Frank G.
Yelp
Best meal I've ever had in my life. Granted, I haven't eaten at any of those fancy Michelin-starred restaurants, so those might be better, but I can't possible imagine how. Kitchen Galerie is out-of-this world fantastic, and was the dining highlight of our honeymoon trip to Montreal.
So here's the deal. The restaurant is located a stone's throw away from Montreal's largest market. The menu changes every day based on what the chefs buy that morning. Oh, and the two chefs (and one sous-chef, at least the night we were there) are the only guys that work there. They're the maitre d's, waiters, sommeliers, bussers, and dishwashers. There's an open kitchen so you can actually see how they manage to do all of this themselves -- it's quite the sight!
Neither of us had used our French in almost a decade, so we struggled a bit with the menu. One of the chefs actually sat next to the table for a good ten minutes, explaining every detail about every dish on the menu... the origin of each ingredient, how it was prepared, etc. (He also bought us a couple of nice glasses of moscato with dessert when it found out it was our honeymoon!)
Getting into the details of of dinner won't help you much, since the menu changes so frequently. They do always have the foie gras atop a tarte tatin (goose liver on a caramel-apple tart, for the Anglophiles), which my wife just swooned over... even I liked it, and I don't like foie gras. Our main courses, a pork chop and a seafood pot-au-feu, were simply fantastic. Our desserts, a hazelnut chocolate tarte and a creme brulee, where the perfect finale to a great meal.
I don't remember exactly how much dinner for the two of us cost. It was expensive, but not shockingly so, and I think a great value for the money. It's definitely a "splurge" kind of place, but well worth it.
The restaurant is a short walk from either the Jean Talon Metro station (blue and orange lines) or De Castelnau station (blue line); otherwise, it's street parking.
Any time I hear someone mention even thinking about taking a trip to Montreal, I tell them about Kitchen Galerie. While I don't usually like to repeat my vacation destinations, I might just have to head back across the border to dine here again.