So, first stop on my quest to discover some of the greatest restaurants our city has to offer I decided to head to unfamiliar territory…Little Italy!

It always seemed like it was a little out of the way or too unknown to me. I’d of course heard there were many great restaurants and lived in Italy for a summer after having done my minor at McGill in Italian language, culture and history. But, I tend to be a creature of habit, hence the whole point of this journey to find some new favorite restaurants with unique & delicious food.

We arrived at Bottega on Saint Zotique; it had great ambiance if you like small, dark & loud restaurants. It’s definitely has a younger, trendy vibe but there were all ages there. It has a brick oven to cook their pizza, which some of our friends tried and loved. But I would say it’s their tapas style menu that I keep going back for.

Their best dishes in my opinion are their grilled lamb chops (some of the best I’ve ever had), meatballs, risotto, homemade Italian sausages with rapini and the arancini (crispy rice balls stuffed with mozzarella and prosciutto). Basically you can’t go wrong with any of the appetizers & its fun to order all the dishes and share. I would highly recommend trying this place, especially with a group of friends.

Bottega is now a new favorite … can’t wait ‘til the next discovery!