15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Montreal Gazette
Quebec restaurateurs say Michelin Guide ratings ‘a recognition of who we are'
Reactions to the launch of the Michelin Guide's Quebec edition were mixed in Montreal's restaurant scene, Thursday afternoon, as news got around about who did and didn't get a star from the world famous and famously finicky food ratings behemoth.
Jérôme Ferrer was still absorbing the fact that his restaurant had been awarded a coveted Michelin star.
'It's the fruit of 23 years of work. We're very, very happy,' said the chef and co-owner of Restaurant Jérôme Ferrer — Europea in downtown Montreal. 'For us, it's excellence. Michelin stars are a reference worldwide. It's a recognition of who we are.'
Conceived by its titular chef-owner with help from Quebec actor, playwright and stage director René Richard Cyr, Europea offers a range of immersive and interactive eating experiences for customers up for adventure.
'I like to plunge my clients into a playful universe,' Ferrer said, adding, 'the real success belongs to the people around me, the team of professionals — 40 per cent of the people working at the restaurant have been with me since the beginning. I dedicate this to them, my partner, my friends. It's very emotional, for a little guy who started to cook age 15.'
His restaurant was one of just three in Montreal — along with Sabayon in Point St. Charles and Mastard in Rosemont — and nine in the province to receive a Michelin star, with Quebec City's Tanière 3 being the only two-star restaurant, according to the guide.
'Is it really what our city deserves? I don't know,' Ferrer said. 'I'm very touched, but I also have a thought for all my friends and colleagues who didn't receive this supreme recognition.'
Down in Pointe St-Charles, Sabayon co-owners Marie-Josée Beaudoin and her partner, chef Patrice Demers, were doing double duty answering phone calls as word spread of the Michelin star awarded to their intimate 14-seat eatery, which opened in August 2023.
'We're very happy,' Beaudoin said. 'It's really a nice honour. We didn't know what to expect. Our clients have told us we deserve a star but you never know. For Patrice, to see his cuisine recognized in the Michelin Guide is very prestigious. It's world renowned, and a recognized gauge of quality. After 25 years of doing this, the two of us, it's a nice cherry on top.'
Sabayon offers a six-course tasting menu, Thursday to Saturday evening, as well as afternoon tea with three desserts, Fridays and Saturdays. Everyone who enters eats food cooked with care by Demers and served by Beaudoin, which she believes may have given them an edge.
'Michelin likes consistency,' she said. 'We're consistent in our way of doing things. And Patrice's signature as a pastry chef can be felt, even in his savory dishes. We try to showcase Quebec products, working with fish, seafood and vegetables, with very little meat. It's all about délicatesse and precision.'
Though she and Demers were overjoyed at their achievement, they too had a pang for other notable Montreal businesses that did not receive a star.
'We expected more restaurants to be on the list, and to be with more of our colleagues,' she said. 'But it's the first edition; more restaurants will be added in the years to come.'
Many of our city's best-known eating establishments — from Vin Mon Lapin to Joe Beef by way of Lawrence, Vin Papillon and Le Violon — did not receive Michelin stars but were instead to be found on the list of 44 Montreal restaurants (and 76 in all of Quebec) to receive a Michelin Recommended rating, the guide's equivalent of an honourable mention.
Among them was Foxy, which was taken over from former chef-owners Dyan Solomon and Éric Girard in 2023 by sommelière (and former employee) Véronique Dalle and partner Bruno Lesieur.
'It's been less than half an hour and already half my contacts have called,' Dalle told The Gazette. 'I'm discovering what this means along with you. It's something positive. We're very happy to be mentioned. There weren't many restaurants; we realize only a small batch was selected, so I'm very thankful that they recognized our work. I'm happy to be among all these good restaurateurs.'
On top of the recognition for Foxy's wood-burning oven- and coal-roasted fare came a bonus prize: a Michelin Exceptional Cocktails Award, attributed to Dalle, though she was quick to clarify that the honour belongs to her head bartender Sabrina Touzel.
'We're five sommeliers on the floor,' she explained. 'The bar menu has been worked on in detail, along with the wine list. We're trying to do good work on all levels, but for sure our bar program is very interesting.'
Another of Montreal's Michelin Recommended restaurants is chef Normand Laprise's Toqué!, an institution in the city. Reached between his lunchtime and dinner services, he said the recognition was bittersweet.
'It's disappointing for my team,' Laprise noted. 'Toqué! has existed for 32 years, but OK — Michelin makes their own breakdown. It's what they decided. Sometimes I find these things a bit funny.'
He was still pondering Michelin's description of his restaurant as 'a classic address' that offers 'solidly traditional cuisine' inspired primarily by French gastronomy.
'Did they really eat at our restaurant?' he wondered. 'It's funny, they say we offer classic French cuisine — we're anything but that. There's no description of the plates. It's a bit odd, but it's a rating like the others. If it's not this year, maybe it will be next.
'I've been working with Quebec producers and distributors for 25 years. That's always been my philosophy: local, traceable products, not just from Quebec but good (quality). I feel like that didn't interest them and their rankings. I'll live with it. I can't do much about it. We'll keep working hard and taking care of our customers. If I was 31 and my restaurant had just been here two years, I might be more stressed. ... I know what I'm doing and what we want to do with the means we have.'
The only restaurant in the province to receive two stars was Tanière 3, run by co-owner-chef François-Emmanuel Nicol and dining room manager Roxan Bourdelais. The restaurant won top honours at the Lauriers de la Gastronomie Québécoise 2024.
Tanière 3 — which Michelin described as 'avant-garde' chef François-Emmanuel Nicol's 'gastronomic research laboratory' exploring 'all the nuances to be derived from the immense terroir of Quebec's boreal zone' — offers a blind tasting menu of around 15 courses either in the dining room or at the chef's counter.
'My god, I have no words at the moment to describe what we feel,' said co-owner Roxan Bourdelais, who also received the Michelin Outstanding Service Award. 'We're preparing for this evening's service and we're all having out-of-body experiences at the moment.'
Though they had no expectations regarding Thursday's announcement, he and Nicol had ambitions.
'We were aiming for two stars,' Bourdelais said. 'If we got one star, we would have been super happy. We conceived the restaurant, in an unconscious way, with those standards. François-Emmanuel and I have the same vision of excellence we wanted to apply and push ourselves to maintain every day, and for the whole team to embark on.'
The Michelin Guide's arrival is 'really big news for Quebec as a whole,' he said.
Former Gazette fine dining critic Lesley Chesterman is not so sure. She was particularly disappointed that so many of Montreal's best restaurants were passed up for Michelin stars.
'I think there's going to be a big backlash,' she said. 'It's terrible. Some people there are very good, like Arvi in Quebec City. I'm so glad they got a star. And Mastard's star is well-deserved. But when I look at all the people left off the list, I'm sad.'
Chesterman was at a photo shoot for her forthcoming food-and-wine book En accord, written with her partner, former Le Devoir wine critic Jean Aubry.
'I'm sitting with a group of people who have all worked in food and we're all shocked that Quebec got more attention than Montreal,' she said. 'I love Quebec City, it's a great food city, but Montreal is still the capital. It really makes me question who the judges are and their criteria.'
The fact that so many notable Montreal restaurants were listed among the Recommended destinations did not make up for the lack of stars awarded in our city, she said.
'It just feels like compensation. The thing everyone was waiting for was the stars, and the stars are weird. It just feels odd. I don't know. I'm unpleasantly surprised.'
This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 7:34 PM.
