If you’re a food lover in Montreal, you’ve heard about Les Enfants Terribles.
With four locations, each with its own personality and with well-known chefs heading the kitchen teams, you know you’ll never leave disappointed.
Sitting at the bar of their gorgeous Pointe-Nord location, we spoke with Oussama Ben Tanfous, head chef at Les Enfants Terribles of Pointe-Nord. We talked about working on Nuns’ Island, where he gets his ingredients, what makes his restaurant unique from the other locations and best of all – we tasted the dish he thinks everyone needs to try.
Quality, originality and selection of ingredients
After working at Les Enfants Terribles in Outremont, Oussama left to travel the world and work as a chef in restaurants all over Asia – Japan, Vietnam, and Thaïland. He finally returned to Montreal to settle down and take on the formidable job of head chef at the Pointe-Nord location in 2015. It took him a year to build his kitchen team, hiring talented cooks who have worked in some of the best restaurants around the world, in order to make Les Enfants Terribles Pointe-Nord stand out from the rest. According to him, his team is definitely a significant factor in the success of the restaurant.
“Yeah, I’m the chef, but in my kitchen, everyone has their say. That’s what motivates us; we all share our skills and participate. It makes for even more original and creative dishes!”
The originality of the cuisine is also in part due to the choice of ingredients. For Oussama, the search for quality, sought-after ingredients is one of his favourite parts of the job. In his opinion, the difference between an ok restaurant and a great restaurant is the quality and the uniqueness of the ingredients.
“I love getting in my truck, going out to meet the farmers and finding THE ingredient that will make the difference. Everything is local, that’s what makes the difference.”
Another factor motivating Oussama to find new ingredients and to create original dishes is the clientele on Nuns’ Island.
“The people are really what makes Pointe-Nord unique. For residents, Les Enfants Terribles is like a second home so they’re here often and they’re always eager and willing to discover new dishes. It’s exciting and it motivates us to get creative!”
The result is that the restaurant never has the same daily menu and each dish is more original than the last. Oussama sits, almost every day, on the belvedere in Pointe-Nord by the waterfront, to think up new and intriguing dishes, always with the residents in mind.
Les Enfants Terribles
Owned and operated by Francine Brûlé and Serge Bruneau since 2008, Les Enfants Terribles is a gourmet bistro with four locations to serve all of you foodies looking to discover new flavours. Each location is unique, so we recommend trying them all out!
L’ÎLE-DES-SŒURS
#PointeNord
209, rue de la Rotonde
Montréal H3E 0B8
514 508 6068
OUTREMONT
#surBernard
1257, avenue Bernard
Montréal H2V 1V8
514 759 9918
LAVAL
#Centropolis
200, Promenade du Centropolis
Laval H7T 2Z6
450 934 9828
PLACE VILLE MARIE
#AuSommetPVM
1, Place Ville Marie, 44e étage
Montréal H3B 4S6
514 544 8884
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