Monarque, Montreal

Founded in 2018, Monarque is widely known as one of the most popular restaurants of the recent years in Montreal.

Short story: I am a longtime fan of Chef Richard Bastien, one of my all time favourite Québécois Chefs, having tried his cooking at his original restaurant named Le Mitoyen (Laval).  I learned, with time, that his son (Chef Jérémie Bastien) was the Chef, here, at Monarque and was curious to try his son’s cooking as well.

Monarque has a “brasserie” (or bistrot, if you will – casual dining) as well as a “salle à manger” (dining room – I did not try this menu yet, but I’d guess that you can call it ‘fine dining’) menu. Before heading to the restaurant, I was perusing (online, on their web site) both menus and I was hoping that one would be more interesting than the other, but  they were both equally tempting.

For this first visit, I went with the “menu brasserie” (which the Monarque’s web site describes as “inspired by bistro classics” ).

They basically offer an updated take on French-inspired  bistrot food (I am talking about the “brasserie” menu, here,  as that is what I did opt for, this time, and that I am reviewing).

Gougères. Basically, gougères are French cheese puffs. An interesting piece of the history of gougères, as per Wikipedia, is that “”Earlier forms of gougère were more a stew than a pastry, including herbs, bacon, eggs, cheese, spices, and meat mixed with an animal’s blood, and prepared in a sheep’s stomach“”. Wow. That is something I would have never guessed, Lol. We learn everyday, indeed. There are several variants of gougères and this Le Monarque’s variant of the gougères that I was nibbling during that meal was one proper variant of gougères (proper pillowy interior, proper intensity of cheese flavour, properly light and fluffy). Here, the savory choux pastries were timely baked into crisp, exactly as it should. Not the gougères of my dreams (not the fault of the kitchen as they did everything that they had to do, and there was nothing faulty here, just the fault of the imperfect subjective nature of human’s normal/expected personal taste/preference. And I am human), but this was perfectly Alright.  6/10

 

–Bone marrow, Burgundy snails, red wine jus, persillade. I rarely order bone marrow at restaurants as I simply drop by my butcher shop and take some bone marrow and simply cook it at home when I need my fix of that (very simply, with salt. That is it). I use them also for my stews, sauces, etc. at home. But if a Chef seems to be willing to add a bit more to the bone marrow (the case here, as they are adding snails to the bone marrow), then I may order it at a restaurant. And if there’s a bit of storytelling behind it (the case here, as the Chef mentioned on instagram that this is his clin d’oeil to his time spent in burgundy), it is even better, hihihi. Joke aside, this was delicious, avoiding anything extraneous (sometimes Chefs fall into the trap of doing a bit too much with bone marrow, diminishing the enjoyment of the bone marrow, but here, that mistake was avoided ), both the red wine jus as well as persillade done exactly as it should, everything (persillade, etc) having their core flavour profiles at the fore, the red wine jus was flawless (I expect French-inspired restaurants to do great sauces. And great was that sauce). There is a limit to what bone marrow can be, but this was a very good work (not just good, but very good) around the bone marrow with superb flavours and some quality snails that were as great as they come. As mentioned earlier on, the Chef mentioned on Instagram that this is his clin d’oeil to his time spent in burgundy. Well, that was time well spent in burgundy, Chef! And you definitely know what to bring back home! This, by Montreal restaurant standards, was some of the best bone marrow restaurant preparations.  8.5/10

 

–Fish and seafood bouillabaisse, saffron potatoes, rouille. I feel really bad when I need my fix of bouillabaisse in Montreal. I mean, we are in Montreal, for god sake, not in Marseille, Lol. It’s a dish that I refuse to cook at home for that very same aforementioned reason (we are not in Marseille). The reason I insist on that “we are not in Marseille” is justified by the fact that bouillabaisse is a stew that tastes authoritatively of its terroir: it’s not a joke, just taste a bouillabaisse in Marseille then taste it elsewhere outside of Provence. Not the same, Lol. Why? Les poissons de roche n’ont tout simplement pas le même goût car ce n’est pas le même habitat marin. Pas le même terroir , non plus (l’eau, les épices, les herbes, etc…tout cela joue un rôle prépondérant dans le goût et c’est pas la même  chose en dehors de Provence). So, I ordered this Bouillabaisse with the right expectation in the right place: Je suis à Montréal, et non à Marseille. That said, there’s not just one take on the Bouillabaisse, even in Provence you still have different takes on the Bouillabaisse (which is why I do not assess, to take an example, a bouillabaisse by, say, how thick or not it is. Because it is not its thickness that defines a bouillabaisse. It is its core flavour profile… ) , and this one was still flawlessly executed (the classic core flavour profile of saffron/fish broth at the fore, as it should), to be fair. The rouille equally properly executed. Some of the featuring items of this  bouillabaisse were  prawn, cod, mussels, monkfish, etc. All in all, this was a strong performance by Montreal Bouillabaisse  restaurant standards (precise technique, superb work of the textures and flavours, great timing of the cooking, timely served as well, superb ingredients, etc. – Those in the know call that kind of cooking “beautiful cooking”).  This, too, was some of the best bouillabaisse preparations by the highest restaurant standards in Montreal . 8.5/10

