Well, I know this thread started off as a report on Christophe, but couldn't help but notice a lot of mention of Anise. I have to admit that I'm compelled to write this post in response to the negative review posted by Yelenarennie. I just dined at Anise for the first time about three weeks ago on my first trip to Montreal. Since then, I've been fantasizing about both the city and the meal at Anise. I had actually made reservations at Anise and Toque for the same night, but decided to cancel the Toque reservations and go with Anise (and boy am I happy)! I have to admit that when I arrived at the restaurant and saw nearly an empty house (it was a Wednesday night granted), I was a little worried whether I had made the right decision. But, we were promptly seated, quite cordially, and attened to promptly. Nice. As far as the meal is concerned, we (my girlfriend and I) decided to both go with the 9 course 'Surf' tasting menu. I recently checked the Anise website and the posted menu for that particular tasting is what is up there now. The market fish being Grouper, which was perfectly done. Unfortunately, it has been 3 weeks and I have since forgotten the exactitudes of the deserts we were served (both were chocolate based; one being a mousse and the other more cake-like). At $10 Canadian per course, I hardly felt ripped off. Have to admit, though, that the wine pairing for $50 more was a little much (I thought not worth it, so I didn't go for it). We ended up getting two bottles of white for $40 each (again, no feelings of being ripped off). And, who knows why, but our waiter gave us both a glass of banyuls with the final desert. Great way to end a great meal. As for any critiques of Anise, they are minute and I'm sure based only within my own particularities. Such as, I wish I was more bilingual becuase our waiter, while quite able to speak english, seemed to be able to describe the dishes in much better detail in french. Also, I asked him to turn the stereo up (just slightly though)! It was way too soft and hushed for me. I felt that a place like Anise shouldn't be so mellow and quiet as to have no energy. That's just my own feeling. Finally, call me crazy, but I could have actually gone for smaller portions. With 9 courses, we were barely able to finish it all and I have to agree with Thomas Keller's theory of diminuishing (sp?) returns. There's another critique against Anise being little bang for the buck.
