Café Denise is a sharp little restaurant in Park Ex
Café Denise elevates unassuming stretch of Park Ex with Asian-inspired delights and inviting room
As I walked up to the door of Café Denise, all I was thinking to myself was: What the heck is the story behind this one?
I had heard the food was excellent and that the space was rather diminutive in size. But upon arrival, it looked like so many of the shabby buildings on its industrial strip of Park Ex. I know the neighbourhood well, having worked across the street for a caterer for several years in the ’90s. Frankly, I never even noticed the building, which I was told was a former computer repair shop. Located next to two parking lots, the restaurant is also on a busy crossroad. So it doesn’t have much in the way of curb appeal, as Sarah Richardson would say. But upon entering, it’s a whole different story.
Open for five months now, Café Denise is already a hot ticket. The restaurant began with breakfast and lunch, and took on a dinner service soon after. Though tempted by their Vietnamese coffee, morning broth (an ever-changing noodle soup) and lunchtime banh mi, I came for the more extensive service at dinner. With some 28 seats divided between tables for two and a large communal table, the restaurant can pack ’em in. Soon after I arrived for my 6:30 reservation, every seat was taken.
Café Denise, I found out after my meal, was an experiment of sorts thought up by three filmmakers: director Khoa Lê, producer Ménaïc Raoul and director of photography Mathieu Laverdière. Not only do they love the neighbourhood, they love to eat — and even more so, they love the concept of sharing.
The decor is clean and simple (there’s a definite air of Ikea about the place), with low-stool seating that may be a drawback for those in need of a comfortable chair. For the cooking, they hired Sophie Veronneau, who worked at Reservoir and H4C. The menu is Asian-inspired, rather than strictly connected to one specific country, though Lê is the only Asian ( Vietnamese to be exact) in the group of 16 employees. As for Denise, she just happens to be the owner of the building. While the restaurant was being built, the team started referring to the locale as “Denise,” and it stuck.
The menu is quite short, but portions are generous. As much as I’d encourage sharing, there were a few dishes I was sorry to have to divide, chiefly the pork and shrimp dumplings. With their fried taro root wrappings, the dumplings were completely different from the norm. The taro shells were super crisp, adding not only a fun texture, but a welcome earthy flavour. There were five on the plate, and I only gave my friend one — and I regretted even handing over that.
I was happier to share the clams in green curry sauce. Served with a plate stacked high with that Vietnamese-style, super spongy baguette used to soak up all the sauce, this curry was terrific. The clams were tender and briny, but what I liked best was the herb-packed sauce, which was more broth-like than most curries and sparkling with flavours of cilantro and scallions. As for the stack of bread? It vanished in minutes. Yum!
Though I was told the don’tmiss dish here is the miso and sake braised eggplant (for next time, I guess), we opted for the grilled tofu with tomato and sautéed shimeji mushrooms. This was a busy plate, with the flan-like tofu smothered in the fairy-sized mushrooms, and with enhancers that included basil, tomato sauce and walnuts. It was good, but I’m not sure this is the dish to convert those averse to the blandness of bean curd.
Carnivores might prefer the grilled chicken in a rice wine sauce. Enjoyed with a ramekin of
perfect jasmine rice, the chicken was topped with basil leaves and a sheet of crispy chicken skin. As much as I enjoyed it, I thought the dish lacked pizzazz — a hit of something acidic or spicy to liven it up. That said, I wolfed down the whole dish before coming to that conclusion.
My favourite large plate, the grilled beef, was served last. Ideal for sharing, the $19 dish is the most expensive on the menu, but was worth every cent. The table was cleared and two sauces, a thick peanut sauce and a garlicky vinaigrette, were set down. Following that came a platter with mint, cilantro, cucumber bâtonnets, lettuce and peppery betel leaves, as well as vermicelli noodles, peanuts and six spicy beef sausages. And finally, a container with six spring roll wrappers with water, for you to do the dipping, filling and rolling. I always love a hands-on approach in a restaurant, and we happily assembled three fat rolls each, relishing the mix of textures and spring-like flavours in every bite. Superb.
A pandan leaf-flavoured tapioca is the only dessert on offer, but it should not be missed. Topped with cubes of juicy mango and a handful of sugared pumpkin seeds, the tapioca had a gentle, herbaceous vanilla flavour, with those fun mouthfuls alongside to boot. We were stuffed come dessert time, but that extra hit of fresh flavours ended the meal on the right note.
Add to all this an organic chardonnay (Domaine Yves Duport, from the little-known French appellation of Bugey), selected from the great little wine list assembled by sommelier Morgane Muszynski, as well as solicitous service, and you have a sharp little restaurant that brightens up a no man’s land of a neighbourhood that perhaps only a group of filmmakers would have the guts to tackle. On top of that, there’s a terrasse on the horizon.
As Lê later told me: “If the restaurant fails, that’s fine. We see it as a bit of afil md’ aut eur (art film).” With food this good in a space this welcoming, I don’t think they have to worry.
You can hear Lesley Chesterman on ICI Radio-Canada Première’s Médium Large (95.1 FM) Tuesdays at 10 a.m., and on CHOM (97.7 FM) Wednesdays at 7:10 a.m. criticsnotebook@gmail.com twitter.com/LesleyChestrman