Montreal Eats: Au Pied de Cochon 2015

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

Au Pied de Cochon, one of Canada’s 100 best restaurants, is an unmarked restaurant in the Plateau Mont Royal neighbourhood of Montreal. Dining at Au Pied de Cochon on the Saturday of the Formula One long weekend has become one of our family’s traditions, and we’ve eaten with several friends and family members over the years. Since we know the dates of the Formula One weekend, we always make a reservation at the restaurant several months in advance to make sure we get a table – this is one of the busiest weekends in Montreal all year!

Our table of nine enjoyed a few bottles of French red wine although we can’t recall the varietal or the name! Our table was placed in the back of the long, narrow restaurant, by the glass-walled wine room. When other tables ordered wine, we would see the servers squeeze their way through the narrow wine room to fetch the appropriate bottle from the collection.

The table next to ours was a table of about ten guys out for the meal before their bachelor party. They were drinking shots, wine, ordered a boar’s head and a roast chicken, and we heard that their bill came to over $1300! Amazing.

Instead of wine, Ryan’s mom ordered a virgin cocktail with mint and cucumber. Despite the lack of fruits, she said it tasted like Saudi champagne, a virgin drink that we would have at restaurants and parties in when we lived in Saudi.

In addition to the regular printed menu, the restaurant always has several special dishes of the day; I remember ordering the cheese platter last year, and I think the fish dishes this year weren’t on the menu either.

There were two types of poutine: regular poutine and the foie gras poutine. Since we were a table of nine, we obviously had to order two plates of the foie gras poutine! Not only was the poutine topped with foie gras, but the gravy was made from melted foie gras.

We ordered the ‘small’ seafood platter, which came with oysters, mussels, clams, razor clams, calamari, octopus, and crab legs. Beautiful!

Karlos ordered the Plogue à Champlain, a small entree of savoury buckwheat pancake topped with egg, cheddar cheese, Canadian bacon, and a huge piece foie gras in a delicious sweet, maple syrup sauce. Perhaps one of the best sauces I’ve ever had. I wonder how they made it…

Ryan ordered the massive lobster roll, which was topped with foie gras, of course.

Our dad’s Swedish friend ordered halibut which was served with springtime asparagus and fiddleheads, drizzled with what looks like Hollandaise sauce. It was at the other end of the table so I’m not sure what else was in it.

Our dad and our aunt shared one of the specials, halibut for two, served with morel and chanterelle mushrooms, and fiddlehead ferns in a creamy foie gras white wine sauce.

For once we didn’t order any pork, and thankfully left without overstuffed food babies in our stomachs. This was perhaps the fourth or fifth time I’ve eaten here, and each time Chef Martin Picard never disappoints!

 

Visit Au Pied de Cochon:

536 Avenue Duluth E, Montréal, QC H2L 1A9