If you have an 1hr45 to spare or looking for a little road trip, drive to Trois-Rivieres RIGHT NOW!
Why? Because Poivre Noir makes Trois-Rivieres a very memorable city to visit…Yes, Poivre Noir had totally sucked me in like a black hole already.
No exaggeration at all.
This restaurant is located at the harbour. Find the perfect timing ( accordingly to the day’s sunset), and you’ll get one fantastic view while sipping your evening away with good wine (…and feeding your tummy away with good food). Not to mention, bring good company with you and the experience will be one hell of a good one.
The service is almost impeccable – blame them for not assigning my seats on those cool looking chairs ( I feel like my experience is not 100% complete without those chairs lol). Joke aside, the waiters are so attentive and very knowledgeable with wine. We were even offered some additional dishes on the courtesy of the chef and also because of the long wait. But honestly, I really didn’t mind that my order came a bit late. I think it’s part of the whole relaxing, no-stress, sip the wine, take everything slowly kind of restaurant. But I really don’t think it’s the norm of the restaurant – as the table beside us did not have such a problem.
This is a small bouchee of a very creamy soup (tomato base). I am to blame that I cannot remember the exact detail of the soup – I am so behind with my restaurant reviews (Yes, I am trying to make it as a habit to take down notes from now on…) But what really matters is that, this soup may be small, but that’s all it needs to have us enjoy and savour every sip. I think I can officially declare that it’s the best tomato soup I ever had.
Oh – almost forgot to mention, this soup is a courtesy of the chef. It may be little in quantity, but definitely plentiful in quality.
We ordered a table d’hote which consisted 3 courses.
Here comes our appetizer, our first course. We each had 6 little ball looking things. We both chose different ones, each “flavor” came in a set of 3. Therefore, a total of 4 “flavors”:
–Boules de neige de chèvre-chaud, pistaches et tomate (Pampille et Barbichette)
–Cubes de Parmesan, tomates soleil au cumin
–Dattes farcies de Chorizo (dates enrobed in bacon which is coated with maple syrup)
–Rillettes de sanglier à la bière ( beer marinated boar stuffed with cheddar cheese)
Yes I have purposely led you to only focus on the last two. I even take the extra miles to translate it in English. Because I just want you to order those. Listen to me and you will not be regretful. I promise you.
Those last 2 are bursting in flavors, especially the dates. The sweetness coming from the dates and the maple syrup and the crispiness coming from the bacon. It’s just harmonic pairing.
The first 2 were nothing amazing…. and sadly….they were both my choice. Just let me have you imagined my little puppy eye scenario when Mr.Butter had me tasted his (which are….the last 2 that i have so highly praised).
And then… we had some bread, which were WARM (why don’t all restaurant make this as a standard?!). Ok, this wasn’t a normal bread. But honestly…I don’t remember which one I chose out of the millions ones shown on the tray. Anyhow, little details, because I don’t remember it being overly special other than it was so cutely shaped and that it was warm. But I like to add that it wasn’t some dry bread.
After waiting for I don’t know how long…hey you don’t see time passing by when you have great conversation going on! The server surprised us with these dainty cocktail like General Tao. It wasn’t the typical General Tao. Not chicken but shrimps! I was awed by their diligence – but really…I’m not a fan of general tao…Good thing is, this is not part of our order, so nothing has affected my opinion.
And yes! This is the star of the evening! Braised pork with gnocchi! The meat was so tender. Some may complain that the portion is in the smaller side – but i think it was just perfect. With the gnocchi, it was very filling. Not to mention, the gnocchi was perfectly cooked as well – just chewy enough. It seems like a basic that all restaurants should know – but sadly it isn’t. I have gone to various restaurants that overdid the gnocchi. A restaurant that cannot cook gnocchi right – or pasta right – is a big NONO restaurant.
So, Poivre Noir is a YES YES restaurant.
And who took this salivating picture? Who other than me?! LOL. But in reality, the picture makes this dish more delicious than it should be. Although displayed tactfully, this dish was nothing compared to the braised pork. It was then Mr.Butter’s turn to have his puppy eyes looking at my dish. 😉
And we finished off with a delicate dessert. At this point, athough I did not eat a lot, I was very full already – probably the fact that we took so long to eat, my tummy had the time to process all the food and send the signal to my brain. The dessert was light, which was exactly what I needed after having a dense in flavor main dish. I think the pairing was excellent – but I do not think the dessert was anything overly special that I had not tasted before…It was white chocolate mousse texture with dark cherry sauce. Although it is made with white chocolate, the level of sweetness was very well-balanced.
Let me add this little detail that made the experience that much more enjoyable. The server actually let us finish our wine before bringing us the desserts. Ok, this may be another basic…but for some reason, I don’t ever remember having service like this.
It’s just nice to know that they ace all the basics of the service if not more – when in reality, not many restaurants are able to.
