Chinese Food Capital of the Eastern Townships

Who would have thought Cowansville would be the Chinese food capital of the Eastern Townships?

This regional hub is now home to three great new Chinese restaurants -- all opened within the past year or so.

I'm a big fan of Fusion d'Asia (at the corner of rue Principale and rue du Sud, in the former Sac à mots building) and Rendez-Vous Café (across from the Princess Theatre).

I wrote about Fusian d'Asia (94 rue du Sud, 450-263-3838) here. 

Rendez-Vous Café & Yamei

Less than a block away, Rendez-Vous Café (140 rue Principale, 450-955-3373) serves tasty and generous Chinese noodles and soup dishes.

A couple of buildings over, the café owner's wife, Yamei Zhao, has also opened a self-named restaurant called Yamei (101 rue Principale, 450-955-1682). 

Haven't tried Zhao's restaurant yet, but I wanna, and soon. If her husband's work in the kitchen is any sign, Yamei is gonna be a hit too.

Xie xie to all these entrepreneurs, and good luck!

UPDATE: My lovely and talented wife and I tried Yamei the other day and had a great dinner. The selection is simpler than at Fusion d'Asia, but the meals were excellent and well priced. 

We also picked up some of their delicious home-made hot sauce.

Asian Fusion a Big Hit in the Eastern Townships

Wow - the Fusion d'Asia restaurant in Cowansville has just opened, and it's already one of my favourite places to eat in the Eastern Townships.

We aren't blessed with the most culturally varied cuisine out here, but this place can compete with - and outdo - most Asian restaurants in Montreal.

Started by owner Minhtri Lai, who is of mixed Chinese-Thai descent, Fusion d'Asia blends flavours from both of Lai's countries of origin as well as Vietnam.

Lai opened the Cowansville location in October after success with his first restaurant of the same name in Bedford, Le Guide of Cowansville reports in this item.

Unholy Good

My wife had a tasty, tiny bird of some kind for an appetizer, while I had breaded shrimp wrapped around sugar cane sticks. Cool!

My wife's fried fish in coconut milk was one of the best fish dishes we've tasted. My mixed seafood dish arrived inside a coconut - nice! - and was unholy good.

When we visited in mid-October, the restaurant was waiting to get its bring-your-own-wine license, which was expected imminently. (Update: They've now got their BYOB licence.)

Prices on the menu were very reasonable, too. And the place was pretty much full the night we went -- so looks like it's already a big hit locally.

Look for this gem in the former Sac à mots building in the old bank building near the corner of rue du Sud and rue Principale.

Discover the Eastern Townships: An Insider's Guide

Thanks to documentary maker Albert Nerenberg for this stunner of a shot of a heart-shaped lake near his home in the Glen, with Owl's Head looming behind.

When my wife Rhonda and I moved with our little girls to the charming village of Knowlton in Quebec's picturesque Eastern Townships, we looked forward to discovering this historic and beautiful region (see road map here). But we were surprised at how hard it was to find many of the gems it has to offer.

Where the Locals Go

Where can we find elk sausages or a good super-fresh cheese? Who sells the best, reasonably priced organic veggies? What's the best spa to recommend to visiting friends? What about a cool mountain stream to take a dip in or a shop for kids' clothes? Where do the locals go?

Amazingly, there didn't seem to be a resource that lists the best food and drink, lodgings or spas, winter and summer attractions or shopping and services, whether for locals or tourists. It was up to us to find these secret spots.

We turned into detectives as we talked to our new friends and scoured the internet and country backroads looking for those insider locales only the locals know about. We sometimes found even they don't know of some of the greatest secrets of this remarkable region.

Welcome to One of Quebec's Prettiest Regions

Sure, there are some tourism resources that offer lists of some of these things, but nothing like the insider's guide we were looking for.

That's a shame because the Townships is an amazing place full of spectacular scenery, friendly people, historic sites and fascinating, little-known finds - everything from out-of-the-way vineyards to stunning vistas. So I decided to create the resource we were looking for ourselves.

There's so much to discover in the Townships it'd take us years to track down all its best treasures. Being somewhat lazy people, we also figured a blog would help us learn more about our new home from readers and to share our finds.

Your Insider's Guide

This isn't meant as a comprehensive listing (click here for a map of all the places mentioned on this site) but instead a constantly growing collection of places and attractions we enjoy or value enough to share with you (complete with our highly subjective ratings and those of our friends, neighbours, readers of this blog and the usual whacky guys at the pub). We'll also include a few of the places we didn't like and why. Think of it as a budding insider's guide to one of Canada's most beautiful regions.

This site is still at a beginning phase; we'll update it as we learn more. We'd also like to do a "Best of the Townships" poll, so stay tuned. We invite you to share your discoveries, comments about places and events listed here or not, your ratings, photos and suggestions for this site.

Please let me know if you have any association with the listings you send. We want to keep this site as objective as possible. You can reach me by adding a comment to a post on this website or by emailing me at aroslin1-at-yahoo.ca.