Restaurant Épicerie Jean-guy Enr

Oh What can I say about this place! I moved here and I always thought this place was abandoned, until one day I saw a sign! 5 $ menu, brought to you by someone who clearly doesn’t speak French or English. You must point at the menu board, he will not start cooking until you pay first!
Whatever you point to you wont be disappointed, the food is great. Try it you won’t be disappointed.

This little place in the heart of Pointe Saint Charles defines the term hole in the wall and I use this term in the most positive way. This little takeout counter offers and incredible price to quality ratio, this is why I think it deserves four stars.
Where else can you find a generous portion of home made Pad Thai for only five dollars or even a combo plate for only seven dollars. I haven’t tried them but the soup dumpling are suppose to very good as well
This place is really a take out counter even if it has a few booths for you to eat in, this really isn’t a place you want to eat. Don’t get me wrong the kitchen is clean and the owner is a wonderful cook but this old depanneur was never meant to be a restaurant and the wooden benches don’t look that comfortable.
If you’re looking for a good neighbourhood Asian take out place give this place a try, you won’t be disappointed.

While cycling the bike paths in Verdun, I whizzed by an old corner depanneur, situated on the corner of rue de Chateauguay and rue de LaPrairie. Now the story would have ended right there, were it not for a black chalkboard type sign parked on the pavement outside the door of the depanneur. I could have sworn it said «Ma-​Bo Tofu» on it?! I stopped, circled back and… it did. It DID say «Ma-​Bo Tofu»! What’s more, it said the dish was $ 3!
I was sure that was a mistake. I haven’t seen Ma-​Bo Tofu dishes selling in this city for $ 3 since… well, actually, I’ve NEVER seen Ma-​Bo Tofu dishes selling for $ 3 in Montréal! It stunned me even further, that the rest of the menu showed dishes selling all for $ 5 each! Including «Pad Thai», «Pad Saw», «General Tao’s Tofu» and a host of other Chinese or other Asian dishes, like Curried Rice with Chicken. So even though I wasn’t hungry, I said «This I have to try!».
Soon as I walked in, I could see that you don’t go there for the décor. There was no décor. I’d say it was put together on a shoestring budget, but that’s probably exagerrating. You could surely do better on a shoestring budget. The place has about… two tables. So, hold off on booking your wedding reception at «Restaurant Jean-​Guy Dépanneur». And don’t look for «Jean-​Guy». There was only one person there at the time, the cook. Not sure what the story is, but he’s probably not «Jean-​Guy». My girlfriend was rather antsy about eating anything from this place. I saw a certificate of health and cleanliness on the wall from a Quebec inspection agency. Good enough for me! There was also a hand-​written sign (in French, bien sur), warning not to drink cold drinks before the meal, as it can upset your stomach. So charming! I did not even know that.
So I went ahead and ordered the Ma-​Po Tofu, and the cook suggested I get the rice with it, which was only a dollar extra! I asked if it was fried rice or steamed rice, but he had trouble understanding me. So I explained what I was asking about in both official languages. He didn’t appear to speak either! I thought that really added to the charm of the place, and ensured at least that my Ma-​Po Tofu would be authentic. He pointed to a bowl of white rice, so we still managed to understand each other, and even though I (thought) I would have preferred fried rice, I ordered it with the white rice.
The bill for the Ma-​Po Tofu and white rice came to a whopping $ 4, tax ink! I thought for that price, the portions would be meagre. But no, the generous rice and tofu serving filled the double-​size polystyrene take-​out box. It wasn’t done lickety-​split, so I knew the meal wasn’t being hashed together from last week’s leftovers. Since it was a brilliantly beautiful day out, I took the lunch to a bench at the Lachine canal, just moments away from Restaurant «Jean-​Guy» Depanneur.
The «Ma-​Bo Tofu» was jiggly cubes of soft tofu, with a bit of green onion and hint of red pepper somewhere, and some sort of ground meat. Which I presumed was beef, but it could have been pork (didn’t ask). The tofu tasted fresh enough, the steamed white rice was perfectly sticky, adding the perfect compliment to catch the oily sauce the tofu dish was cooked in. The meal was delicious, if a bit on the greasy side, as stir-​fries tend to be. But I liked that aspect of it too, because that’s where the flavor was. If you’re a food snob and you require linen-​set tables, you should probably look elsewhere. But if you love hand-​made Chinese-​Asian food and think it tastes even better when its extremely inexpensive, you will LOVE this place!
My vegetarian girlfriend must have liked it too, because despite me telling her there was meat in it, she had no problem sharing half of the meal with me! I’m definitely going back to this hidden little gem, smack dab in the middle of a residential cross street. Can’t wait to see what $ 5 buys me, at the most absolutely thriftiest, low-​cost, highest-​value restaurant in the city of Montréal!
(n.b. I’m not sure if its a recently opened business or not, as I don’t live in the immediate vicinity of this place. I found the phone number off Google. I didn’t try calling it, so I can’t be sure if it’s the right number. I remember seeing on the sign there that the place is open from 11am to 8pm, Mon. — Sat., but closed all day Sunday. So if you’re on your way to Lachine canal, make a lunch stop!).