Restaurant: Viana Grillades Portugaises
Restaurant type: Portuguese, rotisserie chicken, bifana, salads, poutine, desserts
Prices: $4.50-$23 entrées, $10-$23 mains
Date: Monday March 4th 2019
Table of: 2
My favorite dish: Portuguese chicken + cod cakes + Natas
Last month, I had the pleasure of checking out Viana Grillades Portugaises, along with Victor from @randomcuisine, as their guests! Viana is a small Portuguese restaurant located in Lasalle, serving basic Portuguese fare like grilled chicken (not charbroiled), bifanas (grilled pork sandwiches), poutines, salads and desserts. The food may be simple, but it is very good! Here’s what we got to taste:
- Half chicken with rice and salad
- Bifana: pork cutlet sandwich
- Portuguese poutine
- Bolinhos de bacalhau: cod cakes
- Pastel de Nata: egg custard tart
- Natas du céu: heavenly cream
- Tarte de nozes: caramel nut tart
- Bolinho de limao: lemon cookie
We had a great evening at Viana Grillades Portugaises and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who lives in the area. In terms of my own personal tastes, I do prefer a charbroiled chicken (I also pretty much like anything charbroiled) but if you compare Viana’s chicken, to, say, St-Hubert, it is a hundred times better. So although Viana’s chicken is not charbroiled, it was still very good, tasty and super juicy. The seasoning of the chicken itself, combined with the added spicy sauce was perfect. I also really enjoyed the bifana, which was not dry, which is very important, but maybe a tad too greasy. However, in terms of taste, the seasoning was definitely on point. The cod cakes were excellent in every regard; taste, seasoning and fried. I just wish there had been more than 3 on my plate! Although we enjoyed the poutine – I especially loved the homemade, slightly greasy fries – there was a lot going on with this dish and it was a bit too salty to our liking.
In terms of desserts, we were lucky and got to try all four! Of course, my favorite was the Pastel de Nata, which was perfect. They are 100% homemade, where part of the production is made off-site and then the cooking of the tarts and custard is done on-site. I also enjoyed the Natas de céu, which is comparable to a Portuguese tiramisu, with a cookie crumble, whipped cream and a light egg cream (it tastes way better than what it sounds like). The egg cream is like the egg custard in the Pastel de Nata – which also doesn’t taste like egg – but much creamier and lighter. The Tarte de nozes was very good too, with its delicious and thick caramel sauce all over the tart and nuts.
Overall, we had a very good meal at Viana Grillades Portugaises. If you’re in the area, or from the area, its definitely worth checking out and trying out. The chicken, which is cooked and prepared differently from other more known places like Romados and Ma Poule Mouillée is still very good, juicy and delicious. The bifana, cod cakes and Pastel de Nata are a must try as well when you visit!
UP NEXT: My restaurant review of Café Zezin (Excellent Brazilian-French-Québécois fusion café and brunch spot!)
*This restaurant post does not contain my usual restaurant review criteria of restaurants, as this is a sponsored post where I was invited to the restaurant as a guest.
*All photos and comments are mine
