Le 409 (Montreal)

Holy cow, the food I have known the best and loved the most (Indian food) has been rarely reviewed on my food blog.

Time to fix that starting with my first proper review of an Indian restaurant in Montreal (the current one on Le 409) — but you also have 2 other posts related to Indian food on this blog, which are the permanently updated post ”Indian restaurants in Montreal – My ratings, advice and short notes” (here)  as well as the review of Indian Accent NYC (here). And many more to come.

So the restaurateurs of  Montreal, although  always a bit late to catch up with trends (compared to their peers abroad), they are slowly but surely importing some ideas from afar.  Another boring classic Indian eatery? No. No more, Lol. No more. Instead, what about a concept that is hip and that sells far better than the classic theme? What about an Indian gastro pub (here, you can find an interesting article on the trend of Indian gastro pubs)? Here comes Le 409 (the work of the owners of  — now permanently closed — Indian restaurant Atma and the owners of nearby restaurant Holder).

Here’s what I ate at Le 409 during this specific visit:

 

–Chana Samosa (Pastry stuffed with potatoes and spices, topped with chickpea masala). Smashed samosas topped with chickpea (chole) masala. Excitingly tangy and spicy as it is expected from this chana samosa chaat. The spiciness nicely balanced,  some nice required subtle sweetness thrown in the mix, the quality of the chickpea high. Some versions of this specific chaat can be overwhelmed with an onslaught of garnishes, a mistake that is avoided, here, at le 409. A superb  chole samosa chaat. 8/10

 

–Lamb korma  (Lamb in a creamy sauce with almonds and raisins). This Mughal dish featured a nice creamy consistency as well as  some quality meat that was slowly braised  and  infused with a blend of spices. Proper robust flavour profile at the fore. The rich creamy (coming usually from the yogurt that a lamb korma recipe is supposed to use) and overall mildly spiced flavour was enjoyable. This one was sweeter than some versions I am used to, but that is not a fault at at all (there’s no universal rule about the sweetness of a Lamb Korma. You can make it sweeter or less sweet, either/or remains perfectly legit, at the end of the day, as the rule is about the flavour profile. And the proper lamb korma flavour profile was there, and lamb korma is supposed to be creamy and sweet, anyways, and that was the case here). An  exquisite lamb korma. 8/10

 

–Chicken Madras (Cubes of chicken in a spicy curry with coconut milk and mustard seeds). This British Indian dish (the dish itself is British Indian, but the spices that it is using are, of course, from India)  is prepared, here, with coconut milk. I have always been partial to coconut milk based curries, the main reason I ordered this specific dish. The texture was sumptuous and thick, the level of heat of the spicy curry was on point (I read some reviews online about the level of spices being not as hot as it should. That is pure fantasy, most likely coming from people who confuse mouth-burning heat with proper flavour profile, a typical mistake and cliché when people judge Indian food in the West…they are so desperate to put it down that they say stupid things. Well, nah, this was properly spiced and whoever thinks that this is not spicy enough  is watching too much of the ‘spicy and hot food ‘ shows on youtube.  Another flawless curry. 8/10

 

–Naan. They actually have a tandoori oven as shown here, on their instagram. A good idea as the bread did benefit from the resulting flamed baked flavours and textures, a feature that elevates the taste of the naan bread. Fluffy, soft, with proper chewy consistency (exactly as it should with a good naan) and flavour for miles. Good Naan is rare, these days, in Montreal, therefore it was nice to find a fine naan at an Indian restaurant in town. Finally a Naan of the big leagues in Montreal (a rarity in Montreal) 8/10

 

–Chicken biryani. All the textbook relevant requirements were met, namely a good meat marination, the use of fresh whole spices, the grains of rice did not stick together but remain separate, the pieces of meat were succulent, they did use some fine quality of rice, the chicken meat did easily separate from the rice as it should, the flavor of the spices were locked into the rice, the byriani was not greasy, etc.  If you have cooked and experienced with byriani at home before (my case), you would know how  little details such as frying the onions, locking in the flavor of spices into the rice, and focusing  on the marination of the meat for enhanced flavour, among others, do go a long way, a long way that was felt here (which is a good thing). Spicy and full of plenty of exciting aromas as it’s supposed to be. A Biryani of the big leagues. Again, another superb dish (“superb” is used profusely here, I know. Deservedly so! That is all you need to know.) 8/10

The other day, I went back to an old time favourite legendary wood-fired Pizza parlour in Mile End that I have cherished for decades (since its opening in 2010, to be precise) and was saddened by how that specific place (and plenty of other eateries that were great several years ago in Montreal) went downhill (poor food, etc.). By contrast, the new guard which is composed of restaurants like le 409 (I also loved Deville Diner Bar, Rita, etc.) are really putting the Montreal dining scene back on track.

Regarding the service: as I have explained elsewhere on this blog, I will not mention it anymore if it is of the uneducated / amateurish sort (I do not have time to waste on crap). If it is of the classy educated sort, I will happily spend some time writing about it. Which is exactly what I will do, here.  So, the  service, on that specific evening, was top. Hugo, the maestro of the evening, a world class host balancing perfectly the old and the new (and he is not old, which makes it even more noteworthy). What makes a host special is not the fact that he uniformly says the same thing to everybody, but his exceptional ability to adapt to his guests, to know what to say and whom to say it while remaining, of course, professional. That is something extremely rare to balance. Loved his dynamism and very caring attitude. It was, to put it boldly, a masterclass in how to greet and accommodate a client. When the maestro is world class and is a true leader, the case of Hugo on the evening of my visit, then everything else works smoothly (which was the case on that evening).

 

Bottom line: Le 409 is a well-oiled operation (trained and educated staff, good ambience, the cooking skills were chef’s kiss,  good drinks, good choices of wines –even the wines by the glass selection is really good, an overall good dining experience), a superb restaurant. As far as the food goes, the fundamentals of Indian cuisine are  respected and applied (the menu is composed of traditional fares for the most part), but do not be surprised to see  creations of their own as well (which is refreshing and appropriate in the context of an eclectic city like Montreal). Le 409 has the looks of a trendy gastropub (the lover of interior design that I am was also happy about that feature), but they did not allow that to distract from what matters: they are cooking proper Indian food (which makes sense since the people at former classic Indian restaurant Atma are also behind Le 409). Unsurprisingly (the folks behind Holder know how to open and run great restaurants, Holder being one of the better restaurants in Montreal, the folks behind Atma, too), this is one of the better Indian restaurants in Montreal (if someone tells you that he knows Indian food or that he is Indian and that this is not Indian enough for him, then that is coming from the same dude who is frozen in his “1980s Indian food and mood fantasies” and who, most likely, is confusing “level of spice” with “proper flavour profile” . What makes Indian food genuine is its flavour profile, not the fact that the level of heat of the spices is tongue-splitting/mouth -burning , and even at that game, le 409 is offering proper level of heat where it should be. In other words, for a lucid person who really knows Indian food for what it is and not for what his fantasies want it to be, le 409 is delivering proper Indian flavour profiles. Coeur conquis! I would happily eat here again! PS: check out my permanently updated post on  Indian restaurants in Montreal — that post can be found here — if you need some extra input on our local Indian restaurants in Montreal. Le 409. Addr: 409 McGill St, Montreal, Quebec H2Y 2G3. https://le409.com/