Restaurant Europea, A Rare Culinary Gem To Discover In Montreal by photographer Hera Bell

Their story in Montreal started 11 years ago.

After graduating from Vatel in Nimes,3 young friends  Jerome Ferrer, Patrice De Felice and Ludovic Delonca. opened their own restaurant together in st Cyprien.France.

When some of their Canadian clientele encouraged them to move to Canada, they have sold the restaurant and took the trip towards Montreal. Sadly they got robbed along the way. So they landed to Montreal 11 years ago almost with nothing.

Their love of culinary adventures and strong will brought them today where they are.

They will soon be crowned by getting into the list of the very prestigious group of   Les Grandes Tables Du Monde.   Europea  will be first Canadian restaurant accepted to become a part of this prestigious group.

They are 3 partners. Two are chefs. They work long hours and they are consumed to make your experience something very unique.   Your visit will be a culinary  extravaganza visually and gastronomically. It is a must go place.

Each plate is a marvelous visual puzzle to discover first, then a gastronomic marvel to experience.

Here is their Prestige menu we had that evening.  To see it larger please click on to the image. They change their menu every 4 months. Their Fall menu is now being served.

PS: All the red texts are links. Please visit the links.

I hope you will enjoy my poor quality snap shot photography done under very dim and harsh available lighting. I could only photograph the plates as they brought them in front of us from my seat at a busy table.

 

 

Before the deserts we were  invited to their kitchen that evening. It was another highlight of our evening.

The deserts were spectacular and tasty.

Hera Bell's Asian Inspired Fennel & Yellow Beets Salad

I love harvest time. You can find all bunch of locally grown yummy veggies and fruits.

I particularly am in love cooking with yellow beets since my discovery of them few years back.

Check out the nutritional value of beets.

They are great oven roasted. They are great boiled... Lovely in color. And they do not stain your hands as bad as red beets.

So I peel them off. Cut them into cubes. Shred a fresh claw of garlic and a sprinkle of salt, boil them until tender.

Meanwhile, slice up an entire fennel.

Add it into a bowl. I squeezed an entire orange, one lemon, then added 2 table spoon of apple cider vinegar. I added 4 table spoon sesame oil and 2 table spoon olive oil and 3 tablespoon low sodium soya sauce. I cut 2 marinated garlic into very tiny pieces. Pour over the sliced fennel.

When the beets are ready and still hot drain them ad add them over the fennel. This process with make the fennel softer. Add some lemon or orange grind, chop 3 shallots. Toss the entire batch, and refrigerate.

I can assure you it will be very yummy. Bonne appetite.

PS: The photos were shot with a cell phone.

Les Viandes Mc Cormack Meats Montreal's Best Kept Secret For Us Carnivores (by Hera Bell)

We used to purchase our meats from a farm in Eastern Townships. They were all great at the beginning. I guess they have become popular enough that it killed the quality. Like most things in life. Our last order of a half a cow,  everything about this cow tasted fat gone bad. We used to LOVE their low sodium smoked  bacon. Their last batch tasted heavy on the salt and not as tasty.

Anthony and I like consuming  meats from animals without hormone supplements. A meat that is not mass processed and we prefer meats coming from animals raised on real free roaming farm environments.

Then our friends Oliver & Carry introduced us to Les Viandes McCormack Meats  in Verdun. Halleluiah, I say.

If you are looking for the old fashion style small butcher shop with amazing meat cuts, they are it.

We are not talking about this supermarket overly processed meat. We are no longer in Kansas Dorothy... Small shop, personalized attention, fresh cuts designed for your needs. hehehe

We cooked last night their smoked ham. What a delightful experience it was having our first bite into it. A 2.5 kilo coasted under $20.00. A yummy $20.00 I must add.

2.5 kilo was cooked over an hour and a half in the oven at 325 degree covered. I added nothing to this fabulous piece of meat. Just some seasonal colorful carrots from a farmer's market.

I prepared mashed sweet potato as starch part of the meal.

Boil one large sweet potato after cutting them into cubes. Add a pinch of salt as shred a large garlic clove in the boiling water water.  Once boiled and very soft, drain its water, add a bit of milk and butter and crushed pecans and puree them. It serves plenty as a dinner for 2. You will have leftovers.

We live in the West Island. But taking a tiny trip to visit them  in Verdun will be worth  your every minute. They have fabulous aged Kobe beef for the connoisseurs. They specialize in seasonal game meat as well. From yummy wild boar bacon to deer which will hit their store soon. Imagine cooking a  Traditional Lac St Jean Tourtiere  ... Yummm

Go try them. You will not regret.

For the vegetarian customers, they have some frozen porcini mushrooms to die for. We bought some, I will try them later.

Their regular bacon was packaged as generous portions of 6. at $5.40 a package it made to our brunch table this morning. The aroma in the house is intoxicating. This is prime bacon. I must add.

Over the years we did cut our salt consumption to a minimum. Although this bacon has a wonderful flavor, its salt content is a bit much for our own taste.

It can be a great treat to have it once a week on lazy Sunday mornings.

For The Love Of Food, go and take the adventure, get out of your supermarket box once in a while.

Bonne appetite,

Hera