Darna Bistroquet — Restaurant in Montreal

Quintessential Montreal dining experience here. The place is buried in a location no one would assume, the food is beyond amazing, the place is managed by lovely staff: you just can't get any more Montreal than this. And I loved it.

Small cozy restaurant that seats about 20-30 people, popular enough to require a reservation on weekends but not so much that it requires weeks of planning ahead. The waiting staff were nice and seemed genuinely happy.

The food was amazing! Not everything was perfect, but it came pretty close in my eyes. We ordered 5 dishes for two people and we were absolutely stuffed by the end. The Cornish hen was great, cooked perfectly with a strong olive presence (which I'm a huge fan of). The cauliflower was one of our favorite, grilled to the perfect char and accompanied by a yogurt based dressing. The kefta was good, though a bit dry in my opinion, it came with a yogurt dill sauce which complemented it well. The octopus was maybe my least favorite, which a white bean sauce which I thought lacked a lot of flavour. Also the tentacle was maybe overcooked on one side which made half of it chewy. Lastly, my favorite dish was an oyster mushroom dish which blew my socks off. It was both our favorites and the obvious winner. Three interesting part was the salad that it came with: pickled onions with mint. I loved this dish so much.

One small recommendation for the people running the restaurant: please provide the sharp knives from the beginning. Almost every dish needed it and the dull that is provided at the beginning just doesn't cut it (pun intended).

Overall, I definitely recommend this place. I can't wait to go back and try other dishes. Everything we had was so unique and you can tell it was trying to set itself apart from the dozens of other "fancy" middle...

Good lord. This place is incredible. I've been in Quebec province for the last two weeks and on my last night here I had my best meal of the trip at Darna Bistroquet. Our server was super friendly and helpful; he took the time to explain the entire menu to me because I don't speak much French and at the time I came they didn't have an English menu (I bet their menu changes with the seasons). My wife and I ended up going with his recommendations and Darna exceeded every expectation I had.

We got, among other wonderful things, a dish with grilled hallumi cheese and grilled peaches. Holy moly. I also had cheese foam boba tea for the first time this trip in Quebec City (I know... not the best idea) and when I ate the salty/savory grilled hallumi with the sweet grilled peaches I finally understood what the boba folks were going for (and how terribly far away they were with their tea). We also got a mushroom shawarma dish with pickled beets. The deeply smokey mushrooms played perfectly off of the sour pickling of the beets. And the hummus and bread (both with a lovely fresh lemon finish) absolutely lit up my taste buds.

I'm honestly not trying to oversell this place. All I can say is that I'm surprised they weren't packed to the gills (maybe because it was a Wednesday) and I hope all you Montreal residents come here often so that it's here for me to visit again next time I return to your lovely city.

Thank you thank you...

Delectable dishes, generous portions, and impeccable service. Our visit coincided with Montréal à Table, so we were able to experience several of their wonderful dishes for an incredibly reasonable price.

First course was grilled halloumi cheese and their grilled eggplant zaaouluk dip served with homemade flatbread.

For the second course, we ordered both tajines: royal quail and oyster mushroom. The oyster mushroom tajine was easily my favorite dish of the evening. It had roasted sesame seeds, almonds, and prunes. Normally, prunes are not high on the list of foods I enjoy, but they complemented the savoriness of the sauce and earthiness of the mushrooms perfectly.

Third service was a couscous service with a lamb merguez and a vegetarian option. We chose both, because why not. While I think the dish could have used a little more salt, I appreciate the freshness and quality of the ingredients. The merguez flavors were very balanced.

For the final service, we both chose the figs clafoutis. I think it would have been better warmed, but don’t think for a moment that I didn’t finish every bite.

If we ever have the opportunity to visit Montréal again, Darna will definitely be on our...