L'Orignal
Quebecois market cuisine in Old Montreal
Photo by Braised and Confused
L’Orignal means “moose” in French. Based solely on the name, you would expect the food served here to be big, hearty and gamey. Actually, after spending over three hours eating here and sampling a good portion of the menu (we were a party of eight ordering a variety of dishes), we came to the conclusion that the portions here were just perfect (what I mean is not overwhelmingly large) and that the food was even better than any of us had anticipated. We first took notice of the restaurant at Oysterfest earlier this September. When we tried L’Orignal’s wild boar-lobster roll, we were hooked. We finally had the chance to come by and it did not disappoint.
Drink-wise, we ordered 3 bottles of red wine. This one in particular was called “Roagna” and from 2009. One of our party particularly liked this bottle, so that sort of explains why we had so much of it. I had our server’s top two recommendations from the cocktail menu – a cinnamon sidecar martini and the pepper stretch cocktail. I absolutely loved the cinnamon sidecar – would definitely order that one again. At the moment it actually smelt like gingerbread cookies and applesauce which was totally appropriate for the fall weather. Several Mooseheads and Bierbrier‘s were ordered. As you can probably tell, we had a good time. I mean, good food, a few drinks and pleasant company is all anyone needs, amiright?
As a prelude to our three course meal, we were served two dozen oysters. These were a mix of L’Orignal’s freshest: Summerside’s, Colville Bay, Thatch Island and Chopper’s Choice. I can’t tell you how much I love oysters – I’ve probably mentioned this before in some other post. Nothing really tastes as good, as fresh and as delicious. Just a squeeze of lemon and you’re good to go. Not to mention, they are known as an aphrodisiac (that’s not why I like them, come on guys). Not that I really felt anything afterwards, but if anyone has, feel free to email me or comment with a story. I’d love to hear it.
I started off with the piglet heart foie gras parfait with a pistachio pain de gênes. Presentation was gorgeous and tasted as good as it looked. I had some trouble finishing the foie gras parfait though, not because it wasn’t good but because it’s a problem inherent with eating a somewhat larger quantity of it (at least for me). Starts out great, really rich and decadent but as you eat more and more of it, it gets harder to finish it all. This particular dish had such an interesting arrangement of different components on the plate and pairings of flavor – like the pistachio element and the bergamot crème fraiche. Very cool idea. It makes you think about what’s what on the plate and how to get a taste of everything in one bite.
Read the rest of this review on Braised and Confused
Photo by Braised and Confused
foie gras parfait
Photo by Braised and Confused
oysters
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