Mon Lapin is the new baby of the Joe beef’s family in the neighborhood Little Italy. While the other three restaurants are all on the same block near the Atwater Market in Little Burgundy, Mon Lapin took the leap to the other side of the city! Mon Lapin is also a wine bar, sounds just like Le Vin Papillon 2.0, but let’s see if there’s any overlaps!
The restaurant only seats approx. 30 people. Since they don’t take reservation (don’t even have a phone line!), the only way to beat the line is to arrive early! Locating at the corner of St-Zotique and Casgrain streets, it allows a lot of natural light to shine in at the end of the day, especially during the summer! The painted white walls, red leather banquettes and wooden tables create a very cozy ambiance!
Their menu changes everyday! It all depends on what chef Marc-Olivier Frappier finds at the market in the morning. It also follows the trend of small, sharing plates!
To start of with something light and refreshing, we had the cucumbers, sea-urchin tamara, and topped with oyster leaves. Initially, we were intrigued by the “tamara” as the waiter explained to us that it’s a way of preparing the ingredient/a type of sauce. However, the highlight of the dish ended up being the oyster leaves! It has a bit of saltiness, and a touch of minerality, which made it tasted like oysters!
Next up, the whelks with ham butter and bread crumbs. I’m not a huge fan of any sorts of sea snails, but it was pretty good! I thought the ham butter would make it quite heavy, but not at all!
This jerusalem artichoke bread with sunflower seed margarine was a perfect loaf of bread! The bread was hot, super fluffy – almost like cotton candy! The dinner experience wouldn’t be complete without starting off with their bread. The only downside would probably be the margarine liquified too fast.
This rose salad with shaved foie gras seems like a staple on the menu! The generous amount of foie gras was definitely a nice surprise to see on the table. The salad was even better when the foie gras was a bit melted, and completely coated the endives, which made it less bitter!!!
For the main course, we shared the duck, which was served with rhubarb compote! The pairing of duck and rhubarb is quite classic, but their rhubarb compote was like rhubarb butter (or the texture of apple sauce)! It was very creamy and with a hint of acidity.
Of course, we saved some space for dessert – hazelnut butter brown butter (“beurre noisette”) & rhubarb millefeuille . The thin pastry layers are so crisp, the custard-like hazelnut butter (wished it was nuttier in taste there was no nuts, so that explains why the nutty taste that we were looking for were not there!), and the tartness from rhubarb marked the harmonic ending of the meal!
It was a very satisfying dining experience! The portions are quite generous, and our waiter was very attentive! The only downside is the no reservation policy, so get there early!!!
Mon Lapin
150 Rue Saint-Zotique E, Montréal, QC
Tel: N/A (yes! They don’t have a phone line!)
To never miss a post, follow Eat with Eva on Facebook and Instagram or simply subscribe! 🙂