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| - As part of a work function, I attended a dinner at Restaurant Helena. We were a group of ~10, and set-menu was provided for us to choose from. The service and the food were both excellent.
For appetizers, we were served platters of grilled asparagus salad with serrano ham; tomato and goat cheese mousse salad, octopus salad and grilled chorizo. Servings were very generous, and everything was so delicious that most of us were full before our entrees! In particular, I would order the asparagus salad again; the combination of the saltiness of the ham with the sweetness of the asparagus was perfect. The octopus was grilled to perfection; a slight chewiness without being rubbery, and the vinaigrette made for a very fresh taste.
I had ordered a pork loin with red wine and mushroom sauce (our choices on our set menu were sirloin steak, fish, seafood rice dish (the name was portuguese) and the pork loin). Being a mushroom lover, I was swayed towards the pork loin. The serving was again, very generous. There were 5-6 medallions of pork loin. They were encrusted in a peppery marinade. Good thing I eat fairly spicy foods, but at one point, I did find the peppers overwhelming and the crust was a bit salty. Due to the large serving size, I sadly left two pork loin medallions behind.
Dessert for our group were a couple of platters, with mini natal, passion fruit panna cottas, lemon curd, meringue, chocolate chip cookies, dried fruits, etc. Sadly much was left behind because we were all too full.
If the experience for individual diners (not as a reserved group) matches our experience, then Helena is definitely a destination when in Old Montreal.
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