Montreal is home to many Middle Eastern foodie gems, but sometimes you just want a quick hummus and shish taouk fix without the sit-down experience, and that’s where Montreal’s fast-food chains, Amir and Boustan come into play. Although both chains serve up a sweet feast, it’s often debated which restaurant does it better. Mike Chaar from MTL Blog put both to the test and finally resolves that question.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Good potato. The turnips, the lettuce, and of course, the chicken.
00:07Hey, MTL blog, Mike Scharr coming at you with another foodie vid, but not just any foodie
00:14vid, a Lebanese foodie video. And with most Montrealers getting their quick Lebanese fast
00:19food fix at either Amir or Bhutan, it's often debated which of the two is better. And I'll
00:25be settling that one today.
00:28So we polled MTL bloggers to ask them which of the two restaurants is their favourite.
00:32And after receiving hundreds and hundreds of responses, it turns out it's a close call
00:37between Amir and Bhutan, but I'll be settling that one.
00:41But wait, what makes me qualified enough to be the judge of that? Not only does my family
00:46originate from the southwest of Lebanon, but I spent every single Saturday at my Teta's
00:52house eating her delicious Lebanese food, so I think my palate is qualified enough to
00:57see which one of these two restaurants does it better. Let's find out.
01:12Can I get a shawarma plate and a shish kebab sandwich, please?
01:15All dry?
01:16Yes, please.
01:17Rice and potato?
01:18Yes, please.
01:23Alright, so how this is going to work is I'm basically going to be testing that each of
01:27the restaurants on their presentation, cost, and of course, taste. And we're starting with
01:33Amir.
01:34So we've got our chicken platter, we have our shish kebab sandwich, and of course they
01:38bring you some bread. And this is what it looks like basically overall. This was $14.99
01:43and the sandwich came up to $6.99.
01:46So the presentation is pretty standard for Amir. You've got the hummus, you've got the
01:51garlic sauce, you've got their house salad, chicken, potatoes, and of course rice. Now
01:56let's dig in.
02:05The chicken is exactly how you would imagine it to be. It's crispy on the outside, it's
02:10juicy and soft on the inside.
02:15Can't really go wrong with this one. So how do the potatoes measure up? Let's find out.
02:21Nothing beats these garlic potatoes with the garlic sauce. If you know, you just know.
02:27And let's give it a try.
02:41It's a good potato.
02:44It's a good potato.
02:51It's a good potato.
02:55Sandwich, flavors, everything. Can't go wrong.
02:59So Amir definitely hit every spot that I wanted it to. When it came to the presentation, I
03:05would have to give the chicken shawarma plate a 7 on 10. I didn't expect anything less and
03:10I didn't really expect anything more. It's sort of the classic chicken shawarma plate
03:14that you'd get. But when it came to taste, I'd bump that up to at least an 8.5 on 10.
03:20I didn't love the salad, I thought it was a little plain, but everything else hit everything
03:25it wanted to. The potatoes were crispy and crunchy, the chicken was juicy and succulent,
03:29the rice was perfectly cooked, and of course for the sandwich, a clear 10 on 10. Amir's
03:35sandwich, the sauce to ingredient ratio, the turnips, the lettuce, and of course the chicken
03:41mixed with the garlic sauce, everything was just so good. So Amir, very, very, very clear
03:47contender, but we've still got Bustam's to try. So let's head on over there and give
03:52the exact same dishes a try to see how they measure up to Amir's.
03:56So we're at Bustam's right now actually, and I got the exact same plate, chicken shawarma
04:11sandwich, and the chicken plate. It's a little bit different here, but I'm excited to give
04:20a taste. So I got the chicken plate with rice and of course potatoes, I got hummus
04:25and garlic, and the salad here is a little bit different than it is at Amir's, so I'm
04:29excited to try that. But, let's dive in!
04:38The chicken is very juicy, crispy on the outside.
04:41A little bit better than Amir's. I'm a little bit stunned because I wasn't expecting it
04:49to be that good, but it is. We're going to move on to the potatoes now.
05:03Hot! I much prefer the one at Amir's. They were much crispier, a lot more cooked, but
05:09these were pretty good too. And I want to try the salad now, so let's move on to that one.
05:24This salad is a definite winner for me. I don't know where it's been falling in comparison
05:29to Amir's plate, but pros and cons, so. Alright, next up, sandwich! Same as last time, shish
05:37kew sandwich. Chicken, turnips, lettuce, tomatoes, and of course garlic sauce. The
05:43sandwich was decent, but I don't think it was as good as Amir's. The flavours didn't
05:48mix as well. I think there's a different spice use here, Bustan. But, let's give the final
05:54tally score, I'm not here. Let's get back to the car.
05:57So I just got finished with Bustan, and it was really good! I really enjoyed the plate.
06:03In terms of presentation, I'd probably give it somewhere closer to an 8 on 10. It was
06:08a little bit more elevated than Amir's, but when it came to the taste, I'd give it a 7
06:13on 10, mainly because of the added spice. The salad and the chicken were definitely
06:18the standouts, but everything else was just sort of alright. As for the sandwich, I'd
06:23probably give that an 8 on 10 in regards to both taste and presentation, making our clear
06:29winner today, Amir! I definitely enjoyed it. It seemed a lot more simple, more authentic,
06:35definitely hits home when I was eating the Amir vs. Bustan. But, don't let my opinion
06:41hinder you from going to either. Follow your taste buds, follow your heart,
06:52and just eat where you want. But, if you want some good Lebanese fast food, maybe try Amir.
06:58Alright, this has been Mike from MTLBlog signing off with a belly full of delicious Lebanese
07:04food, and I'll catch y'all on the next one. Bye!
07:07Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe to see more content just like this.