A Real Francais Lunch at Chez Tess

"we can go anywhere!"

"anywhere?!"

My roommate and I are horrible at making decisions, especially when it comes to food where there is so much at steak (pun intended). So when she ducked out of work to pick me up at the airport earlier today and we decided to stop for lunch, we began the usual "where do you wanna go?" , " I dunno, where do you wanna go?" routine that we so often get stuck in. Luckily for us, we had been planning the staff dinner for our office, and had gotten a few suggestions from the staff about good places to eat. We decided to give Chez Tess a try. From my experience, the North End of Halifax is filled with little dining gems, and we were already outside of the downtown core so it would be a convenient stop. After a little glitch with my inability to tell direction on a smart phone map, we found the place, looking Mediterranean and a little understated next to it's bright bakery neighbor. The interior had a bit of an Italian feel to me, which is strange, because it did not look like any restaurant I had ever been to in Italy, and I have never been to France for comparison, but my instincts began filling me with fear about a menu filled with pasta and pizza.

Fortunately, the main items on the menu were crepes, soups and sandwiches, and they even had Gluten free batter for their crepes! I ended up going with the mushroom salad because I was still full from my holiday meals, and we got the liquid gold tasting platter to start. This is unfortunately not as exciting as it sounds; it is a tasting of oils and vinegars for bread dipping. We had decided this was a special occasion (it's not everyday you get to duck out to a nice restaurant for lunch)and what better way to celebrate that then by ordering a 3 course meal? We got the blood orange olive oil and the fig vinegar. It came out pretty fast with some nice crusty bread (not gluten free, oops). We were both surprised at how much you could actually taste the flavours in the oil and vinegar, we ran out of bread but our waitress told us to keep the rest of the dips because we had some bread with our meals as well. This was turning into a not so light and healthy lunch, but what's a gal supposed to do when faced with such a culinary treat!

Usually, when I order a salad, I feel great about myself at first, and then in the impending moments leading up to the arrival of the food I begin regretting my decision; thoughts of bland lettuce, cold vegetables and over-dressed salads begin to cloud my thoughts and I almost wish I had the guts to ask to change my order (I never do). But on a few very rare occasions, I have actually been presently surprised at the arrival of my salad, and end up enjoying it like it was a plate full of big juicy steak. And luckily this was one of those times. The mushrooms and red peppers were warm and sauteed so that already alleviated some of my concerns. There was a good amount of dressing, and not an overcompensation of lettuce. Now, just having nothing wrong with a dish, may not seem like cause for joy, but as I prepare myself for the release of the upcoming Hobbit film I slowly begin to feel my Hobbit-like features return, and an intense love for the perfectly cooked mushroom is one of those such features.

We had already been eating for over an hour, so a little desert with some tea and coffee couldn't hurt anyone. We got the banana ice cream desert and sat for another hour, chatting, eating banana ice cream and sipping on green tea. By the time we eventually left, it was already after four- too late to go back into work! So we just went home, overly full and satisfied, in true french fashion.

Overall:

Gluten Free: If you have some self control

Dairy Free: Order without cheese

Tastiness: délicieux

www.cheztess.ca 

5697 Charles Street