On Boulevard Saint-Laurent, right at the edge of the Mile End, a new address opened in February 2025, in an increasingly culinary neighbourhood. Molenne took root in the former Café Mei space. “Molenne” is how francophones used to pronounce the words “Mile End” back in the day. Digging through the archives, the team discovered that the neighbourhood once sat about a mile from Old Montreal and was home to the city’s first racetrack. The name is a nod to this crossroads of anglophone and francophone culture, a symbol of Montreal’s diversity.
That equestrian past runs through the whole decor. The space once served as a hay depot for the racetrack’s horses, and that history has been carefully woven into the design. The furniture was salvaged with the same intent to remember. The cabinets come from the former Café Mei, the banquettes from the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde’s restaurant, and a few plaques from an old Montreal chimney. Walk in, and you immediately recognize the classic Parisian bistro with its copper banquettes, tinted glass at the back of the room framing the bar and dining room, and a terrace that’s already packed as soon as the weather turns. A jazzy soundtrack drifts quietly above the buzz of conversation. The room unfolds in stages, about thirty seats up front, then an in-between space where you wait with a drink near the bar, before reaching the back, where roughly twenty seats face the glassed-in kitchen and its raw bar, one of the house’s signatures.
Behind the project is a team of Majestique alumni, all Montreal natives with more than 15 years of restaurant experience between them, after helping open several addresses for other people before finally launching their own. François Séguin-Letendre (founder of Soif and The Daily in Shanghai) designed and built the space himself, backed by specialized tradespeople. Alexandre Hallé-Quinlan (co-founder of Lacou, in the Caribbean) runs the seafood program, Gia Bach Nguyen builds the cocktail list, and Miro Ramirez handles the wine list.
In the kitchen, the reins are said to be held by chef Louis-Joseph Rochefort (Bouillon Bilk, Le Serpent, with a stint at Attica in Australia). The seasonal menu puts Quebec terroir front and centre, rooted in French tradition but approached with a contemporary touch. Seafood, notably from Havre-Saint-Pierre, takes pride of place alongside starters, vegetables, fresh pasta, meats and sharing plates. Among the must-tries are the razor clam salad, the bluefin tuna bite on squid-ink rice, the Lanaudière bison tartare with Quebec mushrooms (which I’m about to try), and the peppercorn tuna steak.
Price-wise, Molenne sits at the higher end without being out of reach. Group menus run at $80 and $100 per person, and a tasting menu comes in around $120. I ended up spending around a hundred dollars myself, without holding back.
My experience at Molenne
I start with the Rockefeller oysters with nettle, guanciale and cream. From the first bite, the nettle cream softens everything and carries its own grassy edge; the guanciale stretches the finish out, giving the bite real weight. My one complaint is the oyster itself, which struggles to come through, almost absent behind the garnish. A shame for the ingredient that gives the dish its name.
Next comes the Nova Scotia bluefin tuna bite, on a crispy squid-ink rice cake, with aioli. The rice cake is exactly what I want. Nicely crisp, with that little crack under the teeth. The aioli comes through well and gives the whole thing its kick. The tuna, though, is sliced too thin for my taste. I’d have almost preferred it served straight-up as sashimi, to let the bluefin speak for itself.
The first course arrives as a pasture-raised bison tartare, straight from Lanaudière, with chanterelles and hedgehog mushrooms, crostini and a Conestoga egg yolk. The knife-cut is clean, and the runny yolk sits proudly at the center of the plate. The crostini are cooked a bit unevenly (some come out slightly underdone). The tartare’s acidity, on the other hand, is spot-on. That said, the yolk is a touch too generous for the amount of meat, throwing each bite slightly off balance.
The fries and their house aioli come next. The aioli has a faint marine note, almost as if seasoned with nori seaweed. Texture-wise, it reads more like a mayonnaise than a true aioli. The fries themselves are on the thick side and nicely crisp.
The Sainte-Madeleine Yorkshire pork chop, with its burnt-lemon brown butter and sweet yellow Jimmy Nardello pepper, marks the low point of the meal. The meat is short on fleur de sel and comes across a little flat, and the butter sauce is a touch too acidic. The pepper on top doesn’t manage to soften its bite. For me, it’s a plate that’s simply off balance.
The meal wraps up with the profiterole XL. Unfortunately, the pastry is noticeably overbaked, to the point of resembling a piece of bread more than a choux. The chocolate ganache is excellent, as is the hazelnut ice cream alongside it.
