During our March trip to Montreal, prior to our outing to the 2026 Pied de Cochon Cabane à Sucre, several of us arrived two evenings before the event, and decided to go out for a light dinner. Since our hotel (our long standby Hôtel Château de l’Argoat) is in Montreal’s Le Village area, we decided to explore more of Rue Ontario Est’s restaurants. After looking in the window and seeing a rather impressive set of grilled chickens, we decided that Sardine Rose, a small Portuguese restaurant, was just the ticket.
Walking into Sardine Rose, the immediate ambiance directly matched a rather large fraction of the smaller cafés and dinner restaurants from our trips to Portugal: think casual, cozy, and a little old-school. It’s a bit on the “mood lighting” end of the spectrum (so sorry about the occasional poor photo), but inviting, with the smell of grilling meat throughout: the grill and most of the kitchen is right on your left when you enter.
While the place is even named “Sardine”, our party had two non-seafood folks present (myself nominally included), and we were all going to the Cabane in a few days, so everyone gravitated towards the grilled specials: either the house-special poulet Portugais chicken, or the côtes-levées (pork spare ribs), served up as a grill special with a salad and Portuguese-style fried potatoes. After enjoying an appetizer of some excellent grilled Portuguese chouriço, we all placed orders for either a half-chicken grilled, or a combination of a chicken breast and a small rib rack. Myself, I for some reason was craving tomatoes, which led to my ordering an upgrade to a tomato and onion as well, and this was a surprisingly good salad: nicely ripe tomatoes and onions, lightly marinated, and the perfect light start to the meal.
A nicely grilled half chicken and frites. The chicken was excellent: a nicely grilled and moist half chicken, nicely smokey from the grilled, topped off with a peri-peri-style peppery marinade applied while the meat is still grilling so it crisped a fair bit. The frites were done up Portuguese-style, basically thick-sliced potato chips, about halfway between fries and potato chips in texture, which is such a nice combination that I’m surprised I basically have only encountered this style at Portuguese restaurants. I’ll have to take a swing at these at home at some point. In any case, a great meal at a reasonable price (around $16 USD including the salad).
Several folks instead went for the mix cuisse et côtes-levées, which was basically the same meal I had, subbing a small spare rib rack for the dark chicken quarter, and everyone enjoyed this as well: a nicely-seasoned and grilled pork spare rib rack.
Despite “moderation” being one of our guidelines before the Cabane’s excess, when the owner offered up some dessert options, most everyone at the table couldn’t resist. Carol ordered the chocolate cake, which was a very nicely done dark chocolate cake: slightly bitter, aromatic, and balanced so that the richness never turns cloying, with lots of rich cocoa notes, and just the right neither-dense-nor-spongy texture. I had a few bites of this, and enjoyed it.
Two other folks at the table enjoyed another cake with layers of caramel, but nobody at the meal remembered the exact description. It did look quite enjoyable, however.
But for me, the star of the dessert course was a Portuguese classic: Pasteis de Nata. Small Portuguese custard tarts made with flaky, buttery pastry shells filled with a rich egg custard, they’re baked at high heat so the tops blister and caramelize, creating dark spots that add a slight bitterness to balance the sweetness. These were every bit as good as most of the pasteis I had during our various Portugal trips, and a nice, lighter way to round out the meal.
For a nice gathering with friends in a quieter part of town, we really like Sardine Rose. The grilled food was top notch, everyone loving the nice Portuguese frites, and the desserts were nice without being too excessive. Add in a very friendly and chatty proprietor, and this was a nice dinner choice. I may have to go back at some point for some fish or a grilled steak.
