Quelle expérience!
Le décor est élégant & feutré
Service impeccable, professionnel & très sympathique!!
Les plats sont remplis de saveurs, exécutés avec soin. Plusieurs plats peuvent être partagés pour plus de découverte!
C'est une expérience mémorable, que je recommanderai à mon entourage !
Une expérience dès notre arrivée jusqu'à notre départ! La cuisine est excellente, bel accord met vin suggéré par notre serveur! Explication des plats qui ont été soigneusement préparés avec attention! Merci!
What a delightful restaurant!
Understanding Melba is perhaps first about understanding the concept -- small plates intended to be shared. The menu is divided into hors d'oeuvres & larger plates, but even the larger plates -- as our server explained -- are light & intended to be shared. One challenge with such a concept is figuring out how many dishes to get to satisfy the whole table. Another challenge is that all diners must understand all dishes that might be ordered, consenting to what they would be consuming.
To address these challenges, our server was exceedingly helpful, especially so given our group of four English-only speakers. He went through the entire menu in detail, answered questions, & helped us figure out just how much food to order. We were very grateful for his patient attention.
Complementing the helpful service was the casual & comfortable atmosphere. The noise level was quite low. All the patrons were having a good time, & the restaurant was full, but I never struggled to hear my dining companions nor raise my voice to be heard.
From the hors d'oeuvres, our table shared the gougères (pictured), the'lobster rolls' (pictured), & summer barbajuans. The gougères were everything you expect from that pastry, & served with a delightful spread of goat cheese, shaved snow peas, & pea puree; the intense flavor of the peas evoked memories of walking through my parents' garden as a child, picking peas & eating them from the vine. The lobster rolls were cute little bits that captured the essence of the dish -- well-cooked lobster & toasted bread. The barbajuans were wonderful little bites, & without asking, the staff kindly prepared one of the four pastries without fish, accommodating my wife's fish allergy.
For large plates, they first brought out a course of the two cold dishes we ordered -- the beef tartare (pictured) & the marinated halibut (pictured). Both raw preparations were exquisite. The beef tartare demonstrated excellent knife skills, with meat cut into perfect, tiny, consistently-sized cubes. Instead of serving the tartare with toasted bread, tiny little croutons were mixed in at the last moment. The halibut exemplifies something woven throughout the meal -- the bold use of acidity to make every dish pop.
After that, they brought us the three other dishes -- pistou linguine, ravioles du Dauphiné (pictured), & the roasted char (pictured). I let my family enjoy the pasta, so I can't comment on it, other than they very much enjoyed it. I focused on the roasted char -- wonderfully cooked & generously sauced.
For dessert, I enjoyed the brie mousse (picture), while others at my table enjoyed the vacherin (picture) & praline iced parfait (picture). My dessert had wonderful savory elements, alluding to a cheese course, but sweet enough to be a dessert. My dining companions were also quite happy with their desserts.
Overall, a fantastic meal. Melba was one of the highlights of our trip to Québec City.
