Montreal Eats: Formula One Paddock Club

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Over the weekend, Tomiko, Karlos, Ryan, our dads, our aunt, and our dad’s friend from Sweden went to Montreal for the Formula One Grand Prix. Luckily the race fans among our group scored Friday tickets for the Formula One Paddock Club, where we ate a delicious lunch.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve  is located in the idyllic Parc Jean-Drapeau, which itself is on two islands in the St Lawrence River. Although I’ve only been to the park for the Formula One races, it is also home to the Casino de Montreal, the Montreal Biosphere, an outdoor concert venue, and a beach.

The Formula One Paddock Club is the luxurious way to watch Formula One racing: we sat at tables in a large tent overlooking the pit lane and were served a gourmet lunch while the Mumm champagne flowed continuously. We were there for the Friday practice and were able to walk the pit lane and see some of the drivers up close.

The starter was a gorgeously plated wild salmon tartare with pickled peppercorns and fresh sprouts, served with tender lettuce and creamy prawns in a crispy potato basket.

The vegetarian starter was a salad with endive, fresh sprouts, baby corn, and slightly pickled carrots served with a sesame dressing over spiced cashews and pine nuts. Never have I seen so many pine nuts in one serving – all those nuts made the salad itself quite filling!

There were four buffet ‘menus’ offered:

• fillet of beef and pork served with pan fried wild mushrooms; fennel and baby carrots; pearl onion gratin; and herb jus
• scallops and black cod served with roast tomatoes with thyme; quick ratatouille; ratta potatoes with rosemary and sea salted red peppers
• creamy lobster casarecce with leaf spinach
• Kashmiri style lamb curry served with oven baked cauliflower and black pepper sauce; old Delhi style matar paneer; saffron pilaf; and minted mango ceviche

Even though I don’t eat meat, there were plenty of vegetarian sides that I sampled and I did not want for anything.

After the lunch buffet, we abandoned our table to go on a walking tour of the pit lane. It was great to see the many teams in action, priming the cars for the qualifying sessions on Saturday.

After the pit walk, we had dessert. This was a raspberry and mascarpone tart served with a scoop of cookies and cream ice cream nestled in a crunchy tuile cookie with a puddle of coffee cream. It was delectable and I might have eaten two. I was so full from this buffet lunch that I only ordered a small amount for dinner that night at Rumi (post to follow shortly!).