MTL à Table: Spanish Tapas at Bo Dégât

I’d been meaning to try the tapas at Bo Dégât for years. While I’ve never been to Spain, I went with an expert for the insider’s opinion. We agreed, everything was rich and flavourful in the best ways. The wine by the glass and the vermouths were a treat. The service was excellent. We’d go back, even outside of MTL à Table’s $65 prix fixe menu deal.

Here was the MTL à Table menu, with everything taken from the regular menu:

First service (1 choice)

Ajoblanco: almond gazpacho with white anchovies, grapes, raspberries (vegan version available, but not gluten-free)

OR

Tomato salad: mixed tomatoes, Aragon black olives, Basque piparras, Québec basil vinaigrette

Second service (1 choice)

Cod fritters

OR

Moroccan-spiced chicken skewer (gluten-free)

Third service (1 choice)

Sautéed cauliflower with romesco sauce (gluten-free)

OR

Garlic shrimp (gluten-free)

OR

Fourth service (1 choice)

Galician-style octopus, Québec potatoes (gluten-free)

OR

Beef cheek cannelloni

I went because there were four services and every one had a gluten-free, dairy-free option. I got the tomato salad, the chicken skewer, the garlic shrimp (though I shared the plate so I could also try the cauliflower romesco) and the octopus. Everything was small and very rich in oil, and I couldn’t have the non-gluten-free bread, so the meal wasn’t super filling, but the flavours were great.

Here’s the food in photos:

The generous tomato salad. There were juicy purple (not black, despite the description) olives in there and enough basil in the vinaigrette for a hint of bitterness to offset the sweet cherry tomatoes. And that one pickled green pepper on top wasa nice touch.

I couldn’t eat the gazpacho (blended with bread), but it looked great. The slices of anchoves and grapes added welcome acidity and umami, I heard.

Charred cauliflower with romesco sauce (almond and peppers). This may have been my favourite dish just because it was more substantial. It was chewy and creamy and a little sweet from the peppers, and charred from the sautéeing.

Garlic shrimp. Two large lovelies that I inhaled. I couldn’t sop up the sauce with bread, though, so the oil was wasted.

Octopus. The slices were tender and the tentacle was crispy, just as it should be. The potato puree beneath was mostly olive oil in the best, herbaceous, extra-virgin kind of way.

And I didn’t get shots of the wines we tried, but I loved that there were Xarel-Los, but also more varietals I’d never heard of, all of which paired well with specific courses. My friend who’d just gotten back from Barcelona was basically crying into her plates from joy and nostalgia. A good sign, I think. So much so that she ordered the Crema catalana for dessert, an unctuous creme caramel-type sweet with a crisp top and oozing cream below.