Metropolitain Brasserie

Description:

• This simulated brasserie is the latest undertaking of the same partners who have created a number of successful dining experiences around town, including the Empire Grill . Not far from the big U.S. Embassy, this place deploys lavish amounts of tile and marble and pressed-tin ceiling panels, effectively evocative -- but also surfaces that contribute to a high noise volume. Luckily that happy burble is due to happy diners and infectiously cheerful staff. While jollying the customers up, they transmit orders to the kitchen via PDAs; there are two bars in the two main rooms, one devoted to oysters and a bounteous plateau de fruits de mer -- a tiered seafood platter of the sort that has already swept Manhattan by storm. They claim this is the city's largest raw bar, and I believe them. Well-executed bistro reliables on the card have included an earthy mushroom soup with chives and truffle oil, a crispy duck confit of two duck legs and frites cooked in duck fat, and "Grownup Mac and Cheese" using smoked bacon and Emmenthal. In the Parisian tradition, the brasserie is open from early morning until very late at night -- late for Ottawa, anyway. It's located on the ground floor of a newish office building next to the Château Laurier.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010