The food is very good at Strøm spas. We eat even better at the company’s new restaurant/laboratory in Chambly. Here, chef Raphaël Podlasiewicz and his talented team can afford to offer more elaborate, particularly creative small dishes.
A kitchen that manages to make a plate of turnips absolutely delicious and fresh deserves all my admiration. This tour de force comes in the form of thin slices of turnip and rutabaga stuffed with their own flesh, small rolls placed on tarragon yogurt and a lightly smoked aioli. Jerusalem artichoke chips and flower petals complete this little masterpiece.
If the Strøm restaurants are simply called Nord, we added “Culinary laboratory” to it, because it exists, among other things, to allow the development of new recipes. But above all, it is a gourmet restaurant open to customers from Chambly and its surroundings, in mourning for the former tenant of the premises, the Fourquet Fourchette, which did not reopen after the pandemic.
This Strøm “campus” – which also includes offices and training spaces – was set up in the beautiful building on the edge of the Chambly basin in August. In the summer, its restaurant will have a large terrace, but for now, we can enjoy the intimacy of a pretty room that can accommodate around thirty guests.
With a name like “Nord,” we can guess that there’s no mahi-mahi, avocado or passion fruit on the menu. Without being “100% local”, Raphaël Podlasiewicz’s cuisine is still almost completely local, with ingredients like Opercule char (Montreal fish farm), processed into brandade during our visit, Quebec cheeses, meats from Ferme d’Orée, mushrooms, haskap, local herbs and spices, etc. Quebec spirits and wines are also on the menu.
In this project, the executive chef is supported by two chefs: Simon Lalancette and Alexandre Laplante. Mathieu Lamarche is the head waiter. The boss of the service side of the entire North “chain”, Alphée Gagnon, also lends a hand, among other things in the creation of cocktails.
We can say that Chambly is lucky to have a restaurant of this caliber in its pretty village. Montrealers: don’t hesitate to make the (short) trip! Also, in 2024, the North restaurants of the five Strøm establishments will open their doors to customers from outside. It will therefore be possible to eat there without necessarily associating an entry to the spa.
