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| - It's easy to see why this restaurant has a 4 1/2 star rating with hundreds of reviews.
I could tell upon entering that I would fall in love, and I did. The space is light, breezy and spacious, but without feeling cavernous or overwhelming. The staff members are incredibly friendly, and didn't seem to mind one bit that my friend was 15 minutes late.
And our meal here on May 28 was nothing short of spectacular, from start to finish. The start: two incredible negronis which were painstakingly prepared in front of us (we were at the bar), and which included strips of orange peel with carved edges in different geometric patterns. Beautiful. (My friend had another at the end of the meal, and the orange peel was carved in yet another pattern.) I also had an exquisite gin martini, with St. Laurent dry gin, a spirit new to me but destined to become a favorite. It has an improbable set of botanicals, including local hand-harvested seaweed. This is a love-it or hate-it gin. I loved it. Wine selections were amazing too, with the largest and most extensive assortment of by-the-glass selections I saw during my whole trip to this great city.
The food was spectacular. We should have ordered the tasting menu (next time, it will be a must), but were worried about the amount of food. Instead, we ended up ordering two small plates (trout, oyster, beet, lingonberries, nori; and foie gras, mackerel, orange, radicchio, crosnes), two large plates (rabbit, pistachios, potato, ras el-hanout, spinach, leek; and cappelletti, rutabaga, foie gras, sweetbreads, pecans, maple), and then again another two small plates (oyster mushrooms, feta, apple, sunflower, poblano, kohlrabi; and crab, beef, rhubarb, lime, cilantro, celery). Dessert: chocolate, hazelnuts, parsnip, banana; and three cheeses.
The plates were works of art, and the food equally inspired. Flavor combinations were unique, vibrant, complementary yet individual, and playful. The taste profiles extraordinarily well balanced, and the courses as a whole were beyond delicious.
The service was incredibly friendly, and even though the place was jam packed (from 6-8 pm on a Monday!) and the bartenders/servers incredibly busy, they were all smiles with us and chatted frequently throughout our meal.
There are so many great restaurants in Montreal that I want to visit (and will, on future trips), but this will be a spot I will return to on every subsequent visit.
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