Intimate Dining Experience at Montreal's Beba

The intimate space offers wines with fantastic bites of food

Wine bars that happen to offer fantastic food seem to be a trend in Montreal, as that's how Mon Lapin started and last year was ranked No. 2 in the inaugural North America's 50 Best Restaurants (this year No. 5). 

After our massive late lunch at McKiernan and sampled a smoked meat sandwich at Atwater Market, we were still quite full when we arrived at Beba, a very small wine bar. We got to sit in a booth across from the small open kitchen and watch two chefs pump out food.

Lovely mackerel that is a must-have at Beba

Because the wine bar is tiny in terms of real estate, Beba has the ability to take risks and make some interesting food on the menu.

When I made a reservation in late March or early April, the menu featured off cuts that I was keen to try, but when we arrived in late May, the menu had changed.

Nevertheless, we really enjoyed the starter of montadito, or a small open-faced sandwich featuring two thick slices of mackerel with shaved crunchy greens, sesame and horseradish. This appetiser has been on the Beba menu since the beginning, as well as the humble potato knish made bougie with 10g of Oscetra caviar on top.

We were intrigued by lamb ham -- why not make ham out of lamb? And it was absolutely delicious, thinly sliced and garnished with bagna cauda like celery, cauliflower, olives and pickled peppers, along with half jammy eggs topped with salsa verde. Amazing.

Involtini are like dolmades, and instead of rice the grape leaf packages were filled with zucchini and Swiss chard, topped with a generous dollop of yoghurt, pine nuts and pickled vegetables. 

Intriguing lamb as ham with bagna cauda, eggs

By now we were really full, but curious about dessert. We tried the pistachio semifreddo, with olive oil drizzled on top sprinkled with whole pistachios. So simple yet so chic.

What a lovely, laid-back space, people dressed casually, some on dates, others for a regular get-together.

It's a shame we were so full otherwise we would have ordered more!

Beba

3900 Rue Ethel

Montreal

514 750 7087

All Hail the Best Restaurant in Asia

This modern French place the top restaurant in Asia

Last night was the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants awards held in Seoul and it was so great to see chef Daniel Calvert's restaurant Sezanne clinch the top spot this year.

He is a young British chef from Surrey, southeast England, who knew from the age of 13 he wanted to cook. And he's a damn fine cook. He has the talent, skills and finesse, and being in Tokyo suits him perfectly, where precision artistry is appreciated. 

In 2016 Calvert came to Hong Kong to help chef James Henry open a French bistro called Belon for Black Sheep Restaurants.

Calvert (second from left) with his team last night

He thought he'd only be there for six months, but in that time he fell in love with the city and became head chef the following year. However, the initial excitement of Belon had dissipated by then.

"When I took over Belon, it was not doing well. It was very hard to get people to change their minds and eat here again. So I would say going from this restaurant, which was empty, to turning it into what it is today, that's probably my biggest achievement," he said in August 2020 when he was leaving the city.

People were not used to the expensive items on the menu, like three pieces of asparagus and dots of caviar at HK$900 (US$115), and chicken wing stuffed with matsutake mushroom and foie gras at HK$348.

Instead of lowering prices or doing gimmicky dishes, Calvert persisted and in 2017 that year Belon earned a Michelin star. 

His attention to detail and taste are impeccable

After he moved to Tokyo, the Covid-19 pandemic postponed the opening for about a year in 2021. But Calvert was ready to show off his culinary talent. Six months after Sezanne opened, he earned the restaurant's first Michelin star, and its second in 2022.

Some dishes that diners have raved about are duck foie gras slow poached with chicken leg and soy sauce, Shanghai hairy crab marinated in yellow wine with rice, and mille crepes with Australian black truffles. 

When he was in Hong Kong he was curious to learn more about Chinese ingredients and condiments, and incorporated them into his dishes; same goes for what he has discovered in Japan.

Meanwhile on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Sezanne ranked second last March, and last night climbed to number one.

Now in his mid-30s, Calvert claims to have no secrets to his success. "I'm not the greatest chef in the world -- I can't attest to that. But I do think I work harder than most people. I think that was the key."

We're so pleased to see him do so well. Hard work rewarded in spades.

