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| - I have saved my 700th review especially for Chuck.
Last weekend in Montreal I had the pleasure of finally dining at Garde Manger. We had booked a 7pm reservation on Saturday night (booked 1 month in advance to the day, just to be sure)
I want to say everything about the evening was absolutely perfect. The restaurant is small, maybe 15-20 tables in total, with a small bar at the front and an open kitchen at the back. Exposed brick walls, dark interior, incredible large kitschy chandelier type light fixture above the bar. Music was just the kind you expect after watching an episode of Chuck's Day Off - we heard Sublime, Guns N Roses and even the Hockey Night in Canada theme song.
The waiter (gorgeous, of course) was attentive, friendly and knowledgeable of the menu.
The food was as amazing as expected. We had two appetizers - a peach salad of some kind with charcuterie, nuts and some type of gorgonzola, and a toast of some sort with chanterelles and cheese on top. Both were excellent.
The mains was where we went astray. We made the mistake of choosing 2 seafood dishes - a scallops dish and an octopus dish. Both were genuinely amazing, but the price point was absolutely ridiculous. Sorry Chuck. $37 for 3 scallops and $35 for about 100 gram piece of octopus, I was really just expecting more. Even the appetizers (priced at $12-$14) were larger portions. Folks sitting nearby did order the short ribs and the portion was much more reasonable all things considered.
We shared a peach parfait to end the evening, which again was delicious.
The total bill came to $230 with tax and tip. That included the cheapest bottle of red they had ($45?), two mains, two appetizers and 1 dessert.
Overall an incredible dining experience with perfect food, just marred slightly for me by the portion sizes of the spendy main dishes.
I think Chuck owes me some more seafood, to be honest.
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