Lair⁠3 | Culinary attraction under the vaults

Spend an evening at the Tanière restaurant^⁠3, is to be told about edible Quebec in the most meticulously crafted way possible. Each bite is the result of hours of research in the kitchen. In Quebec, this is the most advanced in terms of experiential gastronomy. The honors won in 2023 by the Quebec establishment bear witness to this.

Last May, at the Lauriers de la gastronomie québécoise, François-Emmanuel Nicol was crowned Chef of the Year. His partner Roxan Bourdelais, room manager, was a finalist for the Best Service and Lair award^⁠3 was nominated for the title of Restaurant of the Year, ultimately won by Monarque. As for Jeremy Billy, he was recognized this fall as Pastry Chef of the Year by the Society of Pastry Chefs and Chefs of Quebec.

To add to the prestige, the restaurant which recently regained its five diamond rating from the CAA/AAA was approached by Relais & Châteaux. He entered the chic family through the front door. The announcement was made in the fall in the presence of MM. Nicol and Bourdelais during the association’s congress in Copenhagen. Great collaborations are on the agenda for the years to come.

Several fine forks consider that Lair^⁠3 is the Quebec restaurant best placed to access the most illustrious international lists. François-Emmanuel does not hide it: he is aiming for the “World’s 50 Best”.

The annual ranking rewards tables of the caliber of the one that was installed in 2019 in the historic vaults of the Leber and Charest houses, between the river and Place Royale. Here, the team does not serve meals. She orchestrates high-level gustatory entertainment. Think about the first seasons of Chef’s Table or to the film The Menu (less horror!).

During a shift, there is one employee for every two customers. The guests are received and pampered like kings for four hours. They taste around fifteen courses while moving from one vaulted room to another. We are even offered poetry written through it. Rarely have we seen such an elaborate production. Take for example “9 Shades of Tomatoes”. The dish is so complex that it comes with an explanatory sheet!

And then, there is everything that happens behind the scenes, behind the scenes to which we also have a little access in a new web series, the first three episodes of approximately seven minutes are available on the Tanière Facebook page^⁠3. There is a lot of talk about the relationships developed with the restaurant’s suppliers.

A laboratory

In 2022, sous chef Sébastien Rémillard, “one of our pillars”, says François-Emmanuel Nicol, was promoted to the title of head of research and development. “He comes into the kitchen at 6 a.m. and gets to work. When I arrive, at 11 a.m., he has already done lots of tests, and I taste it,” says the chef and co-owner.

As many of the ingredients used in this sophisticated cuisine have fallen into oblivion for decades, in Quebec, there is much to do to rediscover their applications and to exploit them to their full potential. These are often wild products such as sweet balsam, cattail, American cavalier, wild wasabi, goldenrod with a zigzagging stem, several sea grasses, paw paw (a fruit which can be related with mango) and many others.

The biologist Fabien Girard, expert gatherer and author of the books Plant secretsis one of the people who most inspires the Tanière kitchen team^⁠3.

“We continue to find flavors that surprise us,” rejoices Mr. Nicol. In our forests, for example, there are lots of things that have exotic scents, like the fragrant chamomile with its pineapple taste. [son nom anglais, pineappleweed, vend la mèche !] and oxalis, with which you can make a substitute for lemonade, then transformed into sorbet. »

The cocktails created by experienced bar chef Simon Faucher are just as elaborate as the dishes.

As mixologists often like to say: it’s liquid cuisine! There is even an accord without a single drop of alcohol, which takes advantage of the acidity of a pinot noir verjuice, the salinity of seaweed and sea parsley and the pastry side of sweet clover and hay. ‘smell.

The beginnings

Remember that before Lair^⁠3, there was La Tanière, opened in 1977, near Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures. Founded in 1977 by Laurier Therrien and Chantale Miclette, the renowned restaurant was taken over in 2002 by the owners’ niece, Karen Therrien, and chef Frédéric Laplante. The tandem is still co-owner of the group which also includes the Légende and L’Orygine restaurants, also in the Old Port.

The arrival of François-Emmanuel Nicol at the helm of the Tanière kitchen^⁠3, after a stint at Légende, made the experience even more sophisticated. The young chef’s dream: to see the day when Quebec cuisine will only rhyme with poutine.

We would like to say that despite a certain lack of knowledge of its own culinary heritage, Quebec still already enjoys a fine gastronomic reputation abroad.

The one who won the Relais & Châteaux scholarship at the end of his studies at the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ) was able to do internships at Arzak, in Spain, and at Mirazur, near Nice, in France. “I remember the super fresh and local ingredients. The squid, they still had anchovies inside! »

Born in Gaspésie to Breton parents whose first job in Quebec was at the shrimp factory in Matane, François-Emmanuel Nicol remembers summers in Brittany with his grandmother. At one point, the man who started working in restaurants at the age of 15 would have been tempted by a career as a sailor. But he chose instead to travel the province through his plate and share its splendors well beyond our borders.

Lair^⁠3 is open on December 31 and 1^er January. The restaurant returns to its usual schedule on Thursday, January 4. The experience costs $235 per person ($275 at the chef’s counter), before cash, taxes and service.