Here is the latest chapter in my endless quest for nice meals in new (to me) restaurants in Montréal. Last night I tried the “La Brunoise” restaurant. It is located in a residential area but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is right in front of a small square that I read about in a magazine a while back because of its unusual chair sculptures. It was late and raining so not a good time to take photographs… plus I did not have my camera, but I will definitely go back to see and shoot them in daylight. The restaurant itself is sleek and modern but not cold. The service was perfect: knowledgeable and efficient but not condescending nor hovering…
Now the food! After all, isnt THAT the reason we go out to eat??? The food was excellent. The combinations were creative and tasty, the presentation was pleasing without being ridiculous, unlike those stacked towers of ingredients that shoot off you plate the minute you try to cut through them… For starters I had smoked sturgeon, garnished with pear chutney, pistachios, olives and tarragon rémoulade, it was lovely! My companion had Bourride of mussels, potato, celery, tomato oil and saffron foam. It came in a deep bowl like a soup, but what was most intriguing was the saffron foam which was exactly that: a bubbly foam, like active whipped cream, that slowly melted into the sauce…unusual… but delicious. I had the seared scallops as a main course. They were served with white asparagus, haricots verts, pink grapefruit and rock shrimp vinaigrette. It was lovely. Dessert was equally pleasing. Their signature dessert is vanilla pannacotta, with basil syrup, passion fruit, and the tiniest pastries I have ever seen. I had to look this up on the net as I have never made it. It is a cream based flan type confection thickened with gelatin. All in all a wonderful evening!
Here is a link to a simple recipe for Panna Cotta: All I did was add some basil leaves to the cream while it was heating up and then make a sugar syrup with more basil leaves in it. I served the Panna Cotta with a small dollop of bumbleberry jam and drizzled the syrup over it. It was a hit!
[url=http://whatscookingamerica.net/PannaCotta.htm]http://whatscookingamerica.net/PannaCotta.htm[/url]
And the link to the restaurant’s website: NOTE This restaurant has since closed….