Labo Culinaire Foodlab

At the top floor of the S.A.T. an open area, industrial looking fun place. The menu is simple, with an interesting choice of cocktails and wine. Very friendly ambiance for a quick meal. Nothing special about the food, but it’s well prepared. Good choice for the price if you are in the area. Beautiful terrace for the summer, and the drinks are original. I recommend for a drink and a small bite.

Went with a good friend of mine sometime in September. We were sitting on a shared table on the rooftop. Quite a nice place, and we ended-​up with some interesting table-​mates. We picked a few appetizers to share and got some very nice drinks that were on the happy hour list.
Nice place, can be a lot of fun, but not for a first date.

Très bel endroit lorsqu’arrivent les beaux jours.
Une des meilleurs terrasses ouverte de Montréal.
Arrivez tot si vous souhaitez avoir de la place, passez 18h, vous aurez bien du mal à trouver une place de libre en extérieur.
Les prix sont les memes qu’ailleurs sauf pour la nourriture, plus couteux qu’ailleurs avec des quantités plus réduites. Mais c’est le prix pour profiter du cadre :)

When I was researching top restaurants in Montréal for 2014, this place came up as number one. This restaurant is tucked away on the busy street of St Laurent Boulevard. Its located on the 2^nd floor of a build with no visible sign.
Once you climb the stairs, you’ll see the small and intimate setting they’ve set up. Decorated with Christmas lights to add to the romantic atmosphere, it provides the perfect ambiance for a date night or a small get together. The open setting allows you watch the chefs work in their small open concept kitchen. The patio offers a great view of Montréal while you enjoy the amazing meal ahead.
The restaurant offers a seasonal rotational menu, and it will change after a few months. During my visit, I was there for the Czech Republic menu. All the items were delicious and well balanced and full of flavor. Best of all, this restaurant is one of the least expensive places I’ve been for a great meal! Toronto included.
After coming, its easy to see why this restaurant rated as number one on the top 2014 list. I hope to visit again soon!

We ate here yesterday for CultMTL’s birthday party, so the options were limited. But they had a bunch of sandwiches/​sald. I tried the pulled pork (super yummy) and my wife tried the vegetarian which she really liked.
It’s a cool spot, though yesterday was very crowded. I’d be intrigued to visit again though. Yummy food, rooftop, and beer, are all yes yes yes to me.

At the terrasse opening party, I lined up 20 min for a drink, and the waiter literally threw the menu on our table after sitting there for about 1 hour. Then we waited another 30min to get someone to order, then another 1 hour to get the food on the table. We swallowed our meal in 5 min because we were so hungry and the waiter came back right away to ask for the bill — so efficient this time!
I feel I will be a shameless hipster if i come back again but the video projection, the DJs and the space is just so unique and amazing! It will be a pity if it cannot keeps up the standard… I hope the owner can fix the problem before their next terrasse party (ps: 2 of my coworkers told me they had bad service there, too. I guess i am not alone).

Saw an interview with the chef on thekitchn blog, which I love. I really liked the atmosphere and how you could watch the kitchen crew make the food right next to you. Went with my fiancé who is an adventurous eater. We had a shrimp dish that was excellent and very unique. He had a superbly cooked trout and I had the honey roasted quail. First time I ever had quail and it was incredible. I’m remembering the way the skin looked and tasted and wishing I had some now!
The service was great too. We only speak English and staff were very kind and helpful.
I’d highly suggest trying this unique place.

I feel bad giving this place only 2 stars, but I had a really awful meal here on Friday evening and my date and I left severely disappointed. I had been here once before and knew that the theme rotated and that the menu could be somewhat restricted and was fine with that. One this evening, it was poached salmon with some vegetables as part of the prix fixe.
The starter soup was ok, nothing special. The main course was the poached salmon. It arrived wrapped in parchment paper with some overcooked potatoes on the side. The salmon itself was extremely bland and undercooked. The only saving grace of this meal was the wine pairing and the dessert.
To add to our disappointment, we ordered a latte to go with dessert and it arrived room temperature at best. I love the concept of this place, the venue, the prices and how friendly everyone is, but I could have made that salmon at home and it would have been better.

