawarma sandwich, and the chicken plate.
04:12 (upbeat music)
04:15 It's a little bit different here,
04:19 but I'm excited to give it a taste.
04:21 So I got the chicken plate with rice and of course potatoes.
04:25 I got hummus and garlic,
04:26 and the salad here is a little bit different
04:28 than it is at Amir's, so I'm excited to try that.
04:31 But let's dive in.
04:32 (upbeat music)
04:35 Chicken is very juicy, crispy on the outside.
04:41 (upbeat music)
04:44 A little bit better than Amir's.
04:47 I'm a little bit stunned
04:48 because I wasn't expecting it to be that good, but it is.
04:52 We're gonna move on to the potatoes now.
04:55 (upbeat music)
04:58 Hot.
05:05 I much prefer the one at Amir's.
05:06 They were much crispier, a lot more cooked,
05:08 but these were pretty good too.
05:11 And I wanna try the salad now,
05:12 so let's move on to that one.
05:13 (upbeat music)
05:17 This salad is a definite winner for me.
05:27 I don't know where it's gonna fall
05:29 in comparison to Amir's plate,
05:30 but pros and cons, so.
05:33 All right, next up, sandwich.
05:36 Same as last time, shish kew sandwich.
05:38 Chicken, turnips, lettuce, tomatoes,
05:40 and of course, garlic sauce.
05:42 Sandwich was decent,
05:45 but I don't think it was as good as Amir's.
05:47 The flavors didn't mix as well.
05:49 I think there's a different spice use here at Bustan,
05:52 but let's give the final tally score around here.
05:56 Let's get back to the car.
05:57 So I just got finished with Bustan,
06:00 and it was really good.
06:01 I really enjoyed the plate.
06:03 In terms of presentation,
06:04 I'd probably give it somewhere closer to an eight on 10.
06:08 It was a little bit more elevated than Amir's,
06:10 but when it came to the taste,
06:12 I'd give it a seven on 10,
06:14 mainly because of the added spice.
06:16 The salad and the chicken were definitely the standouts,
06:19 but everything else was just sort of all right.
06:22 As for the sandwich,
06:23 I'd probably give that an eight on 10
06:25 in regards to both taste and presentation,
06:28 making our clear winner today Amir.
06:31 I definitely enjoyed it.
06:33 It seemed a lot more simple, more authentic.
06:35 Definitely hits home when I was eating the Amir versus Bustan,
06:39 but don't let my opinion hinder you from going to either.
06:44 Follow your taste buds, follow your heart.
06:46 (upbeat music)
06:49 ♪ Yaki ♪
06:50 And just eat where you want,
06:53 but if you want some good Lebanese fast food,
06:57 maybe try Amir.
06:58 All right, this has been Mike from MTLBlog
07:01 signing off with a belly full of delicious Lebanese food,
07:05 and I'll catch y'all on the next one.
07:07 Bye.
07:08 (upbeat music)
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