chez plouffe: Garde Manger, Old Montreal

Where to begin to do this restaurant justice...Perhaps starting at the beginning. We had planned a late dinner at Garde Manger in Old Montreal on the night of Monique's bachelorette party. We had full expectations to leave after our dinner and find a good club on Rue Crescent to dance the night away. Long story short, we left Garde Manger at 3 a.m. and had the best night out in Old Montreal!

You'd never know it to see, but Garde Manger is the restaurant of Chuck Hughes, star of Chuck's Day Off on the Food Network. Chuck wasn't there the night we dined and partied until 3 p.m., but some of his excellent staff were there and we had a fantastic time.

Here is the menu for the night. We had the lobster poutine for start (shared it between two but it would have been better between four since it is so rich). I had the scallops with bacon and potatoes gratin for an entrée and it was amazing! The scallops were cooked perfectly (and I'm REALLY picky and my seafood). Our server, Catherine, was fantastic.

There was a very tantilizing seafood tray offered as an appy but half of it was raw so we passed. But here is the pitch for order oysters:

At midnight the restaurant turns into a bar and the music was so great we decided to stay and dance. It was like our own private little dance club. The bartender, Jamie, was fab and loved us and the DJ, Brian, never once let us down. I think Monique texted at least five songs to Frank to add to their wedding reception playlist! (below is Megs giving a shout out to Brian the DJ and then our very cute bartender, Jamie)