Restaurant Candide

“Updated from last visit. Visited Candide again. And it delivered smart, spring menu - vegetable forward with refreshing sauces, sophisticated ingredients and great service. This is the Candide that we know and love! - The radishes were perfectly cooked, accompanied by a very tasty (bell pepper?) sauce. Perfect dish to start the show. - Cucumber with spinach was a very light yet tasty dish. The texture was fun and the buttermilky, slightly sour sauce was very refreshing. - Crab with carrots, yogurt and basil was a perfect combination of slightly sweet and savory. Baked and fresh carrot added the texture and the basil brought the brightness and freshness it needed. Yogurt went very well with crab and brought everything together. - Don’t let the tomato sauce in a halibut mussel dish fool you - it’s actually creamy and slightly spicy with a touch of tomato. It all comes together in a very subtle yet satisfying combination. - I’ve never thought chrysanthemum tastes so good with the hen and burned onion! - Both deserts were great and again fruit forward with natural sweetness. Really enjoyed the dinner which wasn’t too heavy but with large enough portions to walk away full and satisfied. Looking forward to coming back! ———————————————————————- Great atmosphere and service but the food is not as it used to be 2-3 years ago. Out of four courses, two were subpar. Especially the fish course (arctic char-on the photo) with sweet sauce and carrots. Somehow the dish was too salty and too sweet at the same time. It was bad, with weird flavor. The second course was some sort of soup with leeks and mussels. It was sour and you couldn’t chew anything on the plate. The first course, the oyster and the dessert were solid, with great flavor. This is why I used to love Candide-simple, but sophisticated and tasteful. Unfortunately I don’t think we will be coming back when half of the dishes are a miss. Also a mocktail was not really a mocktail but an apple juice.”

“We really enjoyed our experience here. The atmosphere is well planned and enjoyable and the food is crafted with thought. You can really tell that what you are being given is purposeful and the each dish is given significant attention. We very much enjoyed our service by Elizabeth who clearly understands how to balance being present while not interrupting conversation and knows the menu perfectly.”

“Incredible, worth every penny. Visited in October and was blown away by the outstanding service and exceptionally creative menu. Particularly loved the wine pairing, roast pork with radicchio, and the incredible savoury dessert (buttermilk cheese with grilled shishito pepper). I strongly recommend to anyone in Montreal to spoil themselves to this menu in full, you will not be disappointed.”

“Excellent service, nice decor. The set menu was full of flavour and locally sourced. I don't even like tomatoes and green beans that much and I still enjoyed the second course. The halibut and the vegetable plate were fantastic. The dessert wasn't a bit too corn-ey for me but was still well done. All the cocktails were nice and well presented but I think the Tarragon was the best.”

“solo dinner and enjoyed the experience there. very homely interior with a very small team of staff (4 only). but despite that, service was still attentive and each course was brought out swiftly. food was delicious, but not spectacular. well crafted, but not memorable. oysters from new brunswick ($3.5 each) with added cream wasnt really to my liking. rutabaga was interestingly cooked and was the standout of the night. endives was a bit salty. artic char from montreal was cooked well, but flavor of the fish still remained fishy and relied too much on the sauce rather than the taste of the fish itself. dessert was decent. had a cocktail to go along with it. total bill came up to $150 with tax and tips. noting they are short staffed, as you leave no one bats a head to you. even the chefs behind the counter were busy preparing the food. dedication i guess.”