Ceviches - Seafood Haven in Montreal

If you have already been to L'Arépéra du Plateau, you know it's famous for their delicious and affordable arépas. Showing major success throughout the years, the owner opens his second restaurant called Ceviches (a block away from his first restaurant). As the name suggests, the restaurant focuses on serving Peru's national dish - fresh raw fish "cooked" in citrus juice (with no heat involved). This is a first in Montreal. Usually, you can only get ceviche as an appetizer in restaurants and in addition, order other food. Here, it is much more accessible where you can order from more than 10 choices of ceviche (including vegetarian options). It comes in four formats ranging from small to x-large. The ceviches are made in front of you with a "cocktail" shaker, then pour onto a bowl.

We were invited to the grand opening of Ceviches. We were fortunate enough to witness the production of the first ceviche made by the owner Max. In total, we tried four ceviches - passion fruit, coconut, avocado and tamarind. At the moment, the ceviches use Colombian tilapia and garnish with edible flower, yuca, plantain and sweet potato chips. We hope there will be more options of fish in the future.

If you know me well throughout my reviews, I only employ the word foodgasm when the dish has multidimensional of flavours and good balance of texture. These ceviches are foodgasmic. The freshness and delicateness of the tilapia, the crunchiness and saltiness of the toasted corn, and the acidity from the lemon juice make this dish simply irresistible to eat.

Our two absolute favourite ceviches would be the coconut and the avocado. The coconut gives a sweet tropical taste to the fish, while the avocado gives a creamy texture to the ceviche.

Selling staple food of Venezuela has shown tremendous success at L'Arépéra, I have high hopes that serving the national dish of Peru will prove successful.