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| - So many mixed reviews about this place that I had to try for myself and see where all the discordance laid.
First off, the setting calls for more of a group outing than an intimate date. Long tables where you are seated directly next to your neighbour. The space between each patron is adequate but there is no 'official separation' between each seating.
Very nice touch to overall atmosphere as there is an open concept kitchen where you get to see the head chef at work as she finalizes each dish and ensures the platting is up to her standards.
Diversified menu with many interesting choices. Now here is where I think the discrepancy lies. All items are priced between 10-15$ or so, some are really worth it (especially the ones listed lower on the menu aka heavier on the meat side) whereas the more veggie and fish oriented dishes really fall short of their price tag.
We started off with the zucchini flowers stuffed with feta. It was a delight to try as it's not something you often see in the Montréal restaurant scene, but two small fried flowers for 12 dollars is a bit of a stretch.
We followed by the Tuna lakerda, which was basically three pieces of tuna sashimi in a middle eastern flavoured marinade. Very disappointing ... 11$ for 3 pieces of thin tuna? It doesn't matter how flagrant the sauce was (which was on the weaker side)... but unless it's blue fin tuna, that's way overpriced!
Then came the grilled eggplant topped with cheese. Very tasty but yet again, small and hard to justify the price for a purely veggie based dish.
Things did get much better from there on as we moved onto the meat dishes. We had the lamb tartar (less gamey than I would have expected, needed a bit more seasoning though), the lamb koftes (lamb meatballs - my favourite dish of the night - this was so good that if I ever went back, I'd order 10!) and finally the fried chicken (perfectly done, crispy and well seasoned batter).
Were we still hungry after this? No, but we found that it should have cost as much as it did.
Otherwise, the service was excellent as the waiter was very attentionate and knew his menu and wine list to every detail.
All in all, it's a decent restaurant with a good atmosphere and rather innovative menu for Montréal standards. If you go stick to the bottom half of the menu and you won't be disappointed!
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