Labo is located up the stairs within a building that we can only assume as artists/​tech studio.
Staff was friendly and explained that the restaurant also hosts many launches and private functions. We caught a glimpse of the private function area, and immediately knew that this place takes amazing transformations throughout the year.
The restaurant had bar area, open kitchen, and a beautiful balcony area.
We enjoyed our meal thoroughly, the restaurant’s hip vibe was nice, and our antipasti had just the right mix and balance.

Friday I finally tried LABO, I knew of it before it opened and have been unlucky in the only time I came upon it while it was open was right after I’d had dinner. The subsequent visits there were closed due to private functions.
I was not disappointed.
I found that the menu under sells the food. The Braised Lamb shoulder sandwich with raquette, grape tomato, spanish onion and fresh herbs is more of a pizza than sandwich. You couldn’t get fresher flat bread as it is grilled just prior to the composition of the open-​faced sandwich.
This evening’s theme was Summer in Southern Italy — true to this — the ingredients were fresh & of the finest quality.
The have a reasonably selection of wines by the glass.
For dessert the Strawberries and Whipped Ricotta was more; yes there were Quebec strawberries, small raspberries and blackberries with ricotta but they sat on a golden Olive Oil cake (prepared with Semolina giving it an almost nutty texture).
The presentation of the plates equaled the flavour of the plates — the eyes feasted as well.
I will be back.

Situé au 3e étage de la SAT (Société des arts technologiques), le foodlab est bien sympa, y’a quelques tapas sur leur menu ainsi qu’un petit bar mais on y va surtout pour la terrasse extérieure avec vue sur le boulevard St-​Laurent et le centre-​ville, terrasse à découvrir!

Pour un bon verre de vin ou une bière avec des petites bouchées qui fondront dans votre bouche, le FoodLab est un super bel endroit pour un 5 à 7. J’ai fait l’expérience du FoodLab deux soirées de suite. La première lors d’un 5 à 7 à leur emplacement permanent au 3e étage de la SAT (Société des Arts Technologiques). J’ai adoré le décor, l’espace ouvert et l’éclairage naturel. Je né sais pas s’ils ouvrent la terrasse quand il fait plus chaud mais je l’espère car elle est assez spacieuse et qui n’aime pas une belle terrasse en été? La deuxième fois que j’en ai fait l’expérience, c’était lors d’un événement ailleurs où l’on pouvait se procurer des petites bouchées (presque comme des tapas) à un bon prix. La prochaine fois que je les vois à un festival, une conférence, ou même sur le bord de la rue pour les journées «Le marché du FoodLab, c’est garanti que je m’y arrête pour au moins m’y prendre une collation!

Finally somewhere awesome to eat and hang in the somewhat seedy area of St Laurent and St Catherine’s. Located in the SAT (upstairs), the Food Lab is innovative, interesting, laid back and as sharp as its location. Able to experiment, create themes, the wonderfully run open kitchen is amazing. And affordable. I was there during the Japanese Izakaya theme, and shared most of the plates, though you want to get your own — because portions are great for one, and you won’t want to share once you put what they got in your face.
So, we started with the homemade silken tofu app — with chili oil and nori that melts in your mouth. Alongside this was the insanely amazing shitake salad with succulent dried persimmon. For a main we both went with the rice bol — with not fried, but baked (and still tasted like crackling) chicken skin, a poached egg, seaweed and braised pork. Come on people. Pure flavour overload.
After that — because we needed to try more — we backtracked to the apps again to go after the dashi. Seafood, in a beautiful little broth. Hard to share, as we both wanted to stick our faces into it.
And with 2 good wine recomms, this was a hit in my stomach. Very laid back, you order at the counter, the chefs serve you, and you leave wonderfully satisfied after a little taste of divinity.
So go.