MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC
Chef Marcus Samuelsson has brought his television personality and award-winning style to the recently opened Four Seasons Montréal with his debut Canadian Restaurant, Marcus. Samuelsson, who is best known for Red Rooster Harlem, has worked with local Québec producers to create a delightfully eclectic brasserie menu that reflects both his Ethiopian roots and his Swedish childhood, as well as the cultural mosaic of his NYC home.
We visited during the summer and, disappointingly, the kitchen was running without the man himself even in those early days. On the bright side, while our meals were painfully slow in coming (with a delay of more than an hour) and service was on the bumpy side, we still found magic on the menu. Our favourites: The truly moorish salmon tartare with lemon, dill and cucumber; and, for seconds, feather-light donuts filled with peanut-butter cream, served with a ginger and pineapple compote.
Interiors at the Four Seasons have been designed by Paris-based Gilles & Boissier in collaboration with Montréal-based architect and designer Philip Hazan, and are très chic. Expect a heady vibe of metallics and white marble, with gold elevators and pink and grey velvet walls that just ask to be touched. There are 169 stylish guest rooms, 19 suites and 18 private residences, and a direct indoor access link to the newly opened Holt Renfrew Ogilvy.
