Apr 21, 2015

Très Délicieux! — HMSHost Awarded New Dining Contract at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport

Nineteen local, national, and proprietary restaurants to be available for travellers

MONTREAL, QC — Global restaurateur HMSHost announced today that it has been awarded contracts for 19 dining spaces at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. The new contract includes five new restaurant spaces, as well as some refurbishments at locations where HMSHost already operates. Over the next two years, all parts of the airport will benefit from the new dining offerings, including the International, Domestic, Trans-border, Pre-security, and Arrivals areas.

HMSHost’s lineup of new restaurants will offer Québécois and visitors alike a rich Montreal experience by reflecting the energy of the city’s thriving arts scene, bustling business climate, and classical architecture.

L’Auberge St. Gabriel, the oldest inn in continuous use in North America, with a 327 year history, will now have a striking restaurant, bar, and lounge location bearing its namesake in the International Terminal, where, prior to dining on distinctive Quebec-style cuisine such as roasted Cornish hen with baby Quebec lettuce, French fries, and garlic thyme gravy, guests will enter through a larger than life red reproduction of the letter A (from the Auberge logo).

Montreal Cuisine de Rue, also in the International Terminal, should stimulate travellers’ appetites, with cuisine inspired by Montreal’s food truck scene, created internally by HMSHost’s expert chefs and served ‘street-style’ from a food truck. La Cage Aux Sports, which is modeled after the popular street side sports bar, will open a new location in the International Terminal as well. Guests in this terminal will also be able to enjoy Starbucks ReserveTM, the latest coffeehouse experience from Starbucks, which features the innovative Clover-brewing system and a rotating selection of the most diverse, hard to find beans from exclusive coffee estates around the world.

Avenue des Canadiens, a restaurant and bar featuring a Montreal Canadiens hockey ambiance, punctuated by memorabilia, will open in the Domestic Terminal. The Joe Beef team of Frederic Morin, David McMillan and Marc Olivier Frappier (of Joe Beef, Liverpool House and Vin Papillon) will consult on the menu. They will also invite prominent Montreal “guest chefs” to create guest items as well as special seasonal additions.

HMSHost also will bring craft brew restaurant Six Pints – Academie de la Biere to the Domestic Terminal, in partnership with the Six Pints Specialty Beer Company, a division of Molson Coors Canada.

Some of HMSHost’s top internally-developed brands will also open. Pork & Pickle, HMSHost’s popular gastropub and smokehouse, will serve Domestic Terminal travellers in-house smoked meats alongside tasty sides, appetizers, and a comprehensive beer list. HMSHost’s award-winning ICE will also open in the Domestic Terminal, and is an upscale bar and lounge serving innovative cocktails made with various types of designer ice. Opening nearby to ICE will be Bistrot Montreal, a visually-inspiring concept that offers traditional, regional, artisan style cuisines and sustainable values in an energizing, open Mediterranean marketplace format with café seating. The Bistrot concept resulted from collaboration between Pollenzo University of Gastronomic Science and HMSHost. Bistrot Montreal will have a second location in the International Terminal as well. The original Bistrot by HMSHost parent company Autogrill is in Milan, Italy.

The John Molson Public House, another iconic Montreal brand, will be located in the Arrivals area and will serve Canadian beers and specialty coffees in a setting designed to reflect in a modern way the 229 year history of the Molson Brewery, with red brick walls, black and white illustrations, and period signage.

HMSHost plans to expand the St. Hubert restaurant from an express venue to a full casual dining experience. Other dining venues operated by HMSHost to be updated include the Pre-security Departures area Burger King, two Starbucks in the Trans-border Terminal and one in the Domestic Terminal, and Tim Hortons in the Pre-security Arrivals and Domestic Terminal. HMSHost’s Houston restaurant will also continue serving travellers in the Trans-border Terminal.

“We are extremely excited to be partnering with Montreal-Trudeau Airport to bring this lineup of restaurants to travellers because it has been designed to showcase the distinct spirit of Montreal’s iconic brands and local entrepreneurial chefs,” said HMSHost Vice President of Business Development Stephen Douglas. “The selected brands and their associated regional artisanal food and heritage will set a new standard, while running the gamut of flavours and dining styles and giving travellers access to a great assortment of choices.”