Ottawa Foodies

Since my first review, I've been back w/ my SO twice and can (continue to) echo everything Marno describes, including the hope that their business picks up. Not everything is uniformly good (or perhaps universally appealing), but their willingness to experiment and bring together different influences is commendable. And like Marno mentions, the bread is great!

One other thing to add is that its a nice date place, intimate-chic, relatively inexpensive ... in that style Quebec bistros can pull off so well.

We had dinner here last night. Everything about the experience was fantastic. The decor was modern yet cozy. The service was excellent -- the (sole) waitress even brought a little hook which she attached to the table for me to hang my purse on. The restaurant had lovely dinnerware, which I appreciated.

On to the food. We were each brought a freshly baked mini-loaf of multi-grain bread to start, which was nice. I had the table d'hote, and my husband ordered a la carte. I started with a two-cheese (parmesan and emmenthal) souffle, which was served with micro greens. My husband started with the smoked salmon mousse, which I did not try but he rather enjoyed. For mains, I had swordfish with a blueberry-rum sauce. It sounded like an odd combination, but it really worked. My husband had tilapia, which was served over couscous, and was topped with a lemon sauce and three very large, plump shrimp. Both of our mains were served with a gorgeous array of fresh and perfectly cooked veggies -- carrot, Peruvian potato, broccoli, baby onions, etc.

For dessert, I had a poached pair, which seemed to be coated in ricotta and then lightly breaded and fried. It was in a red wine sauce. (It was more artfully described than this, but some of it was lost in translation). My husband had a milk chocolate souffle, which he raved about.

All of this, including tax and a liter of wine, came in under $100, before tip.

Outstanding value, excellent food. The restaurant was only about half full throughout the night, so hopefully business will pick up, as we definitely want to return.

I was going to attempt a review of Fleur, but this xpress review (and the attached comments) encapsulates several of my impressions:

www.ottawaxpress.ca

To add to the above, we (inc. 3 companions) were impressed w/ the ambiance, the decor, the beer / wine selections, and the food (interesting veggie & non-veggie options).

As one small example, on the menu is a "hijiki" salad: its actually Kombu (not hijiki seaweed), sliced and stretched very thinly (almost like vermicelli) and served with a complement of delicate greens. Perhaps not to everyone's liking, but i luv seaweed and appreciate the innovation (at very reasonable prices).

Finally, its a good place to brush up on your "survival" French (but no worries, you'll make it through w/ English only).