According to chef Juneau, Montreal is a great epicurean and inspirational city but it unfortunately lacks some openness towards the rest of the country. The Pastaga team will open up their kitchen and their dining room to these invited chefs who will have carte blanche when it comes to the running of each event.

The December 3first edition of Royal Canadian Monday saw chef Marc Lepine, winner of the 2012 Gold Medal Plate award and chef of the critically acclaimed Atelier in Ottawa taking over the Pastaga kitchen. Chef Lepine created an unbelievable 6-course tasting menu for the occasion. Every dish was like a playful and beautiful work of art. I still can’t decide which of the evening’s dishes was my favourite.

There was the 46 degrees sous-vide arctic char, cherry tomatoes, red pepper gel sheet, dehydrated black olive, 65 degrees sous-vide quail egg, fried capers, caper brine sponge, tarragon aioli that was a definitive contender. But the butternut squash soup, crab apple nitro-noodles, puffed wild rice and crispy duck’s contrast of textures, temperatures and flavours was my most memorable moment of the evening.

The “crab apple nitro-noodles” were made tableside by chef Lepine himself using liquid nitrogen, which brings out the kid in all of us, no matter how worldly we may think we are. The contrast between the sour-sweet frozen crab apple noodles and the warm soup was just unbelievable. Chef Lepine’s Atelier restaurant has been referred to as “Canada’s Alinea” and it was nice to experience some of that talent at this first edition of Royal Canadian Monday.

The line-up of chefs for the upcoming events is impressive and includes Jonathan Gushue (Langdon Hall), John Horne (Canoe), Jeremy Charles (Raymonds) and Quang Dang (West) all scheduled to make an appearance at Pastaga in the next few months.

This is extremely exciting news for Montreal and its food lovers! It is a great opportunity to discover some unbelievable culinary talents from around the country without leaving home. Look out for Jonathan Gushue of Langdon Hall – ranked #77 on the San Pellegrino World’s 100 Best Restaurants 2010 – who is scheduled to be at Pastaga around mid-January.

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THE DETAILS

Pastaga Restaurant, 6389 Saint Laurent Boulevard

To reserve your table for the next Royal Canadian Monday: (438) 381-6389

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