Notre Dame Street has become such a hotbed of restaurants in the Sud-ouest that it is hard to keep up with all good places to try…. even when I live in the neighbourhood! One such place is Hvor – a restaurant that, when it opened a few years ago, got great reviews but that I never found the time to check out. Recently, friends of my wife’s invited us out to dinner and we decided on Hvor as the destination. I was very curious to see if the initial positive buzz was still deserved.
Hvor’s focus is local organic produce – the menu changes weekly based on what they get from the market, from local producers and also from their own terrasse garden – where they produce a number of different vegetables, herbs and even honey. There are a few tables on the terrasse so you can sit in the garden for dinner. Sadly, as it is a first-come-first-serve basis for that, we were not able to get one of those tables. Instead, we sat inside. The space is very industrial modern – a big contrast to the earthy market style food they focus on. It is a clean and open space with a large bar being the big eye catcher in the space. On the sunday evening we were there, it was very quiet but I can imagine a pretty noisy environment if the room is full.
The wine and cocktail lists are interesting enough. I decided to try one of their cocktails – the Rhum and Julep –
Ste-Marie rhum with sea buckthorn variations, orange minthe and ginger beer. Very nicely balanced between the rhum and the more fruity elements of the drink. Beautiful presentation as well using the buckthorn.
There are a few menu options available – you can go à la carte – either full plates or sharing style – or tasting menu. We chose to go à la carte sharing but allowed our waiter to choose for us – we couldn’t decide exactly what to go for. Up first, a amuse gueule of sour cream, melon foam and roe eggs. An interesting balance of textures and flavours. A good omen for what was to come.
Our first courses arrived soon next. We got some locally produced sourdough bread with fermented butter and charcoal – beautiful crust on the bread with a nice yeast body.
Next we had some grilled Princess scallops from Gaspé served with hazelnuts. The scallops were rich and tender with a nice grill to them. I never would have considered hazelnuts as a pair with scallops but their strong earthy flavour worked pretty well here.
Our final appetizer was a platter of maquerel sashimi and sliced scallops with a host of veggies. Beautiful presentation. A dish of finesse and execution. The scallops and mackerel were delicious. The little extras paired nicely overall.
Our second course kicked it up further. First we had a cold gaspacho served with grilled halloumi, roasted tomatoes, carrots and radishes. Delicious dish – I always love grilled halloumi and the rich saltiness it brings. That paired very nicely with a smooth velvety tomato soup.
The main dish was an trio of grilled meat from their menu: duck, lamb and steak served over a beet corn risotto with some potato chips. The three meats were beautifully grilled and cooked well. Wonderful tenderness to all of them. I get the idea of the potato chips to add some crunchy texture but frankly while they were good, I don’t think it worked all that well in practice. The beet risotto however was wonderful – bright and flavourful, rich and creamy. The addition of the fresh corn worked well as well.
The final dish was a platter of desserts – we got amongst others a dark chocolate Paris-Brest, a rice and coconut cake, a pistachio cake with pickled rhubarb and some candied peaches. At this point, we were pretty stuffed but we found a way – my wife loved the strong pistachio flavour of the cake in particular. Personally, I was more a fan of the Paris-Brest and how they used dark chocolate to contrast the usual sweetness of that dessert.
Hvor was a fun experience from beginning to end – we got very nice and personal service all evening. We even got a tour of the garden at the end of the dinner. The only negative being how long it took to get the check to pay at the end. The food was delicious, presented beautifully and well executed. It took us a while to get here but I’m happy to see that Hvor is still worthy of the praise it got at its opening.
Cheers!
Hvor
1414 Notre-Dame Ouest
514 937 2001
Ramblings from the Complex Mind of a 30 Something 