Fibo, the molecular gastronomy

To celebrate my sister’s birthday this year, we went to Fibo.

I had given her 2 choices of restaurant and she ended up choosing Fibo because the pictures looked nicer (yes that’s how we judge!!).
Note, she had no clue what was awaiting because she did not even bother to read that it is molecular cuisine.
I was actually quite uneasy with the choice; reviews have given a very low score to the restaurant. 
well…things turned out differently than i thought 🙂
Fibo is just beside L’Assommoir on Notre-Dame at Old Port. We were greeted with a flight of stairs (3 floors to walk up to). Many complained about this aspect. However, I do not find it troublesome at all. Those that say it’s too much…I’m worrying about your health and  personally suggest that you should start doing a bit of exercise. The only downside I could think of is that you better not leave drunk as you may very easily miss a few steps while walking down the stairs. 
Once we arrived, we were welcomed by our host/server of the evening. If I remember correctly, his name is Jonathan. A very charming man.
I love the setting of the restaurant. It’s a beautiful loft transformed to a restaurant. My sis and I were imagining how it is like to live up here. 
After our seating, we were asked if we wanted any cocktails. The cocktails are served at the bar and Jonathan had given us a little show how the cocktails were made. 🙂 Quite fascinating and enjoyable.

 

The blue drink (Iceberg…if I am not mistaken) is a very interesting one as you have to break into the drink to drink it. Basically, you could turn it upside down and it won’t spill until you break into the ice. It’s all about chemical formation. 
We had the Margarita. Frankly…it must have been the worst cocktail I have ever drunk. I let it slip by because I was just so amazed by the little show of the cocktail was made. 
So gradually, our dishes were served. We had a 5 courses service.
The first course is 

 Mille saveurs en soupe
This soup smelled so good. However, the taste is lacking.. I wish it had a bit more salt in it. But i think the concept of the soup is that we could taste all the different notes and adding salt would ruin the overall taste. I could taste pumpkin and cumin, and curry…just many things fused into one. Quite interesting but just not heavy enough.

 Champignons magiques deglaces au soyable MC2
Without the mousse topping

Contrary to the first course, this dish was much saltier. The mushroom was so salty – but this was compensated by the rice crispy which is tasteless and filled with air. Just to make the meal a bit more crunchy.I like the combination. Very unique.

 Clin d’oeil a la brasserie, ailes repenses
Ok. their dishes have too fancy names. This is basically chicken wing with some fancy saucy and served with duck confit. The chicken wings were perfectly fried. So crispy but can’t taste the oil. It was good. It was no chicken wing from cage aux sports (or any of those sport centers). And yes, 9999999x better than KFC.

Risotto aux champignons
This is mushroom risotto chosen by my sis as her main dish. As you can tell so far, Fibo loves to add a touch of mousse in every dish. (Personally, i find it rather unnecessary as it adds no taste or texture to the dish).This risotto was so goood. It almost made me regret my main dish choice. It was so rich in mushroom flavour. It could be too heavy for some people. But for my sis and I, we loved it.
Jarret d’agneau en facon sotolon

Recently, whenever I see braised lamb (or actually..any dish with lamb),  I would pick it as my choice right away. This time was no exception! And the lamb so so tender and delicious. The sauce that comes with it was so rich. It was hard to define the flavour, but it did taste like curry with some other flavour. Oh molecular cuisine – you make my tastebuds go crazy. The sauce became a bit overbearing near the end. But that point was only reached when I was finishing my plate. So nicely calculated.

and…the finale…

 Creme brule Chanel No 5. – Bubble gum cheesecake – Seduction de chocolat, impression de feux d’artifice en bouche
It’s the first time in my life that I felt like I was eating perfume. Yes. Perfume. The creme brule was inspired by Chanel No. 5 perfume – like the name of the dessert states. However, I do not remember Chanel No. 5 smelling like that. The taste was very floral with a hint of creme brule after taste. It was so … different. Too different. But definitely a positive different. I loved it and wished I could have more. 
The bubble gum cheesecake tasted nothing like cheesecake, nor bubble gum actually. It felt more like a yogurt that is very floral as well. It was weird once again – “eating” perfume. But again, I really loved it.
The chocolate dessert was the only one that I was not impressed. It just felt like another hard brownie sort of ish cake. The twist here is that they put those explosive candies (you know, those that “explodes” in your mouth when you wet them with your saliva?). I would replace this dessert for more Creme brule Chanel No. 5!!!
All in all, I really enjoyed this whole molecular experience. It was so unique. One of a kind. I really do not understand all the negative reviews I read online. The food was delicious. But…the price was very hefty. It’s a restaurant you would try – but would not come again because the pricing is rather not very welcoming. You could easily go somewhere with the same quality of food for less but definitely could not replace the uniqueness of the experience.
The whole experience took us 4 hours. I would have wished that my glass of water was filled more often. But there was only one server, which was the host as well. He was very friendly but just had too much to do. I’m just very picky with my water…I like it always filled (which is usually how I rate the service…lol).
I hope this review would give enough confidence to those that were intrigued with this cuisine but avoid the restaurant due to the negative online reviews.
Fibo on Urbanspoon

Zuuchini

Written by zuuchini

Made in Canada. Chinese. Accountant. Gamer. Makeup lover. Love her family.
Website: http://www.zuuchini.com

2 Comments
  • Thesassyfoodophile says:

    Hi Zuuchini, glad you and your sis liked the experience. I think one of the main reasons that Fibo has so much negative reviews is how it portrays molecular cuisine. Having graduated from Food Chemistry and talked to the owner and the chef of Fibo, I was extremely disappointed at how he viewed this type of cuisine. He is using techniques more for the show than for its actual purpose. As you mentioned in your post, some added ingredients were irrelevant to the dish. I’ve tried literally every single item last time i went to Fibo and not one truly showcased molecular gastronomy. His descriptions are meant to confuse and mislead the clients and the combinations of flavors were creative but not necessarily well paired. It is because of restaurants like his that molecular cuisine is viewed so negatively unfortunately. I am not saying the food is disgusting whatsoever (because some of his dishes did taste good) but the way he markets it is just wrong. Being in the industry and understanding a lot of the functional ingredients he used, he really did not go in depth in research before opening the only and unique molecular cuisine restaurant in Mtl. Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound harsh on your post, great writing but I just totally disapprove Fibo itself.

  • Zuuchini says:

    I could understand from someone like who is very knowledgeable to be put off by this. But shouldn’t we see this a first stepping stone for montreal to try out this type of cuisine. Although, they may have falsely marketed it. I still think it was a fun experience. And overall, quite pleasingn one too!

    Would love to truly experience a real molecular cuisine sometime. 🙂

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