Wednesday was boys’ night out and we decided to meet at the Caribou Gourmand, a Mile End bistro opened a little less than two years ago by Inès and Guillaume Paimparay, a couple from Normandy, France.
Guillaume Paimparay's eight years of experience included work in the kitchens at Decca 77, the Nuns' Island outpost of Les Enfants Terribles with S'Arto Chartier-Otis and Guillaume Belisle, the Steak Frite/Steak House Village, and various catering gigs.
The bistro serves seasonal cuisine with Quebec and Norman influences which together with the decor try and manage to represent quite well the woodsy and rustic ambiance of a sugar shack. A chic one transplanted on Mile End in the middle of the city!
We succumbed to the carnivores in us and ordered:
Tataki de loup marin (phoque sauvage des Iles de la Madeleine) for the appetizer,
Sanglier braise (sanglier semi-liberté de Brigham) as main course,
and Brownie au vin rouge
and Nougat glace à l'Epinette for dessert.
We supplemented the menu with a side dish of French fries, which unfortunately came pretty burned.
We decided to pair the meal with Chateau Des Carolle Graves 2015, a typical Bordeaux wine that had received many awards. The vintage is produced from 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Grave is unique among Bordeaux's sub-regions, as it is the only district producing Grand Cru wines of both red and white wines.
The dishes on the menu are original, not at all what you would expect from a French restaurant. The decor and atmosphere are pretty cool but the kitchen was not at par according with our diner experience. Of note, even if the bread was nothing to write home about the butter was pretty interesting, with cranberries and some secret ingredients.
Luckily there are so many other restaurants for us to try in Montreal.
Address : Caribou Gourmand, 5308 Saint-Laurent, Montréal
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