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| - Found this restaurant on Eater's list of must eat restaurants in Montreal. The restaurant is small w/ fine lines, white linen tables, and has a modern feel to it. Street parking only. The restaurant is a little tricky to find since there is no sign in front of the building itself, just the name on a semi hidden front entrance. We totally missed the restaurant & walked 2 blocks too far until we realized we passed 1595. Staff and service are both friendly. There are 4 separate restrooms with a public sink area. I definitely called the restaurant to make a reservation based on another yelper's recommendation. Eating early definitely has its benefits. We set the rsvp at 5:30 and sure enough the restaurant was packed by 6:30-7pm on a Monday evening.
For appetizers, we ordered:
Cured mackerel w celery, green chickpeas, mint & rhubarb gelee (Amuse bouche of the day) - I didn't eat this dish bc I'm pregnant and it's "raw". Hubby was thoroughly impressed & raved about this dish.
Steamed jumbo oyster w/ radish, pears & ginger fermented black bean broth (special of the day) - this oyster was packed a flavorful punch. Everything worked so well together and the broth was magnificent.
Pork shoulder tagliatelle - this dish was good, but we could of done without it. Pasta was cooked perfectly and pork was tender. The sour cream added a slight hint of "cheesy" tang that I didn't care for.
Sweetbreads w/ veal tongue, celery root, shishito peppers & pineapple - WOW! This dish was amazing. The sweetbreads were perfectly cooked & crispy, the veal tongue was tender & full of flavor, the celery root purée was silky smooth, the thinly shaved celery root was pickled just right and the char on the shishito peppers added a nice smokiness to the dish. The little bits of caramelized pineapple added a nice amount of sweetness.
For our entrees, we ordered:
Halibut two ways w/ a broccoli purée & florets, shiitake mushrooms, potatoes, Muscat grapes & hazelnuts - the crispy halibut nugget was the best element of this dish. The main halibut itself was delicate and tender, but had a slight fishy taste to it. Not sure how fresh the quality of the fish was. The grapes and onions added a little bit too much sweetness to the dish. The shiitake mushrooms were bland and the broccoli florets were a little over cooked. This dish was crying for acidity and a squeeze of lemon definitely helped.
Quail w/ quail egg, fava beans, potato, & parsnips (special of the evening) - OMG this dish was divine! Perfectly seasoned & cooked quail. The quail was slightly crisp and the sauce that came w it was smooth and rich. All of the elements were superb.
Overall, we would totally return to this restaurant bc everything was executed well and the flavor profiles of each dish was exceptional (except for minor issues w/ the tagliatelle and halibut). The only thing I didn't like about this restaurant was the inflexibility of the chef/cooks not wanting to cook any proteins above medium rare. For someone who is pregnant and careful with how her food is prepared, I would have appreciated it if the chef/cook was willing to cook the protein to at least medium/medium well so that there's less of a potential illness or harm to my unborn child. For that reason, I had to go with the halibut dish which I wasn't that impressed with.
I definitely recommend this restaurant. Some yelpers commented on how small the portions are, but if the server times out each course right, the dishes are actually filling. If not, fill up on their complimentary bread and butter!
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