Friday, 18 June 2010

  • Mas Cuisine Restaurant, Montreal - Popular & affordable


    Lunch @ MAS CUISINE
    Date/Time: Friday June 18th, 2010 12:15
    Addr: 3779 Rue Wellington
    Location: Verdun, QC
    Phone : 514.544.3779
    Url: http://www.mascuisine.com/ 

    Food rating: Exceptional (10), Excellent (9), Very good (8), Good (7), just Ok (6)

    Click here for a recap of  my picks of all Montreal's top fine dining & best Montreal's bistrots. 
    Also: My  3 and 2 Star Michelin restaurant review web site

    UPDATE: NOVEMBER 2010: They do not serve lunch anymore as/per notice on their web site

    (English review will follow) - Ce fut un repas vraiment ordinaire. Surprenant, étant donné la popularité de l'endroit et la renommée du Chef. L'on m'a dit parcontre que c'est vraiment mieux en soirée. Pourtant le Chef était là sur l'heure du midi, aux commandes des fourneaux. Bref, allez-y mais ne comptez pas sur moi pour en faire l'éloge!


    Mas Cuisine is the stronghold of Chef Michel Ross who has made a name for himself behind the stove of his previous popular Montreal's table, Brunoise. Moving away from the pricey downtown's real estate was a smart move. Verdun, where it is now located, is still not that far from downtown Montreal. 

    At lunch time, Mas Cuisine offers a  prix  fixe  three course meal menu

    For the main course, I could chose between a salad (kill me next time I chose a salad at a restaurant, you will be forgiven! ), or a soup of the day. The soup of the day is a gazpacho on this Lunch:

      Gazpacho - The cold Iberic originated soup was nice -> perhaps not as authentic as some purists might want it to be, but who cares: it tasted  great, so fresh. Authentic or not, it has the merit of technically be well composed: olive oil (substituted by  pimenton oil in this case), pepper, garlic, tomato + an expected vinagary dimension. Good gazpacho (flavorful, zesty) A fair  6.5/10 (would have been a 7/10 with more refinement and better shrimps).

    Second course:
    Artic Char  Seared on one side (the skin was way too dry!) , it was accompanied by fresh green peas, oyster mushrooms (pleurottes)  with  an emulsion of tomato and saffron. The fish on it's own --- apart the disappointing texture of it's dry skin --  was just ok  (tender, cooked ok) but lacking  refinement and depth of taste.  The presentation looks cool and modern, but the elements just do not bring excitement: this emulsion of tomato and saffron was a ticket straight to boredom!! 0/10


    For dessert:

    Vanilla panna cotta with Quebec's stawberries - Enjoyable creamy consistency, balanced sweetness (I do appreciate), with the overall sugar/cream/milk being simmered well. Simple dessert that  tasted delicious.  The Quebec strawberries were fresh and sweet.  Good 7/10


    Total cost:  $49 (the 3 servings, coffee + 2 glasses of Riesling gunmetal Hewitson 2009's Aussie white wine***), Without the wine , the meal comes down to $49.11 - $18 = $31.11


    There are a lot of affordable meals in Mtl:  for ie, the low cost lunche at Decca77 and many other top restaurants of this city do offer  surprisingly great meals in the $30 price range (of course, wine exclused)! At night, Bistro Cocagne offers a $20 two meal service after 9:30PM,  Milos and  Lemeac do offer bargain meals too, passed 10PM. 

    Fyi: food blogs  like Evelyne's Cheapethniceatz or Ariane's Epicurbaine  have great suggestions of affordable meal offerings in Montreal.

    Decor/Service/Ambiance:
    It was packed, especially around 1PM . Most customers seemed to be regulars.
    With respect to the patrons, I refrained from taking  pictures of the restaurant.
    It is a very small room, simplistic,  with blond wood floors, tables and dark leather-covered chairs. 
    Service was attentive, knowledgeable although I would recommend that they formulate some kind of appreciative words when the customer is leaving ..........this should not be an exclusive privilege for regulars.........

    Bottom line .... Nah, it didn't do it for me
    Overall, this Lunch at  Mas Cuisine was just ok.

    I was not seduced at all. I expected more gustatory excitement, here, more punch.

    Yes the gazpacho was fine and yet not that  perfect and  the main course of fish was simply  u-n-a-c-c-e-p-t-a-b-l-e! (how could one miss such a simple piece of fish??) .

    The panna cotta was technically successful and tasty  in mouth...but not stellar neither.

    Chef Ross was cooking on this lunch. I wish him the best, but it is a NO repeat, for me.

    Thanks for reading!

    ***Riesling gunmetal Hewitson 2009's Aussie white wine - Nice white wine with the usual upfront minerality of most Rieslings. Nice citrus aromas. Personal rate: 75/100

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