rev:text
| - Does someone on your team at work have a birthday or a special occasion and you're not sure where to go? Situated on the top floor of Pointe-à-Callière, the Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History, L'Arrivage is a great spot for a business lunch if you're not in a hurry. You'll usually see several groups of office workers there. In the summer they have tables of two on the terrace with a great view of the Old Port. They've recently updated the décor slightly, and the result renders a bit more industrial chic.
Reservations are essential because the place generally fills up. Service can be slow once it gets full, so my colleagues and I usually show up at 11:45 so we can get our orders in and beat the rush. We've had lots of practice, you see - we've been doing birthday lunches there for several years. Sometimes I suggest trying someplace new, but no one will have it: L'Arrivage is too sure a bet, they say.
Their lunch menu is perhaps pricey for a weekday lunch but a great value for what you get. You start with a soup or salad, which is always inventive and flavorful. Today's salad was a Nordic shrimp mousse with a fennel and orange salad. The selection of main dishes always includes one vegetarian option (and my vegetarian friends always seem to enjoy it), and a variety of fish, seafood and meat dishes. Their cuisine is rich, with purees and sauces adding a lot of flavor, and unusual grains and vegetables filling out the plate. Today I had the salmon and tuna tartare with a blini, some type of whipped herb cream cheese, and a sweet caramelized sauce drizzled on the side. My carefully prepared bites were worth the effort: so tasty!
Dessert is always a high point at L'Arrivage: they serve a plate with three mini desserts in one. Sorbet often appears, but today it was a parfait of dates, panna cotta and a caramel sauce, a meringue, and a tiny muffin-shaped financier. Very good as always. I was stuffed, but it was too good to leave on the plate.
|