muvbox - a design-friendly, affordable lunch spot
Leave it to design-friendly Montreal to combine green technology with scenic vistas and affordable food.
Muvbox, a new take-out restaurant in Vieux Montreal, is a 20-foot shipping container by night and a solar powered boîte serving clam chowder, pizza, and lobster from the Magdalen Islands by day.
I arrived just before noon on a Wed, at the recommendation of a friend - knowing nothing about the design, but eager to try a lobster roll that cost less than $10.
It was a sunny day with a delicious breeze coming off the water, and the place was hopping: the shaded deck was full, half a dozen people waited in line on the building’s north side, and red-aproned staff moved quickly and efficiently at the heart of the miniscule space.
My lobster roll came in a paper box, in keeping with the box theme. The split hot dog roll was nicely toasted, making a warm shell for chunks of claw meat with slivers of celery and bound by a little mayo. The most popular meal was the special - clam chowder, lobster roll, chips and a drink for $14.95.
My friend pronounced the Margherita Pizza ($5.95) delicious and a good value. (The resto’s founder, Daniel Noiseux, brought the wood-fired oven to Montreal 25 years ago.)
Located on the quai next to La Maison des Eclusiers, the minimalist structure looks onto a gorgeous view. And at night, the restaurant itself adds to the scenery. Painted black, white and red, with giant lobsters on the end, the box has awnings that retract and sides that fold up to enclose kitchen and deck.
If you go:
Muvbox is located at the corner of McGill and rue de la Commune
Open from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm, weather permitting
fantasme fashion event
In my work, I experience 99% of the addresses, activities, events and products I recommend. Experience is key. It sets me apart.
I get lost, eat bad food, and make mistakes so my clients don’t have to.
The upside is reliability, and information designed for use. And I love sharing what’s great about Montreal.
The downside is that I can’t be everywhere, do everything.
So I need your help: I just received information about Fantasme. The one-night fashion event brings together Montreal-based art gallery the Darling Foundry, and designers Andrew Ly and Melissa Matos in an outdoor fashion show, fashion film screening and afterparty.
It’s just the kind of thing I like to cover on this blog. It takes place Thursday, Aug 20…and I can’t go!
Dear readers, would you attend, and report back?
Give us a few details about something you loved or hated. Tell us if it worked, and why (or why not).
The event is open to the public and free to attend. Read the overview and see a video at http://www.fantasme-event.blogspot.com/
Please rsvp to FANTASMESEVENT@GMAIL.COM
I look forward to hearing from you on the 21st!
Photograph courtesy Melissa Matos.
jamais assez - oh, really?
A confirmed minimalist, I am not a big consumer - and the name on the window of the design-friendly Plateau boutique, Jamais Assez (Never Enough) got my dander up.
Pausing in front of the St Laurent shop on my way to Aux Vivres (I do consume more than my fair share of good food), I began an internal rant to the effect of “Never enough?? Our economy is in shambles because of that philosophy.”
Yet I couldn’t resist entering. Spending philosophies aside, it’s the kind of place that makes me smile.
I consider well-designed retail spaces as mini-museums. Fun, imaginative products inspire me. I hang around just to revel in originality. To be charmed by color, composition and humor.
Fanciful, full of good design, well lit, and spacious in its arrangement of furniture, tableware, accessories for the home and body - Jamais Assez is very appealing.
A rocker that substitutes a polar bear for a horse; a wooden book case shaped like a ladder; a way cool high chair are all examples of well made Canadian made crafts.
At least shopping here stimulates the local economy.
Still, I resist their subliminal plea to buy. Isn’t it enough just to enjoy?
One of my favorite Paris shops, with similar designer eye appeal, is Pylones. The gift shop has spread world wide, thanks so its affordable, brightly colored tea pots, cheese graters, eye glass cases and more - all highly endowed with personality.
Another is The Cornershop - a home design store that carries the work of several European designers. My favorites are the larger items: a glass and chrome coffee table, club chairs in leather and velour. But I’ve also found tableware that had me mentally throwing out clothes to make room in my suitcase. And a side table that I wanted to build a room around. Unfortunately, they don’t ship.
Jamais Assez strikes me as somewhere in the middle. A place to dream, take inspiration, maybe even shop for a gift.
Sometimes, when I think about the grim state of the world, just remembering these places is enough for me.
If you go: 5155 Blvd St Laurent, at Fairmont.
