Clockwise from top The dining room at Cristal Chinois; chef Martin Juneau’s trout sausage at Pastaga; the mushroom soup at North Hatley’s Hovey Manor; miam kram — or five-flavour finger food — at ChuChai; pepes ikan (fish in banana leaf) at Mia Tapas Indonésiens.
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Au Pied de Cochon Sugar Shack Clients fill the dining room on Sept. 13. The scene was more tavern than cabane à sucre when our fine-dining critic visited.
ALLEN MCINNIS/ THE GAZETTE
Pastaga Martin Juneau, left, and Louis Phillipe Breton on Feb. 2. Juneau’s menu offers an ideal combination of creative, controlled and sophisticated cuisine.
DAVE SIDAWAY/ THE GAZETTE
Graziella Ravioli, left, osso bucco and salmon gravlax at Graziella Battista’s restaurant on March 8. The Italian menu is short, appealing and chock-full of fine ingredients.
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Hovey Manor Executive chef Roland Ménard samples fresh herbs from one of the posh North Hatley property’s outdoor gardens on July 30.
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Mezcla The ceviche — typical of the creativity on display in this restaurant’s nuevo latino cuisine — on
Sept. 27.
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Moishes The long-running steakhouse has mastered simplicity in such plates as this shrimp dish, served on May 24.