Laurie Raphael is the restaurant located inside the St. Germain Hotel in the center of Montreal. Not old town, not the Latin Quarter, not Little Italy, not any of the quaint neighborhoods, but the city center, where the financial buzz reigns and shopping chains line the streets.
Of course this means that the restaurant is conveniently located but not small, quaint, old world or bistro-like. The decor is modern and surrounding you, above you and to the side of you are hundreds of round circles, which gives you the feeling that colorful butterflies are pleasantly buzzing around you. 
The design provides a light airy feeling and throughout the course of your meal, the colors change, so one minute you might be feeling blue lavender and then suddenly it can change to pinks or yellows. It’s creative, fun and adds to the otherwise modern and conservative layout and design of the restaurant.
Chef Daniel Vezina is in charge here though we largely dealt with two house managers who went out of their way to ensure the food and service were equally A-class.
Of course, they wanted to do more of a sampler style tasting but given my issues with heavy carbs and dairy, I opted for specific dishes in different categories to get a feel for the light side of their menu (fish, salads) versus the heavier side of the menu (duck, foie gras, etc). The Muscovy Duck was the dish I most wanted to try but it wasn’t available when I was there even though I did the tasting in two separate settings: lunch and dinner. 
Duck seems to be a regular on most Montreal restaurant menus and it’s hard to pass up since the chefs seem to take pride in preparing it differently depending on their training and personal tastes.
Vezina chose a Lac St. Jean blueberry sauce for their duck and it is served with a potato salad, and a grilled heart of romaine lettuce. It’s hard for me to pass up a blueberry infusion on just about anything to be honest and Canada is known for their fresh blueberries, particularly this time of year.
Here’s a recommended list we give a thumbs up to:
1. The Lobster oil salmon tartar served with a jelly and cucumber sorbet.
2. Poached Halibut served in a yuzu fish broth and sea plant. Imagine white radish with this, rasberry vinegrette fume, zucchini flowers (real flowers – fuschia, orange, blue, yellow – they rotate the colors) and sprouts. Yowza!
3. Baluchon Quail supremes. The quail was served over a mixed salad with textured verjuice mini vegetables. What was interesting about it is that two of the legs were fried and two were grilled, which added to the diversity of the dish. A big thumbs up.
4. Beef calotte tataki, marinated in fiddleheads, meat stock dressing and foie gras.
5. The Gazpacho either as a starter or a full portion with a lighter main course. They serve it with yellow tomato confit cooked with olive oil, onion pickle, cucumber sorbet (yes in the cold soup), a lemon meyer and red pepper water which is poured on top. Add a touch of garlic confit and basil and you have their blend.
6. Sauteed wild mushroom cream base blended with eggs, foie gras sauce, garlic confit, parsley and a trickling of shimeji and shitake mushrooms and chantrelles from Quebec. (we saw these at a couple of the organic markets as well, so obviously t’is the season)
What I didn’t try but wanted to since the preparation was an usual one in all cases, included the Iberian ham served with a strawberry pickle, melon and port granite, the Duck confit lasagne with foie gras, port and citrus sauce and spinach foam served in a casserole and lastly, the the butter-poached lobster, prepared in a morel and asparagus stew with a bisque mousse sauce. (the latter is probably a bit rich for my taste, but I would have sacrificed my arteries for a day to taste that one :-).
Another interesting appetizer included the Albacore tuna with quail eggs in a nicoise salad with marinated artichokes. (tres francais, n’est pas?) If you’re a vegetarian, you could skip the meat and fish dishes and go for the green peas and corn risotto or ask for the zucchini flower stuffed wtih polenta and cheese on the side (which normally comes with their Atlantic Salmon).
Desserts in Montreal are interestingly unique compared to what you’d find on a standard New York, LA or San Francisco menu.
In three cases, I noticed cotton candy on the menu, so either its trending right now, or its classically a Montreal “thing.” (Europea also offered it as an additional offering — they make it like a big head of hair — together with their cookies and other after dinner sweets).
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
