by MARK SLUTSKY

Aqua Terra's appearance is deceiving. Outside and in, the place looks like a generic slightly-fancy restaurant, with its blue cloth awning, narrow bar and wooden tables. The décor is tasteful but kind of boring, leading a friend of mine to comment that it looked like an anonymous restaurant on Duluth. Don't be fooled by the bland exterior, though: Aqua Terra's cuisine is delicious and inventive, and what might seem gimmicky is pulled off with a surprising panache.

What's the gimmick? Well, the simplest way to describe Aqua Terra would be to say that it's an Italian sushi place. Before you upset yourself imagining parmigiana reggiano in your maki, be aware that the two cuisines are fairly split down the middle, without that much intermingling (though most of the main plates have some sort of Asian twist).

This is the kind of place that nicely accommodates most budgets. Order à la carte and your meal might run $30-$40 before tax, tip and such, but go for the upgradeable table d'hôte and you can eat tremendously well for as low as $10.50, without sacrificing anything in the way of quality.

Let's start with the table d'hôte. Divided into three sections, the menu's price gets you one choice from the first course and one from the third; tack on $7-$10 and you get something from the middle. On a recent visit, the première service offered a choice of a maki plate, a miso soup, or a salad. The deuxième service (the one you pay extra for), had three options: terrine de foie de canard, a "maki surprise," and a "volcano maki." Finally, for the main course there was a choice between a sushi plate, duck leg, poached salmon with a mirin and ginger reduction, and orzo pasta with three cheeses. Unfortunately, they were out of the duck leg and the pasta; we found to our dismay that the roast lamb and pork dishes were also absent from the à la carte menu that night.

Two of us went for the table d'hôte, while our third dining partner ordered off the menu. I had the maki appetizer with the salmon as my main course, while my friend went for the salad and the sushi plate. Our other companion chose the roasted quail brochette ($8) as an appetizer, and the pan-seared duck breast ($20) for the main.

I have some things to say about this quail brochette. First, the presentation was amazing. Skewered in a cross, the grilled quail hung over a white ceramic bowl that contained a braised Asian pear sitting in a pool of green tea and quail sauce. The meat was cooked perfectly, and the pear couldn't have been a more fitting companion. This is how appetizers are meant to be.

The quail was only topped by my friend's other order, the pan-seared duck breast. This was something else. The menu advertised a xeres and blueberry sauce, but it was more like an avalanche of tiny blueberries covering the bird. The sauce, if you want to call it that, was more like a jus, subtle and light. And on the side was a mammoth stack of sweet potato tempura with chives and shallots, which were tender, just salty enough and altogether delicious. A great, great dish.

My maki appetizer was a roll of one my favourites, kamikaze, with its unbeatable tempura, avocado, salmon and hot sauce combo. Very few places get this one right, in my book, and Aqua Terra definitely nailed it. My friend's salad was a standard-enough affair of mixed greens, though livened by a tasty beet vinaigrette.

The salmon was dynamite. Glazed in a reduction of sweet mirin and ginger, it was perfectly cooked, tender and flavourful, on a bed of various vegetables and a thin layer of puréed potatoes. It was incredibly filling and satisfying. My friend's sushi plate was very good as well, with the fish all well-selected and fresh, though it was a bit skimpy. Altogether, though, Aqua Terra is to be commended for pulling off an unlikely combo of cuisines with style.

Aqua Terra
ADDRESS: 285 Mont-Royal E. (a couple of blocks west of St-Denis)
PHONE: 288-3005
HOURS: Tue 5:30-10:30PM, Wed-Thu 5-11:30PM,
Fri-Sat 5PM-12:30AM, Sun 5-10:30PM
BEST FEATURES: Bizarre yet effective combo of Italian and
Japanese cuisine, cheap table d'hôte
ALCOHOL: Yes
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Yes
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
NO-SMOKING SECTION: Yes
PRICE: $10.50-$35 per person, before wine, tax and tip
RATING: *** out of ****