At the end of March, I was invited to a luxury chalet in the Laurentians to experience an at-home (or in this case, at-chalet) private chef dinner. The concept was launched recently by the charming and talented duo, Jules and Jasmine. Chef Jules Bruneau is well-known in the Québecois community ever since he became a finalist in the TV series Les Chefs! Jasmine and Jules share a wealth of experience in the hospitality and event industry, which led them to launch Mirepoix – their at-home gourmet chef and sommelier service.

How it works is, if you live in the Laurentians or even Montreal, they will bring all of the ingredients to prepare a gourmet meal at your home or chalet. Prices start at $240 per person which includes: a 5-star, 5-course meal prepared by Jules and carefully selected wine pairings for each dish. The couple will even supply the tableware, table linens and table decor. For our dinner, they thought of everything to set the scene: candles, table runners, spring flowers, contemporary earthenware and stemware.

The chef prides himself on using mainly locally-sourced ingredients and prepares all his sauces in advance, so once on site, he only needs to focus on the cooking and plating. For our evening, Jasmine greeted the guests with a glass of Crémant du Jura, while we enjoyed fresh oysters and aged beef tartare bites prepared by Jules.

The rest of the meal was simply amazing! Each dish was inventive, generous and pleasing to both the eye and the palate. I particularly enjoyed the Leche de tigre salmon ceviche (above) with compressed cucumber, green apple and sour cream topped with salmon caviar and smoked salmon “snow” (dried smoked salmon).

The second dish that really wowed everyone was Jules’ to-die-for charcoal-roasted potatoes served with a feta cream, truffled chimichurri sauce and topped with thin potato crisps. So rich and decadent, it made me think of a very gourmet version of a poutine.

The wine pairings were all wonderful and I think the fact that they also select the wines is one of the big advantages of having Mirepoix take care of everything from A-Z. Not to mention, they also handle the cleaning up after the meal. All one really has to worry about is the guest list!

To book your at-home chef, contact:

Mirepoix
www.mirepoixmangetout.com

Jules & Jasmine
info@mirepoixmangetout.com
(514) 574-8015

Many thanks to Fiddler Lake Resort who hosted me for the night, you can rent one of their many luxury chalets here:

Fiddler Lake Resort
www.fiddlerlakeresort.com

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