Martin Picard is well known in Montreal's food scene so naturally his sugar shack is wildly popular and difficult to get into. Many try to get a reservation here but only few succeed in doing so. It's not a conventional sugar shack in that you don't eat traditional sugaring off food. Instead you try restaurant dishes in a sugar shack setting.
Consider this a warning to watch how you eat the day you come here because I promise you that there will be no shortage of food. The waiters bring tins to take home leftovers before you have even received food because they know that you simply can't finish it all off. We were served fourteen different dishes and all of them were quite heavy.
On the particular night that I came the menu was Moroccan inspired though we started off the soiree with a foie gras cake. Yes you heard right, foie gras cake. It was very decadent. From there there was what felt like an endless parade of dishes, and we ended up trying fourteen ones. I was full long before the main courses came but I kept going because most of it was pretty darn delicious. A few dishes fell flat but the meal as a whole was very enjoyable. My favourite dish of the night was a beef tagine which had been cooked for 5 hours. It was incredibly tender.
This epic feast cost about $70 (tax and tip not included) and it did seem like a fair price given the quantity and quality of the food. Believe me there was lots of food. Alcohol wasn't included in that and I must admit that drinks were a little over priced. I ordered a cocktail (whose name I can't remember) and it was a little weak.
I'm happy that I got the chance to finally try the Pied du Cochon sugar shack but I must admit that the whole experience is slightly overrated. The food was good but it was lacking that extra wow factor that I was expecting given the hype surrounding this place. Alas, it's one of those experiences that you try once to say you did it.