Park Restaurant

To celebrate our 11 year dating anniversary (really, just another excuse to eat out), the hubster and I went to Restaurant Park which is located (not a Park street) on Victoria street in Westmount.

It’s only been opened since 2012 but I’ve heard fantastic reviews and, for Montrealers, executive chef Antonio Park is also known for his previous gig at Kaizen Sushi Bar & Grill. The menu is written on a large blackboard and changes often to accommodate seasonal ingredients.

Apparently Chef Park is one of the few chefs in Canada that has an importation permit for private fish, which in turn assures a fresh selection.

When we walk in, I immediately felt at ease. Given the buzz around this place, I half expected some level of pretentiousness. In fact it was the complete opposite. Everyone was incredibly friendly. Relaxed but efficient, they made you feel welcomed and not afraid to ask questions. Our waitress knew the menu very well, which is great when the food is somewhat unfamiliar.

Since this was our first time at Park, we opted for the tasting menu. This is a 5 course meal for 75$ each. The first course was a soup. Sweet beef broth with scallions and a poached egg.

You could tell the broth was made from scratch. It was like drinking roast beef. Loved the poached egg and the added flavour it gave. 

Next up was a "salad course". Burrata cheese with cherry tomatoes sitting atop a bed of cooked julienne fennel and yellow beet.

Those beautiful splashes of colour are different varieties of beet, puréed. Very fresh and tasty. It was a real shame to destroy this piece of art.

Next up was my favorite part of the meal; the nigiri. I'm not a huge fan of nigiri normally. Too much dense rice and bland sashimi. But these nigiri's were the complete opposite of this. The rice was moist and flavourful, the raw fish incredibly fresh. These almost looked like the ones in the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

The toppings included yellowfin tuna, salmon, red snapper, mackerel. All these had garnishes, some of which were new to my palate such as the shishito pepper. It's a Japanese pepper which is very tasty and mild but once in a blue moon you can get a hot one. It wasn't the case this time. The one with the brown liquid was a salmon nigiri with a maple sauce. Delicious!

Served in parallel was another dish which was not on the tasting menu but was requested by us, sea urchin!

I have wanted to taste sea urchin for the longest time but never had the opportunity. Why? Simply because I love to try new things and I've heard such great/awful things about sea urchin. So is it the foie gras of the ocean like some say or does it taste like a wet sponge? I'm honestly not sure. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. The taste is difficult to describe and the texture slightly creamy. I'd be willing to try it again, but not at the ridiculous price of 45$ that we paid. There is one thing I did love about this dish, aside from the beautiful presentation. It was served with a dwarf peach pickled/marinated with some truffle oil which I absolutely adored. Too bad it was so small.

Next was the ''main course''.

Scallops served on Jerusalem artichoke (my favorite root vegetable) in a dashi kombu jus. That brown streak is black garlic purée. More of a decoration than an edible part of the meal since it was very difficult to scrap it off the plate. This was also excellent and I was glad not to have more than two scallops since I was pretty full by now.

At this point, I noticed something unusual when my husband when to use the facilities. The waiter who constantly kept refilling our water glasses casually stepped up to our table and neatly folded Anthony's discarded serviette.

Notice how the napkin is placed strategically at the corner of the table after being folded. I have never seen this done in any other restaurant. It shocked me so much that I was compelled to discreetly take a picture once the waiter stepped away.

The big finale was my second favorite dish of the evening: dessert!

An orange blossom cupcake topped with dolce de leche and a popped quinoa cracker. Served with dark caramel, lychee gelly, pomegranate seeds and green tea ice cream. Yes it was as tasty as it was pretty and the orange blossom cake was to die for!

So overall, a memorable experience at Park Restaurant from beginning to end. The only drawback is that it costs an arm and a leg. It is without a doubt the most expensive meal we've ever paid for (cough sea urchin). Would I got back, yes. However, I would stick to the à la carte menu and opt for a cocktail instead of a bottle of wine. That way, I know I'll enjoy a good meal without going breaking the bank.

If you have a special occasion coming up, I highly recommend trying out Park Restaurant.