MONTREAL - I live a few blocks away from Tuck Shop, a restaurant that several of my friends suggested I try. For those of you living in Montreal there’s no secret that St. Henri is quickly becoming the new Plateau of the city and with it comes better dinning. If you’re not from Montreal here’s the quick scoop on the old St. Henri.....picture hookers and bikers. Yep, they’re still here but you’ll also find young babes jogging along the canal and more babes walking their little puppies. It’s a clash of two polar opposite worlds and Tuk Shop is that bright light in the middle of it all.

Now before I dive deeper into my Tuck Shop experience I want to give credit to Cafe Mariani....really the first place in this particular area of St. Henri to raise the bar. The Turquetta brothers did a great job here but this review isn’t about Cafe Mariani so we’ll get back to these guys another day.

As usual Guv and I took a chance and showed up without making any reservations. Tuck Shop isn’t very large so if you really want to try it, I’d suggest making reservations especially on Friday / Saturday as this restaurant will fill up quickly. We got comfortable at the bar and started chatting with the gentleman serving us who turned out to be one of the partners. He introduced us to another partner (good looking girl) and I believe the third is the head chef. We got the quick scoop on Tuck Shop and the people behind this new operation. The team has a history at the Monkland Taverne where they successfully built a good reputation for serving quality food with good service. In our first 10 mins I could already feel the positive vibe in Tuck Shop....the staff was very friendly, pretty chill.... He explained to us that they were still learning, testing dishes to see what was working and mentioned that their beef tartare was only removed from the menu for a short period of time as some regulars complained....was it really that good?

We went with the owners recommendation and ordered their beef tartare and asked if we could taste their octopus salad entree too. We also ordered a dozen fresh oysters, a bloody caesar and one of their international beers. As we waited for our food I walked around and snapped a few photos and tool some quick HD video so you can get a feel for Tuck Shop. Clients were roughly my age and older (31+) which seems about right considering that Tuck Shop isn’t a cheap restaurant. More on this later....

The first wave of entrees came out and it was time to see what all the hype was about. Guv, who recently graduated from the Cordon Bleu school in Ottawa also tested these dishes out and we compared notes.

-Beef tartare was finely diced, the meat was red, rich in taste (A)

-The octopus was very good, I would say one of the best I’ve tasted even beating out La Sirene (A+)

-The oysters were a little small. The mini jar of red onions was cute but where was the juice? (C+)

-The bloody caesar came in a tall glass (personally I like the thicker more manly glasses). What killed it for me was the one tiny olive.....I like massive olives or maybe you could include some other goodie (Garde Mange = crab leg / Liverpool House = oyster) (C)

Guv ordered the lamb as his main course and I went with the 16 ounce steak. I was pleasantly surprised with the size of the steak which came with spinach, and other vegetables. Where I was a disappointed was with the amount of fat it came with. The steak wasn’t as tender as I wanted it to be. If you look at my picture of the steak you’ll see all the fat. Hey maybe I’m being too picky but I figured I’d say this should the chef of Tuck Shop ever read this.....I think it would be wiser to go with a healthier steak if that made any sense? (less fat, more tender).

Guv and I wrapped up our meal, it was time to get the bill. By this time the restaurant was full, impressive for a Wednesday night. We walked the streets of St. Henri which helped us digest a little. As we discussed our Tuck Shop experience we both agreed “not a good value place”. The service at Tuck Shop was fantastic, the food was very good but in terms of what you get for what you pay....Tuck Shop didn’t score high on our top value restaurants. Overall I liked it, I’ll definitely go back but only for special occasions. Hats off to the team for taking a chance on St. Henri and most of all, making us feel welcomed :)