Tavern sur le Square

The restaurant is relatively large with its bar, open kitchen and patio area. The high level of noise might be turned off if you plan to have good conversation with friends, but the patio area seems to be much quieter. The service was just impeccable - our waiter was making sure that everything was to our taste. The menu, in the other hand, does not look very appealing as I didn't feel myself pulled into many of the dishes.

The crostini here is not the typical small grilled bread with an already-dressed toppings. The rather-large slices of bread is brushed with oil and grilled to perfect crisp. It comes with an assortment of toppings - a tapenade that has a complex salty flavours, a white bean purée similar to the texture of mashed potatoes with a prominent taste of beans and garlic, and some finely diced confit beets and peppers for little pops of freshness and acidity. The goat cheese spread was somewhat flavourless and seems to be disconnected from the other toppings.

The fried calamari is nicely crisp, not at all rubbery. This is dipped in an addictive spicy-salty anchovy mayonnaise that is balanced with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Ziti con funghi is probably the only dish that attracted me on their menu. Being a fanatic of mushrooms, I love dishes that utilized more than one kind as each has its own unique texture and taste. The flavour of mushroom is prominent on each bite of this pasta dish and spinach gives an appealing contrast of freshness.

Finally, the Atlantic salmon is tender, moist and flavourful that melts in your mouth. This is served on a bed of julienned vegetables with an emulsified lemon sauce - a well-balanced dish.

All the dishes have provided great flavours and at the same time comforting. Whether or not the menu needs to be reworked, it does attract the regulars to go back.