A very intense lobster bisque.

Today we ditched our original plan to hit up Provisions (1595 Boulevard St. Laurent, Montréal) for sandwiches, and opted instead for an immediate re-visit to Le Club Chasse et Pêche (423 Rue St-Claude, Montréal) given our overwhelmingly good dinner the night before.

Having checked out their lunch menu, we already had a good idea of what we wanted. The Wagyu tartare came sided with beans, mushrooms, quail egg, toast and tapenade. The beans were a vibrant green, crisp, but mandolined thinly enough to not be squeaky. A bit of beef, runny yolk from the egg, and a mushroom on toast made for a tasty and harmonious mouthful. The other app, an extremely intense lobster bisque, could have used a bit more celery-root foam to temper its occassional and somewhat harsh edge. Providing additional reprieve were thin strips of duck gizzard, adding textural contrast throughout the thick opaque orange.

While our first course did take some deliberation, we were fairly decisive about our mains: braised pork belly with root vegetables, sage and balsamic, and gnocchi in an asparagus velouté with seafood. Clearly chosen for similarities to last night’s dishes. With high hopes for the gnocchi and seafood, I was sorely disappointed by the muddy flavour of the lunch offering. Soft, mushy gnocchi was an added insult. The seafood, however, was top-notch and almost as enjoyable as yesterday’s. The pork belly was nicely braised and was the better dish of the two. We saw the return of roasted root vegetables — the potato markedly improved — but the others, like the gnocchi, fell short of last night’s.

We declined dessert and opted for tea instead, having planned quite an afternoon of sugar. Lunch had been slightly disappointing, but far from regrettable.

More from Le Club Chasse et Pêche

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