Independent Restaurants in HK are Shuttering

This fine dining restaurant offered intricate dishes with stories

A few days ago I saw a social media post from a young chef's girlfriend that he was closing his restaurant in Hong Kong's Mid-Levels in a few days and told people to eat there one more time.

There were a few comments asking what was happening but she didn't reply.

It was a small fine dining restaurant with 22 seats, most of them by the bar where everyone had a front-row seat at the open kitchen to watch the chefs prepare food and have it served personally by the chef-owner. Every few months he created a new eight-course menu with new dishes, each with its own story.

Here diners had a front-row seat of the kitchen

Then today I saw the chef's social media posts saying kitchen equipment was for sale along with all the tableware, dishes, glasses, furniture... 

I messaged him, asking what was next.

He later replied saying he wasn't sure. He explained that he quickly made the decision to close because business was terrible in 2023, from March to November and could not see how 2024 would be significantly better. 

"We see no light at the end of the tunnel of 2024 either. The market is going to crash," he texted.

Crash?!

Rent wasn't an issue in his case the landlord was his partner's uncle. Even though the restaurant had low overhead costs, they could barely make enough profit compared to a restaurant with comparable overheads.

"I even injected capital two times," he added, to pay for food and staff salaries. 

The restaurant closed abruptly a few days ago

Hong Kong has become very expensive to dine in, which has resulted in many escaping to Shenzhen on the weekends for cheap splurges. It also doesn't help that a big chunk of the middle class and upper middle class, as well as expats have left the city too.

Independent restaurants are having a tough time surviving financially, and he observes those who will make it through are the ones within restaurant groups that have deep pockets, or those who have adapted to cater to mainland diners' tastes.

"I can't afford the first, and cannot sleep doing the second," he texted.

One can probably surmise the latter means lots of seafood like oysters, lobsters and sea urchin, truffles and caviar on every dish. 

From a wealthy family, this chef can afford to take a break and not even work, but only in his early 30s he needs to find something to do.

What do you do after you've opened your own restaurant for two years -- during the Covid-19 pandemic no less? Would he be willing to work under someone else again? 

Then a friend just told me that Maxim's, which has a giant chain of bakeries and restaurants is not looking to expand further in Hong Kong or the mainland, but in Southeast Asia instead. 

Even though Maxim's owner is pro-Beijing, it is looking elsewhere to expand. Even correct political leanings won't help you make an extra buck in China...

Fine Dining Struggles in Hong Kong

Ecriture's minimalist style with maximalist views of the city

The big news the other day was hearing that two Michelin-star restaurant Ecriture in Hong Kong's Central district suddenly shuttered. Executive chef Maxime Gilbert posted the news on Instagram.

"Yes. It is a bit of a shock. I am still shocked," he told a Hong Kong newspaper, but did not elaborate further.

Executive chef Gilbert is shocked at the closure

The restaurant group Le Comptoir that is behind Ecriture didn't reply to reporters' inquiries.

However, there were rumours in the industry that the restaurant hadn't paid its staff for months, and that Le Comptoir hadn't paid rent for a year -- sounds extreme, as any landlord would have locked them out months earlier if that happened.

One would imagine suppliers haven't been paid in full either.

This comes as other restaurants like Haku, that had finally moved from Harbour City to IFC with a stunning view has also closed, along with Rosita, a joint venture by chefs Ricardo Chaneton and Agustin Balbi.

Fine dining restaurants are having sluggish business these days, with expat bankers leaving Hong Kong, and mainlanders preferring to eat fishball noodles than foie gras.

Ecriture was best known for its indulgent caviar tart -- a large tart covered with uni and topped with caviar and gold leaf. It was dripping with decadence and every other table had an order of it when this tart was unveiled.

Ecriture's infamous and decadent caviar tart

Gilbert's other stunning dish was line-caught turbot that was wrapped in chunks in seaweed and then poached in dashi. 

He just finished a promotion at Amber in the Landmark Mandarin, where chef Richard Ekkebus invited back several alumnae chefs to come back and cook.

It's yet another bid to entice diners back to Amber -- for a short period of time.

And then what?

It's a tough call -- chefs want to do fine dining and chase Michelin stars, but at the moment people are watching their wallets and just want to eat cheaply.

During the pandemic, there was literally a captive audience. But now that restrictions are lifted, people are dying to travel and going back to their old ways again. However, no one's coming to Hong Kong...