Restaurant review | Our favorites of the year

The year got off to a bad start for restaurants, which suffered yet another forced closure a few days before New Year’s Day. Despite the pandemic and its difficulties, the gastronomic scene was very much alive in Quebec in 2022. Our two gastronomic journalists and restaurant critics present the places that have marked them over the past 12 months.

the top 5 by Iris Gagnon-Paradis

An almost perfect meal: Gia wine & grill

“What is the best restaurant in Montreal? This is a question that I am asked very often… and which I always have great difficulty in answering. But if I’m asked to pick the experience that got me most excited this year, my pick comes down to Gia wine & grill, by those who gave us the acclaimed Nora Gray and Elena. The space, unusual – in an old garage – is really beautiful, very modern, but warm. The atmosphere is perfect, the service commensurate without being too stiff, the wines were delicious and the food, inspired by central Italian cuisine, really tasty. The charcoal grill, used in a thousand and one ways, has a lot to do with it. Hats off to the whole team!

Restaurant favourite: Rose Ross

When I choose a restaurant for a review, several criteria are taken into account: the quality of the food, the cooking philosophy, the drink menu, but also, and above all, the people who are behind it, those who toil every day and give their soul to the establishments. For me, Sébastien Courville and Myriam Pelletier at Rose Ross are the perfect example of restaurateurs from the heart. It is to honor the colossal work they have done during the pandemic in this small neighborhood restaurant on rue Masson which serves market cuisine that I have chosen them for my first review of 2022, while the dining rooms had finally reopened. And I haven’t regretted it for a moment!

The surprise of the year: Waldo Peppers

Thank you to the reader Chantal Leblanc who wrote to me to tell me the story of this pilot who had launched with his Waldo Peppers family, “pizza like we make in Naples”. The extraordinary story of this family established in Rawdon who opened a pizzeria catering service in their house (with drive-through service!) meant that I could not help but go there. Waldo Delay and his wife Cybèle Major learned the basics of the trade from pizzaioli in Rome, and the children also participate. Plus, it’s one of the best pizzas I’ve had this year!

A hidden pearl: jjacques

I have covered the restaurant industry for over a decade. Discovering amazing places that surprise me is always a huge pleasure. Perhaps it’s because I lived in Quebec at a time when the gastronomic scene was rather traditional that the jjacques cocktail bar, located in the Saint-Roch district, charmed me so much. In this hushed, somewhat mysterious space, with impeccable service, you feel transported elsewhere, between sophisticated cocktails and lush seafood platters. Add to your list for a special occasion.

Always satisfying: the manouchés of Chez Téta

There are those dishes that you could eat every week and never tire of. For me, it’s the manouchés of the Lebanese cafe Chez Téta. Biting into the soft dough of this flatbread, hand-shaped every morning and cooked for the minute in the traditional Lebanese oven, then garnished with zaatar, or even kafta and cheese, is a joy every time. Accompanied by a traditional Lebanese coffee with cardamom and a fattouche salad, that’s all I need to put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

the top 5 by Eve Dumas

The getaway: the nature reserve

Here is a place that is very representative of the revival of village gourmet addresses. Adèle Prud’homme and Lionel Furonnet left the Comptoir Sainte-Cécile, in Montreal, to open La Réserve naturelle, in the heart of Sutton. It is a very lively and versatile place, which first plays the role of a wine merchant where the best Quebec products and excellent natural wines from around the world coexist. Then we eat impeccable and hearty little dishes in the middle of all these beautiful bottles that make you thirsty. Finally, the Reserve is also a festive space where tastings, workshops and other special events are held to deepen your knowledge of artisanal liquids. Mount Sutton’s après-ski has never been so delicious!

Home: Tinc Set

The past year has confirmed my appreciation of very relaxed establishments where you can grab a snack and a glass of wine on the go, at the counter, have an endless aperitif with some tapas or treat yourself to a hearty meal with bottle(s) . Tinc Set is the pleasure of landing in a familiar “house” run by a welcoming couple. Juan concocts a warming cuisine, while Lindsay chooses with maniacal care each of the cuvées she serves. Thanks to her, Catalonia is hands down one of my favorite wine regions of 2022.

Come Back: Pichai

The mere mention of Pichai makes me salivate. Already, Thai cuisine is one of my favorites. Then that of Pumpui’s big brother is the most assertive. Fried whole fish bathed in a sour, sweet and spicy sauce, red curry swordfish and massaman, among others, will be the surest cure for my winter blues. And unlike the first generations of Thai tables in Montreal, the restaurant on rue Saint-Hubert has a menu of craft beers and wines that go well with the spicy and highly aromatic cuisine. There is everything to make me happy here!

The surprise: Kundah Hotel

I had a huge crush on this restaurant in Quebec where I landed on a Sunday evening, without expectations or reservations. The kitchen has fun fusing local ingredients (cheese curds, local mushrooms, whelks, sea urchins, etc.) with Indian cooking techniques and flavors. It cracks up on the taste buds! But the prices themselves do not blow up the bank account. Long live the Kundah Hotel, which celebrated its second anniversary in November.

The classic: Paloma

It was my takeout “deluxe” in 2020, my last review of 2021 and one of the best bets of my 2022 year (until last week, when I had a long and delicious holiday dinner there). Admittedly, the sweet house of sommelier Rosalie Forcherio and her father Armand, the chef, is exactly a four-minute walk from my home, but it is above all for its elegant simplicity that I return there again and again. The wines of authors are never touted (or deviant!) here, and the cuisine, even less so. Exemplary classic.