El Jibaro

It's a restaurant serving "Peruvian and International" on St-Hubert, a few steps north from Jean-Talon on the east side. Can't miss it. My colleague described the restaurant (actually it's a pair, very close by - the joke being that they probably share the same interconnected underground kitchen or something) as "le moins pire des quatres" in the area. Did not think it was bad, nor that it was overwhelmingly good, but it more for lack of references, as my specialty is apparently for oriental food instead. The South American genre is still very exotic, but I like to discover that it isn't just about peppers or corn-based elements.

We wanted to save cash, so went straight for the appetizers. But as we saw the other guests' orders (mound of shredded stuff, with a brochette of shrimp stuck into it) we soon felt deep regret. The shrimp soup was quite peculiar, being milk-based with shrimp juice, and rice and shrimp of varying sizes swimming around a semi-boiled egg buoy. The appetizers were cheese gratin shrimp and snails (not exactly special), and some potatoes topped with cheese that didn't look so much like your typical North American cheese (it was rather fluid and varying from gray to green in color). In the Latino-American food, I still vastly prefer when it's tamales or pupusas.