Rue de la Montagne. On the same street as Best Western, Novotel, a gas station, buildings with urban and industrial design and antiquated, weathered brick walls, Restaurant Europea’s sign looks like it could be a 3 star hotel, not an upscale restaurant that serves $30 appetizers. It’s not located in quaint old Montreal, the trendy Latin Quarter neighborhood or the fun streets of Rue Hubert, St. Denis or Sainte Catherine, but trendy is not what “Europea does”, right down to the music, which at first resembled what Macy’s might play on a Saturday afternoon.
The decor is traditionally classic with white tablecloths, short red candles and flowers and there’s no bar with background chatter and energy to bring you into a late night mood, but that’s not why you should give Europea a try.
Chef Jerome Ferrer pays attention to details, right down to the flavors he adds to the butter for your homemade baguettes and rolls. While I almost never eat butter anymore, it was hard to resist butter infused with various colored flower petals, brown butter (cooked butter mixed with non-cooked butter) and seaweed, my favorite.
I opted for a sampler which not only included an appetizer, main course, dessert and coffee but plenty of chef-selected surprises in between. One of those in between surprises was black olive clafoutie and a tea sampler size of their homemade Lobster capuccino, which blew my socks off. Three days later, I was still thinking about it. Imagine lobster whipped perfectly and then served with truffle and cream – need I say more? It was truly orgasmic and apparently a favorite of Europea since the very beginning.
Then came the manioc gnocchi with confited rabbit in a yuzu flavored sauce, curly lettuce and mustard mousse. I’m glad I went for the gnocchi because it was out of this world although I’m sure the other choices would have equally blown me away: tagliatelle of calamari carbonar with poached quail egg and lemon caviar or the foie gras which was seared and served with a root vegetable puree, buna-shimeji and chips. (this was $10.50 more and if it wasn’t so heavy and I knew I wasn’t going to be given the royal treatment with desserts, I would have gone for it). I love my foie gras. 
Main dish choices included a fresh ravioli with ricotta and shitake mushrooms (they’re plentiful at the organic markets btw), truffle puree and raw enoki. I was back and forth between the Cabernet Severnyi, Carone (2008) from Canada, the French Fronsac Les Sources, Chateau de la Rivera (2005) and the Spanish Ribera del Duero, Crianza (Pena Roble 2004), so the slowly braised veal cheeks had to be my choice as a main.
It was served with a citrus flavored sauce, fondant potatoes and parsnip puree. If you wanted to stick with white wine throughout the evening, they served a North Shore Scallops with buckwheat crepe and parsnip; meringue and white asparagus filament topped it off. The cheeks were as tender as butter; the potatoes could have done with a little more spice although there were perfectly cooked. Also a choice in this pairing was the Cornish Hen cooked with hay in a casserole infused with Galanga, served with Jerusalem Artichoke, Shitake and Granny Smith apples.
If you opted for the $95 sampler, they offered a venison chop with crispy galette of root vegetables and chioggia cooked in salt with juice and shadbush berries. Tons of fromage in between dishes and a marinated bass with yuzu juice to start was also an option.
The desserts were insanely good. Not typically a dessert person although I’m addicted to dark chocolate just like most women, I was dumbfounded by the amount of sweet aha moments that came out of the kitchen, from cookies and macaroons (they offer 16 flavors of them), to white chocolate bon bons and cotton candy. (yes, the real thing, served like a full head of hair on a stick).
My favorite was a frozen citrus parfait with white chocolate that literally melted in your mouth. It was topped with strawberry marshmallows and served with a peach macaroon and pistachio. To die for.
Let’s just say that I had a hard time leaving the restaurant after the last serving of sweet goodness landed on my table.
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.
