This quaint Montreal restaurant will whisk you away to the cobblestone streets of France

If you’ve been craving cobblestone strolls while indulging in fresh baguette, gourmet seafood, and fine wines, but a flight to Paris isn’t something you have the budget or PTO for, don’t fret. This dreamy Montreal restaurant will take care of you with just the right ‘je ne sais quoi.’

This traditional French fine-dining experience in Montreal’s opulent Birks Building will feel like the next-best thing to a romantic cycle along the Seine or by the Eiffel Tower, without the jet lag or customs lines.

Just by Square Phillips in the heart of the Ville Marie borough, Henri Brasserie is a chic restaurant with an outdoor terrace that showcases that white tablecloth, bright flowers, and black and gold detail Euro-inspired dining experience.

While Henri is rooted in French dining tradition, it stands out for its use of fresh Canadian and Quebec ingredients, which lend a contemporary, local flair to the gourmet dishes. The restaurant’s opulent architecture also reflects that European vibe.

With 19th-century French décor and restoration elements designed by the owner of the Hotel Birks, the timeless elegance is in the details. From grand pillars and chandeliers to gold-trimmed accents, the setting transports you straight into a French fairytale.

As you catch the light from the stained glass fleur-de-lys designs and sit beneath the Eiffel Tower artwork on velvety turquoise benches, you’ll feel like you’re tasting wine and artisanal cheeses in Bordeaux or relaxing after a long day of café-hopping in Paris.

For starters, try Henri’s upscale take on the classic French onion soup, with a gourmet touch of Emmental and cheddar. Other hors d’oeuvres to discover include a half-cooked duck foie gras with apples, mushrooms and porto reduction, as well as smoked salmon with lemon and dill cream.

If you want to dip into the seafood for your appetizer, you can opt for their oysters with horseradish, mignonette, and lemon, their grilled octopus with chickpea purée, or splurge on the caviar ossetra.

For a true Parisian experience, you can go for the snails, served with confit garlic, brown butter and panko.

As expected in most French fine dining, most of the dishes lean heavily toward seafood, poultry, beef, and lamb. You can find the Mediterranean sea bass, the lobster risotto, and several creative beef and steak options.

Additionally, dishes like a duck breast with braised cabbage and cherry sauce, as well as marinated grilled lamb chops served with ratatouille and sarladaise potatoes, give “relaxing on the French Riviera.”

For vegetarians, you’ll appreciate the butternut squash ravioli with broth, butter, Parmesan, sage, and mascarpone. As for the vegans, you might have to ask them to hold the cheese on one of their four salads: roasted pear, beets, Caesar and green. Or order a side like potatoes or a vegetable casserole.

However, no matter the diet, you will certainly want to leave room for dessert.

The well-known French classics, like profiteroles, mille-feuilles, and crème brûlée, will tantalize your taste buds. But you can also discover the whimsical Paris-Brest, a ring of crisp pastry filled with hazelnut praline mousseline. The dessert is named after a Paris bike race because it’s shaped like a tire.

For beverages, Henri offers just four French wine options each for reds, whites and bubbly, if ordered by the glass, from the likes of Chateau Vieux Larmande, La Chablisienne and Malivoire, as well as Domaine Antoine Olivier, Kientzler and Sautereau. Yet, by the bottle, the list is quite long!

There are 20 champagnes and sparkling wines to order by the bottle, for example. Five pages of bottled wine, two pages of spirits, all in small font. There are 13 cocktails, three of which are French classics, plus four mocktails. Some stellar standouts include: l’Inévitable (gin, Goldschlager, chartreuse and Aperol), Le Souvenir (gin, nonino, Chambord, cassis and white cranberry) and the Phenomène (spiced rum, Galliano, strawberry and chocolate).

If your heart’s set on a charming vacay to France, an evening of decadent wine, cheese, oysters and caviar, or just a sophisticated date night for French fine dining rooted in the merging of contemporary and tradition, local and the faraway, Henri Brasserie has that little je ne sais quoi.

Pop on that beret and indulge.