 

The desserts – I was curious about this stage of my meal at Monarque as some few food journalists (not all) seemed to have been slightly less impressed by their desserts at Monarque. The desserts here are good  and what I was enjoying did not lack of what those food journalists have missed. Far from that, actually. So either the Pastry team has fixed all the issues mentioned by those food journalists or those food journalists were  not  interested by what the kitchen was trying to convey (this is an important — and unfortunately widely overlooked — detail: let’s say a Pastry team is working on  their own  take of a Religieuse au chocolat, not the traditional Religieuse au chocolat, but their own contemporary  personal version of  the Religieuse au chocolat, and you order their Religieuse au chocolat with the expectation that you are …expecting … a traditional Religieuse au chocolat. Then you assess that Religieuse au chocolat  based on your expectation of what you know about a traditional Religieuse au chocolat…well, you did assess nothing here. Nothing!  ).

 

–Financier, pecan, maple ice cream.  First things first: this is not your typical /standard/common  almond based rectangular-shaped financier that abound in France (light golden exterior, crisp on the outside, buttery flavour on the inside, etc). This was more accurately a North American take on that. What it shared with its standard/common cousin of France is the soft and dense consistency on the inside. Here we have pecan, not almonds  (for a slightly richer and sweeter flavour) for an American twist to the financier. The American clin d’oeil continued with a pairing side of well made maple ice cream (really great). The beurre noisette technique (not the “hazelnut-flavoured butter” that its translation from French to English would suggest,  but the technique of browning the butter) is important, in the case of a financier, as it will, at the end, contribute to the flavour profile of the financier and the effect of that technique was felt here, well timed and mastered to good effect. A superb North American take on the financier (this is so familiar, to us, in North America, that some people may find it just normal/Ok. But I am the type of person who thinks that something is not just normal/just Ok …just because it’s familiar. Lol. For me, that is a nonsense. It can be familiar and crap. It can be familiar and good. It can be familiar and yet, great, etc. If it’s familiar and great, why should I hide that? Why putting down something that is well made just because…euh..oh…it is familiar. Lol. C’mon! That is absurd. So yeah, this dessert is  familiar to the North American in me, indeed, but it was well executed and I am not going to hide that). Superb. 8/10

Overall food rating, for this specific meal, by Montreal highest food restaurant standards: 8.5/10. Strong, strong  performance! And indeed, they cook some of the best food in Montreal, right now.

As a side note, this area where Monarque is located is starting to have couple of great restaurants: 4 mins walk away from Monarque, you have Le 409 which is simply one of the very best Indian restaurants in Montreal right now (I did a review on Le 409, review that you can find here), Holder (one of the best Brasserie of Montreal), the legendary steakhouse Moishes is now  in the vicinity (as we all know, Moishes is now owned by the Grandio Group, the group that also owns La Cage aux sports and was relocated in this area). And if, like me, you love old world architectures, then there are plenty of that all around.

 

Bottom line:  The restaurants linked to the Bastien continue to be great (Le Mitoyen stands out. I also had a standout meal recently at Leméac . And now this successful overall dining experience at Monarque).  It’s interesting, because I am a long time fan of Le Mitoyen and have always complained about the absence of international visibility on Le Mitoyen and people kept telling me that it’s because Le Mitoyen is in Laval, therefore not centrally located in Montreal, and I would reply …yeah, but L’Eau à la Bouche (now closed) was in Saint-Adèle (not in Montreal, too) and yet it had international visibility. So, I am glad to see that the Bastien finally have that International visibility they deserved since day one (I know that Leméac is already internationally renowned. And now that is the case  of Monarque as well). At once classic and contemporary, audacious (to open such a big restaurant at a time when plenty of other restaurants were closing, that take balls) and yet realistic (they do not take stupid risks and  their offerings cater to a big portion of the diners),  chic but not pretentious, vast and yet intimate, casual dining and fine dining, bar, bistrot and dining room, Monarque is many things. But where sometimes “many things” can be synonymous with  “confusion”, here, at Monarque,  “many things” work, “many things” make perfect sense. It is the sort of “many things” that I am perfectly fine with. Monarque Addr: 406 Rue Saint-Jacques, Montréal, QC H2Y 1S1. Phone (514) 875-3896. https://restaurantmonarque.ca/en/