Kitschy cuisine

With its ’70s vibe, La Cantine puts a fun
twist on Québécois classics

by MATHILDE RABBAT

On Mont-Royal and Hotel-de-Ville lives exuberant youngster La Cantine, who has just celebrated her first anniversary. From the wallpaper to the tracks coming out of the speakers, this self-proclaimed “Bistro-Boutique” boasts a retro chic, lounge-like atmosphere with a distinct ’70s vibe—velour upholstery, and in-your-face patterns. Think Austin Powers, but sleeker and muted.

Adjoining spaces are occupied by both a groovy resto and a dandy café-boutique. The latter is where you’ll find a variety of sandwiches, fair trade organic coffee, prêt-à-manger take-away selections and local gourmet products. As to the bistro (open for dinner and brunch on weekends), you can park it at the bar or on a tastefully kitsch, plush banquette, sporting rusty orange and pretty copper hues, while sipping a Mojito PQ (rum, lime, mint, maple syrup and soda), or other mixers, like Le French (malibu, gin, lime and mint syrup).

A tongue-in-cheek menu features dishes with amusing names, such as the Soupe “of de D” and Les Ordres “on de side” (transcribed in proper “Frenglish,” of course). Behind each deceptively playful title is a clever reinterpretation of classics hatched in our fair province, like the ever-popular la Poutine “in” (drizzled with szechuan pepper gravy), the Päté presque chinois (with game meat) and the Pouding chômeur. There’s also the foodstuff our childhoods were made of, from Pogo sticks and Pop Tarts to Kraft Dinner linguini (old cheddar, white wine, bacon and green onions).

Un p’tit peu de tout ($16) allows you to sample a fab foursome drawn from the entrée category: la Pop Tart, les Pogos, les Trous d’beignes and the Champignons champions are all worth a try. Besides the mushrooms, it’s safe to say that none of the aforementioned appetizers resemble the images their respective monikers suggest.

Though the Pop Tart here does conserve its puff pastry shell, the eatery’s interpretation revolves around a stuffing that incorporates an—albeit too sparse—amount of tasty goat cheese. The whole tart is topped with caramelized onions and sliced fresh tomato, with a welcome dusting of ground black pepper. House-style pogos are ingeniously fashioned out of wild boar sausage, coated in batter and fried, while the Trous d’beignes (donut holes) are actually mini cod cakes. They may resemble Timbits, but the similarity ends there. The cod balls were tasty enough, though they would have benefitted from a little less density. Both the balls and the pogos were enhanced with a sour cream and mayo-based tartar sauce, spiked with a hint of lime, garlic and espelette pepper. Of the four appetizers I tried, the Champignons champions, with its piping hot caramelized onion and creamy sautéed mushroom melt, was my favourite.

For the mains, we had a rather filling gibier (game meat) cheeseburger incorporating minced deer, wapiti and bison and donned with a potent portion of goat cheese, and a mushroom and caramelized onion topping held its own nicely ($15). The same can be said for a golden pile of tasty battered fries, best enjoyed dunked in a red mayo dip, with just a touch of beetroot.

The amusingly named << Fish >> moi la paix! ($22) is an even better bet. Were the salmon cooked any less, it would have resembled a tartare, which is absolutely fine with me, since less time cooking meant a tender and moist portion of fish. (The server was, in fact, kind enough to inquire about my preferred cooking time.) Equally delightful were the ginger overtones provided by the light maple syrup glaze, as well as the healthy bed of cooked barley, perfumed with green onion, orange rind and arugula greens lying beneath.

For dessert, the Whippet ($7) a marshmallow cube made from scratch, perched on a shortbread cookie and surrounded by a scrumptious caramel drizzle, proved a formidable opponent with its almost excessive sweetness. It was served up fondue style, with a cup of smooth dark chocolate ooze—not a drop of which remained in the receptacle.