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| - I visited La Champagnerie for the first time during the 2016 series of MTL à Table. I won't lie, it wasn't my first choice because the vegetarian option for the main meal was a bit iffy (because it contained sea urchins). I contacted the restaurant in advance by email in the hopes that there would be an alternative without seafood. I received an affirmative reply that something could be arranged, I brought along a friend who was interested to try something new, and off we went.
I didn't know anything about the restaurant before visiting, so I went as a tabula rasa (blank slate). The first thing I noticed was a lot of Champagne corks, of corks this makes sense when "Champagne" is in the name, but interestingly these all had the muselets (wire cages) still attached. I later looked up the full name of the restaurant, "Bar à Sabrage" and learned that Sabrage is the technique of opening a Champagne bottle without removing the cork. Practitioners slide the blunt edge of a sabre along the side of the bottle, up to the the collar. The impact causes the collar to break off along with the cork and the muselet intact. While I didn't get a firsthand demonstration, I'm sure it would be fun to see at a subsequent visit. (Look here for an idea: https://www.yelp.ca/biz_photos/la-champagnerie-montr%C3%A9al?select=spZ8hBT8SDbfdEviNQFk_w). The theme was reinforced by the multitude of corks behind a transparent panel mounted on the wall.
I began the meal with the special cocktail "Rye & W", recommended by our very charming and helpful server Gabrielle. They used a homemade root beer syrup along with apricot and smoked honey bitter to create a really unique drink.
The menu options on offer for the MTL à Table series are luckily part of the regular menu, so I don't feel unfair in describing them here because anyone can try these for a regular meal.
We began with the first service, Burrata with grilled peaches, pistachios, a red wine reduction, and roasted nut bread. Look through some of my other pictures and you'll see that I really love burrata, the Italian cheese made of a ball of Mozzarella (usually cow's milk fior di latte) filled with shredded Mozzarella and cream. It didn't disappoint. The vegetables and fruits provided a nice sweet and tangy counterpoint to the milkiness of the cheese.
For the second service, my friend had the Chicken & Waffles and I had a custom vegetarian version of the spaghetti (now sans-urchin). The Chicken and Waffles came piled high one atop another, with deep-fried pickles, chives, bacon and bourbon, vanilla and truffle butter syrup.
My friend and I were very impressed with the portion sizes. This was the fourth restaurant I visited during the series, and most offered quite small samplers of their dishes, but here we found ourselves hard pressed to finish the meal!
I mentioned earlier how, in fairness, this wasn't my first choice. The main reason was that it was a little difficult to get a straight answer about the vegetarian option. I wasn't interested in just having the spaghetti dish WITHOUT the sea urchins, I was hoping there would be an actual alternative. Luckily, the chef empathized, he also didn't want to simply offer a subtraction, so instead he created a custom dish with lots of King Eryngii mushrooms, cherry and heirloom tomatoes, which was simply delicious. The photo doesn't do it justice.
One more cocktail (:D) and it was time for dessert!
Dessert consisted of the house standard "Sundae", comprising Fried Reese's Cups, caramel, bananas, chocolate, spicy nuts, a delicious pineapple reduction, ice cream, and Italian Amarena cherries. Wow! I'm usually leery of deep fried desserts because they often come out very oily and tasteless, however the sweet and salty chocolate peanut butter flavour of the Reese's Cups were wonderfully partnered with the breading, resulting in a flavour sensation! Amarena cherries are also one of my favourite accoutrements, bitter cherries soaked in super sweet syrup. The pineapple reduction tasted like the perfect pineapple flavour one hopes to get in the deepest yellow section of the fruit. Sweet, without bitterness, and just the hint of tartness so you remember it's still an acidic fruit. So all of this, with caramel, banana, spicy nuts, powdered sugar, and chocolate syrup to boot? I wish I could eat this every day!
I really enjoyed the whole experience at La Champagnerie. The food was delicious and filling, the cocktails were creative, the design was beautiful, and the staff above all were just excellent.
I'd like to give my sincere thanks to our server Gabrielle, who was a delight, always ready to offer suggestions and pleasant conversation. I'm sure I talked her ear off quite a bit :D.
Thank you to Operational Coordinator Margot, who fielded my emails, and thank you to the talented chef and the rest of the staff.
Though I don't drink champagne, I look forward to returning so I can see Sabrage in action!
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