BOUILLON BILK — Restaurant in Montreal

2025 - Abbreviated Family Stay-cation - Quebec Food Craw

Destroyed by fire a year ago, this perennial local favourite resurrected from the ashes and reincarnated inside a new gorgeous and impressive, cavernous, bright and minimalistic-chic space, within walking distance from Montreal’s “ Place des Arts “. A constant feature on the ‘100 Best Restaurant in Canada’ list, the food at this widely acclaimed, yet non-Michelin star establishment, is clearly star worthy! Offering modern eclectic cuisine with a French, Pan-Asian influence, our tasting menu was one of the most well-thought-out and well progressed meals we have encountered this year. Intensity and depth of the taste profile increases with each and every dish. A few bursting with surprisingly delicious, mind boggling taste sensation using only simple and ordinary ingredients like tomato, carrots and cucumbers! Although multiple taste and textural components were incorporated in most dishes, non-clashing and harmonious balance were achieved in all cases. A truly amazing feat by a talented kitchen led by a creative chef!

Our first meal on this abbreviated, ‘staycation’ culinary odyssey definitely started off on the right foot.

The flexible and diverse menu offered both ALC as well as a couple of multi-courses tasting menu options. Compared to similar outfits in Toronto, one definitely gets a bigger bang for the buck at this La Belle Province institution.

Our party of six famished foodies all settled for the 8 course tasting menu. The dishes are:

TUNA - tomato - peach - lavage CARROT - apricot - dukkah - marjoram DUCK( Tartar ) - horseradish - strawberries -foie gras CHAWANMUSHI - lobster - guanciele - daikon RAVIOLI - green peas - anchovies - pistachios - garlic scapes QUAIL - endives - foie gras - hazelnuts CUCUMBER - yogurt - lime - mint CHOCOLATE - caramel - coffee - sesame

Stand out dishes include the Tuna, Carrot and Cucumber creations. All refreshing, complex, multi-layered and bursting with flavour. However, without question, the hands-down star of the meal has to be that amazing Chawanmushi. Simply out-of-this-world delish! The ultra-condensed, lobster and seafood flavour packed velvety cream was a taste of umami heaven in every spoon. Sooo good! Definitely a candidate for the ‘ best tasting dish ‘ of the year!

Lastly, if one has to be super-critical and picky, trying to squeeze out something negative from the meal, then, I have to say, maybe the superfluous hazelnut bits accompanying the quail. But then it's almost like trying to pick a bone fragment from an egg dish…..a...

Had high expectations given the fantastic reviews, but I was shocked at how bad the food was here. This was undoubtedly my worst meal in all of Montreal during my trip here and the most expensive.

Service was cold and sterile. Server was not very detailed when going through the menu. When I prodded about the origin/source of some of the ingredients, our server did not seem to be interested in having that conversation, which was disappointing for a restaurant at this price point.

Tried the 5-course tasting menu for dinner. Was disappointed to learn that the 8-course menu was not available for the early seating (I do not believe this was made apparent or obvious during the booking process, but it could have been my oversight), but it ended up working in our favour because each course was subpar.

I ordered the non-alcoholic pairing. I am a huge fan of non-alcoholic pairings at fine-dining restaurants across the world and will usually order it when available. They are stunning when executed correctly, but this was mostly a disappointment. Kombucha was alright, but I was severely let down by the dashi drink (which was indistinguishable from instant dashi), as well as the drink paired with the squash dessert. I do have to give credit to the fact that their concoctions were made in-house, as some restaurants just serve off-the-shelf non-alcoholic drinks. Kudos to the sommelier/server serving the drinks, as they did an excellent job explaining the drinks.

Onto the food – flavour combinations were uninspiring to say the least. Not going to go through the entire menu but here are some notes: Ravioli with mussels, green peas and mascarpone – basic and boring flavours, over seasoned with a sauce that was overly acidic. Duck with berries, pepper, almonds (supplemented with a slab of foie gras for an extra 20CAD) – The protein itself was cooked well. Garnishes were substandard, however. Saving grace was the foie, which was beautiful, and the among the best I’ve ever had. Zero balance to the dish however, and the addition of almonds was head-scratching. I did mention this to our server, but they merely chuckled and seemed again to be uninterested in hearing my opinion

On the contrary, had a wonderful experience at their sister restaurant, Cadet. Perhaps I came here on...

We had a dinner tonight at Bouillon Bilk, and let me start by saying that the food was five stars. The scallops were amazing, very buttery and the accompanying sauces were excellent. The duck and veal dishes were also very well prepared and excellently cooked. The desserts, particularly the Baba and pêche were delicious.

However, there is a concrete reason for the one star rating. We ordered several cocktails, and one of them was the Cantarito. That cocktail came across as very diluted with almost no alcohol, it basically tasted like a poor, watery passion fruit juice. We pointed this out to our server, Florian, and his response was extremely rude. He claimed that the alcohol to juice ratio was perfect, and is used in all drinks and at all restaurants. He continued to point out that the real problem is us and not the drink itself: We are perceiving it as diluted but it is perfectly ratioed. We have ordered cocktails at dozens of fine dining and Michelin starred restaurants across the globe, from North America to Europe, Asia, and Australia, and we can clearly discern cocktails that put the alcoholic drink forward, as opposed to those that are just watery juices — and the Cantarito was a poor juice. Yet, Florian was sure that we were the problem, and the ones to blame. Later in the evening, we gave him another opportunity to make it right by pointing out that the other cocktail we ordered had a perfect alocohol ratio. Yet he pointed out again that he was glad but the ratio is the same in the Cantarito and that perhaps we just are not used to the amount of “ice” in it. We have never experienced such a poor service when pointing out an obvious flaw in a drink — Florian did not bother to convey it to the bar/kitchen, and we were still charged for it. Is this the kind of service that a fine dining establishment such as Bouillon Bilk wishes to provide its customers?

It is quite sad to see this happening at such a supposedly high-end restaurant where we expect attention to detail and a service that is more amenable to genuine feedback. It is a shame because this ruined what could have been an excellent fine dining experience...