H4C – New Resto in St-Henri

Le H4C

Place St-Henri (kind of across from the St-Henri Metro)

The gals and I organized ourselves for a night out on the town, and decided to check out the new and hot-right-now restaurant H4C.  The brainchild of D3 Architecture & Design, and Chef Dany Bolduc (who used to be at Réservoir) the spot is gorgeous.  Housed in an old bank, and beautifully designed it’s a real treat.  When we went the restaurant was half empty, but still fairly buzzy.  We left mostly satisfied.

Fast forward about a month and many positive reviews in the press, and I decided to take my husband there for his birthday.  The place was absolutely packed and there were even people being turned away.  The menu was shortened (a good thing) and the service was vastly improved (it was spot on).  They also got rid of the flavoured butter which I wasn’t sad about.

The food was mostly hit, with a couple misses.  A starter of calmari, chorizo and other various bits of seafood was absolutely amazing and my favourite dish of the evening.  My husband had a beetroot based entree, which he liked but wasn’t overly crazy about.  His duck was excellent, and came recommended after I had duck there the first time.  It was a shame they were a bit skimpy on the sauce which was the best bit.  My dish of scallops with chorizo and polenta had good and not so good bits.  The chorizo salsa and scallops were so good but the polenta was just bad.  It was gluey.  I’m not usually this outspoken about the food but, it was fairly obvious.  My husband had a dish of deconstructed chocolate cake to finish which had bits of ice cream on it.  It was absolutely gorgeous but some of the bits were just way too sour and overall we felt it lacked.

Would I go back.  Yes, in a heartbeat.  Frankly, living in NDG or Westmount there aren’t a plethora of destination restaurants, especially ones with a parking lot next to it (so I can wear my high shoes!).  Some of the hits were amazing, and things had already vastly improved from my first experience.  There was also a very broad age range represented and to be honest the place reminded me a lot of Lemeac in atmosphere, clientele and service.  The food just isn’t quite to the same standard as Lemeac yet , but I do have hope, especially as it is clear they are still tweaking the concept.

And just as an aside… You may have noticed I’ve been doing less restaurant reviews.  There are two reasons for that.  First, the photos at night in a dark room are awful.  I wouldn’t put any of the photos of either the food or the room up for this post as I felt they didn’t justify the room or the beautiful food.  Secondly, sometimes a gal just wants to enjoy dinner without thinking about reviews!

Decor: Gorgeous.  I dressed up (see my outfit from last weeks Topshop post) and felt amazing and as chic as the restaurant.

Service: Our service the first time was clumsy.  The second time was outstanding.  Efficient, polite and knowledgeable.

Prices: Starters range from $11 – $20.  I believe mains were from $20 – $30.  With two starters, two mains, one dessert, a glass of wine and a beer the bill was $120.  I think that’s fair.

Food: Some hits and misses but the hits were out of the park.  I saw online some people complained about portions, but I was full and could not manage dessert.

Good For: Dress up, and head out!  But I also saw lots of families dining together with their teenage kids, older patrons, and next to us was a super hip table of fashionable men.  Again, the mix reminded me of what you’d find at Lemeac which I think is nice.