Restaurant experience: L'autre Version

Last June we went to L'Autre Version. A trendy restaurant (without being too pretentious) in old Montreal. This was our second visit and I figured it was worth relaying our experience there. The setting is quite nice. The inside is dark, cozy and modern all at once. The terrace is great. We were sitting on these couches with a coffee table between us, which gave the meal a whole different feel to the usual restaurant sitting arrangement.

The greeting is quite friendly and warm. They don't take offense to the fact that you prefer having the municipal water instead of one of those fancy shmancy bottled water (I will never pay for bottled water if I can help it, it goes against my principles). They have a wonderful list of cocktails, a bit pricey but at least you get a big glass ;-)

On with the entree (first course if you're American). I had the Beef Carpaccio, Coppa sausage, fresh herbs emulsion, marinated white turnips, shallot butter confites blue potatoes. Now I must admit, this dish confused me when I it arrived. I had the Coppa sausage, which resembled home made cappicole, but no sign of any beef. At the time I dismissed it, assuming I have misread the menu. However, when checking the menu online later I see that it's clearly written beef carpaccio...so I don't know what happened. Maybe it was hidden underneath and I just shoved the food in my mouth without noticing, but I'd like to think that I have more class than that. Plus I usually savour my food, so I would have noticed if a piece of raw beef was lurking underneath the Coppa. Regardless of this mystery, it was still quite good and the sauce went superbly with the sausage. My husband had the Tartare duo Ostrish and smoked duck with citrus zest, Ratte potatoes and taro chips. Again, not quite what was expected. Tartare is raw, but there was clearly cooked pieces mixed in there. I reckon they came from the smoked process, which could cook the duck, but who knows. Trying this, it was good but not great (although the taro chips were neat).

The main dish was fun. I had the Seared scallops, lemongrass urchin cream, miso quinoa, little squids salad, sautéed bok choy, vegetable tartar. Really pretty dish and I'm a sucker for great presentation. It looked good and tasted just like it too. Each scallop sat onto of four different sides describe above, so you couldn't get tired of what you were eating.

Anthony had the Braised wild board shank, harissa sauce, parsnip purée, sumac powder white beans, smoked cabbage and calabrese. Again, presentation was awesome and I love anything braised (especially pork) so this was a winner for me. If I would go back I would definitely order this. Tender and tasty!

Yes we had room for dessert, because dessert goes into a different stomach (as we all know). My pick was Raspberry crème brulée scented Ras El Hanout, home made Dolce De Lecce.  You would think that a blend of Morrocan spice would not go with dessert, but it was subtle enough to be quite pleasant. I love creme brulee, and I wish they had given more of that divine Dolce de Lecce.

As for Anthony's dessert, well...I must confess, I didn't write a blog back then and didn't think I would be writing about this meal. So, I don't remember what it was and neither does he, as it happens. I looked through the menu, but for the life of me I can't figure out which one it was. It may have been a special that day.

So there you have it! Unknown dessert which Anthony vaguely recalls enjoying. It certainly looks fun in the picture below where Anthony's giving us his best Blue Steel look. Hope that was helpful...

So overall a good experience, with a few icks here and there. One of those was of course the price, which was expected but still hurt. For 2 cocktails each, entree, main dish and dessert, tip and tax the total was just over 200$ for two people. Then we passed a homeless man on the street which made us feel like crap and that put a damper on the whole evening. The End!