Anemone — Restaurant in Montreal

We very much enjoyed Anemone although it would be considered more of a special occasion outing rather than everyday eatery. The menu is eclectic to say the least and would be difficult to classify other than as a "modern" cuisine. A lot of effort went into the dishes themselves, which are realized through many complex tastes that each dish brings...although they are frequently not inter-related with one another (one dish has Asian flavors while another is continental, etc...).

For our meal we had the 3 option Temaki which is essentially a Japanese taco using seaweed and rice. Our 3 options were with mushrooms, shrimp and artic char...all are good but you need to enjoy the "sea" flavor that seaweed brings to any dish. Additionally, we ordered the bone marrow with shrimp (very good...served with small pieces of flat bread so it should be eaten like a taco spreading the bone marrow and then adding the shrimp to it), scallops with lentils and bacon (excellent...very tasty, scallops were seared perfectly with a bacon flavored cream sauce and black lentils), and a Creamed Duck filled Ravioli (excellent...this was a special of the night and was very complex with a reduction sauce that was difficult to described but had hints of beef to it, including large raisins and sprinkled with buckwheat). As you can see a complex and eclectic offering.

Service was excellent. Meals were served very quickly with a detailed description at each interval. Additionally, the back outside patio/terrace is a real bonus...being secluded, airy and quiet with a full opening to the interior restaurant which also has a warm some what industrial (concrete and wood) décor. Great for a special...

We had the omakase menu. The service was great - friendly, accommodating, and mostly attentive. The decor of the restaurant was lovely - a mix of organic modern and industrial design that felt cool and comfortable. The acoustics, however, were terrible. In the dining area, it was quite loud, to the point of being overwhelming and hard to hear each other. The food was nicely presented and the ingredients seemed to be good quality. Even though nearly every dish on the menu had meat, they were open to adapting them to vegetarian or pescatarian. That said, every dish was overly salted, cooked, and had a lot of butter. There was the occasional light spicy and sour flavours, but nothing fresh or crispy. These tastes, one after the other in every dish, left us thirty, bloated, and with an unpleasant mouth feel. I'm glad I wasn't there on a date! With a bit some proper insulation for sound, WAY less salt and butter, and an addition of some lighter, crispy and fresh flavours/ingredients/dishes, this place could...

Was excited to try out this new place, and booked ahead. The restaurant has a nice charm and atmosphere, started the dining experience with the cocktail of the day, which was alright a bit pricey for what it was. We then proceeded the evening with a variety selection of different dishes suggested by our waiter. The portions were alright not too small and not too overwhelming, enough to enjoy the different flavour combinations in each dish. Although the dishes overall I didn’t find very special, especially for the price and it being a restaurant in Montreal. The noodle dish was the supposed best recommended dish and that was pretty average. When it came to the service, it was great and our party felt that we were well taken care of all evening. Would probably come back in the summer to see how the menu evolves. I say it’s worth checking out, I just left a bit...