All in all, I am very pleased with Poivre Noir. It may not be friendly (but not aggressive either) to the wallet, it definitely holds a very special spot and certainly it will suck me right back in whenever I’ll be visiting Trois-Rivieres again.
Zuuchini
My sis brought me to Rayan a while ago…and to my surprise, it’s nothing like I expected? How can I explain it… It’s almost like a “seafood market”, you choose what you want, tell them how to cook it, and then they bring it to your table!
How it works really, it’s simple. You go to the end of the restaurant, which really looks more like a cafeteria. Over there, all sorts of seafood are displayed! And you choose what you want and how much you want! They weigh the chosen seafood and price it at the market rate. Pretty reasonable right? Then, they ask you do you want it fried, grilled, or steamed. I simply ask them what is the best way to eat each of my chosen seafood! They then give you a number and you go grab a seat and food will be delivered to your table! Simple like that!
Oh and hint…if you are nice enough to the cashier lady…and pay cash. No taxes will be charged 🙂
All of these costed under 100$ for 4 people. And i tell you..it’s more than enough for us. And they were GOOOOD!
We had fried calamari and fried fish ( i forgot what kind of fish). The fried calamari is a MUST to order! They are perfectly, yes really PERFECTLY, fried! I might say just as good as Marven’s fried calamari if not better! Not burnt nor soggy! The fried fish was good as well! But i think i got overwhelmed by the amount we ordered…
We had their signature fries as well! Although it’s nothing that much out of ordinary. They were still good fries! And again, super well fried! I think they should make poutine out of these fries….I think I’ll just bring my own gravy next time, haha.
I think ordering a salad is very crucial especially when you are having so many fried seafood! The salad was fresh, but again nothing spectacular.
I was overly excited to try their grilled octopus – because I am a fan of octopus and still am searching the perfectly grilled octopus dish. However…the pieces were a bit too tiny to enjoy fully the texture/taste of the octopus. I found certain pieces are way too burnt to enjoy wholly. Also, the flavor was lacking… Totally disappointed.
Look at these shrimps! A good size! I really like the spices on the shrimps.
Overall, I think they serve really good seafood, especially fried ones! I would really go back for their fried calamari and try other seafood! I am curious about their rice as well. Every table there ordered one!
Zuuchini
Rockaberry used to be THE place to get apple pies. But now, for some reason…whenever I go, I crave for their other desserts!
Their other desserts are not the best per say but I love the environment there and how they are opened till very late! Don’t misunderstand, their cakes are good but not the kind of “oh gaaaaawd, soooo deliciooous hmmmmmmmm!”
I got Tiramisu and it was pleasant! The size is not overwhelming at all as the cake is very light.
On the other hand, Mr.Butter ordered a strawberry shortcake which is not memorable at all! maybe i am biased because i don’t like shortcake already….
I would still choose La Fontana and Zibo over this place though!
Zuuchini
If you have Arahova as a go-to-restaurant, please scratch it off immediately without regrets. Why? Because there’s a 10 times better replacement, which is Atomic.
Atomic is a lovely Greek restaurant with ever so friendly staff. They serve big and most importantly, they serve quality – their food is fresh!
Their assortment bread! Perfect for our next dish…
We ordered this huuuuge appetizer! It is written that it’s for 4 people to share…but um…I think it can feed more than 5 people as an appetizer! Can be like a full meal for 3 people! The dips were so good! It’s very easy to get full by eating the dips with the bread! Too good to stop!
And then I had the grilled lamb chops! These are especially special because they are lambs from Quebec!! How do they taste different? Difficult to explain, but let’s just say it’s just somehow taste fresher and juicier! They were well marinated as well and not burnt at all. The dish comes with salad – very edible and fresh salad.
This is not a restaurant that I would say that it has the tastiest food ever. But it does serve one of the most tastiest Greek food I have tried. If I want Greek food, this is the place to have it – except the fact that it is situated in Laval…the only downfall…
Zuuchini
Broadway Cheesecake sure looks exciting! So many cheese cake flavors to choose from! From Margarita to Creme brule cheesecake! Doesn’t that intrigue you already?
Well…let me help you save a few calories. They only sound and look interesting. The flavor itself…really nothing amazing.
I chose creme brule and tt tastes like 90% creamcheese. Just pure sweetness and barely any creme brule flavor.
For about 7$ a piece, I rather go to La Fontana or La Premiere Moisson. ( or even Cheesecake Factory!! If they only have it in Montreal sigh ).They cost about the same and taste100x better.
Another drawback is that they don’t always serve all the cheesecake flavor shown in their website. It’s limited what they have on display at their counter….
One good thing i can think about is that this place opens till pretty late, like midnight. So those late dessert cravers like me can enjoy some sweeet food at late hours!
Zuuchini
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