Cabane à Sucre au Pied de Cochon Review

This restaurant review for Cabane à Sucre au Pied de Cochon (translated into English is "Au Pied de Cochon Sugar Shack") is coming from one of the few people who have never been to the original Pied de Cochon restaurant in Montreal, but have been (recently) to their Cabane à Sucre restaurant where they try out new ideas and create new maple syrup recipes.

The sugar shack restaurant is only open for about two and a half months, and you'll have to make reservations to get a seat. Also, if you are not adventurous and are afraid of trying new foods then I wouldn't recommend it. But for those who aren't afraid to eat maple syrup foods, a little heart and brains (yes, that's some of the interesting choices they had) it's great.

35 Minute Drive

The drive to the restaurant is about 35 minutes from say the Orange Julep in Montreal. Driving out there at night could be a little confusing, but Google Maps was right on target and we got there with no issues.

Be Ready to Eat

First rule: Bring an appetite. The servings are very generous and they even plan for this by having many take away aluminum containers for you on stand by. I even saw regular diners to the sugar shack bring their own containers from home, to pack food away while they eat. It's a four-course meal and all the pictures I'm about to show you below are for two people. Since we were just two people we ended up sitting at a bench with six other people, but we had our own servings as expected.

Sugar Shack Photos and Menu

The menu is set for you so all you have to do is sit back eat, and maybe be surprised by what they serve you. We ordered some drinks (not included in the price) which were also maple inspired: a Virgin Cesar Daiquiri and a Soda Jello (Jack Daniels with maple soda and maple jello in it, it was really good). The drinks were both good, maple flavored stuff is just awesome. This year they started off with some dessert which fine by me as I have a sweet tooth.

First course: Desserts

Virgin Cesar Daiquiri and a Soda Jello, with our dessert tower: cotton candy, cake, cookie, almond croissant, hard maple sponge candy (I don't know the name of it), pop corn, crème brûlée, and doughnut bits...Of course all maple flavoured in some way. Oh yes, there were also maple shots to drink.

Our dessert tower from another angle.

Second course: Entrees

Next came the entrees which were pretty interesting and not for everyone. This is where I got to try out veal brains and heart salad for the first time.

Maple salmon sashimi.


Omelette with maple bacon and veal brains. Actually this was much better that I thought, quite good. Not everyone will even touch the brains, but it didn't bother me at all. It was not that different from that brain-like material that you see in lobsters. I was happy to take this home to eat later.


Maple duck leg.


Fried intestine, heart salad.


A better look at the heart salad.


Foie gras, beans, cheese and pancake. Foie gras was amazing.

Third course: Mains

I paced myself and when the mains showed up it was clear that we needed more takeaway containers lol.

Pineapple (smoked?) ham with potatoes. It's definitely a big piece of ham, maybe about half the size of a standard tissue paper box. Really moist and tender, it was good but I just couldn't eat much of it at this point.


Stuffed half chicken that is mostly deboned for you. Stuffing was made with lobster, onions, foie gras and other things that I do not recall. This picture doesn't do the size of the chicken any justice. It was pretty big, noticeably bigger than the BBQ chicken that you can get at Costco. The other six people at our table all gave us a look that said, "Wow, that's for just two people?!".

Fourth course: Cold Desserts

This was a little disappointing for me, but by that time I didn't really want to eat much anyways. The maple syrup and ice cream combintation was easily the best choice for me here. Cake was not really moist at all, and the jelly/yogurt thing had a slight bitter taste.


On a side note, all these maple desserts just made me appreciate the Coaticook Maple Sugar ice cream even more...They make a really good maple ice cream.

Cabane à Sucre au Pied de Cochon (Sugar Shack) 360 View

Final Review: Great Experience

All in all, I enjoyed the experience very much and will be enjoying the leftovers for at least a couple of meals. But, again if you are a pretty "strict" eater and just the thought of eating (or even watching someone else eat) things like heart and brains grosses you out, then stay away! For people like me who like to try out new and different things once in awhile, I definitely give it a thumbs up.

And one last thing, I don't remember all the details of every dish, so if you've been to the Cabane à Sucre au Pied de Cochon (Sugar Shack) this season let me know in the comments what I may have missed!