HONEYROSE Montréal Hotel: Chef Gregory Faye’s playground

You may know Chef Gregory Faye, recently appointed Executive Chef of the HONEYROSE Montréal Hotel, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel of the MARRIOTT family that will open this spring 2023 on the border of the Quartier des Spectacles and downtown Montréal. If so, it’s because you’ve seen it a few times here, whether it’s with his perfect crab salad recipe for spring, his Christmas meal or his essential to-do list in Paris. Let’s see what our collaborator will bring to his first opening as executive chef.

Discovering HONEYROSE Montréal Hotel

The Concept

The HONEYROSE Montréal Hotel is a boutique hotel, but on a larger scale, which is a member of Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio banner, as mentioned earlier. The latter is described as a collection of independent boutique hotels that are distinguished by their nonconformist mind and willingness to connect people and places. And this is exactly the product that the RIMAP group, which owns the hotel, wanted to offer.

You’ll find yourself in a 1920s atmosphere in this chic venue, brought to life by the collaboration of a multitude of local talents. Whether it’s in the COMMODORE restaurant, a tribute to France, or on the Muze terrace on the 5th floor, overlooking the Place des Festivals and inspired by California, you’ll be transported elsewhere. And that’s what the chef wants to do with his cuisine, to take you on a journey . . . to the Art Deco era.

“When you think of California, you have two choices, comfort food and healthy, fresh food. On the menu at the Muze will be Malibu bowls with Valentine’s radishes and many local vegetables. This will be punctuated by the rhythms of the DJs from Wednesday to Sunday, making it a truly festive terrace. In terms of décor, there is a bar, benches, we don’t describe it as a terrace, but as an urban garden,” says the chef.

On the fifth floor, there is a unique space called Julia’s Workshop, named after the chef Julia Child, a space created for private events. “There will be a table for 14 people, a kitchen with a bar area for seating other guests and a private terrace. It will be an ultra-personalized area. We can offer pies (Chef Faye’s specialty) or Saint-Honoré, there are no limits. We’ll really be in a Provençal atmosphere, right in the South of France,” adds the chef.

Le COMMODORE: The new French brasserie in the Downton Montréal by Gregory Faye

Located on the lobby level, this main restaurant will, of course, have a beautiful bar and will have its entrance via the COMMODORE café, its coffee and refreshment area, so that restaurant guests do not necessarily have to pass through the hotel. “We want it to be a restaurant for the neighbourhood, not just a hotel restaurant. The Commodore’s name was very popular in the 1920s, hence the inspiration for the name. Next to the restaurant is the COMMODORE Café, which will be on the corner of the hotel and is designed for the busy customer with a range of pastries, sandwiches, tortillas, deli platters for two, salads and, of course, coffees. The idea of this concept comes from the fact that there are often a lot of people in the Place des Festivals, and they often don’t know where to eat when they are in the area, but with us they will be well served, and in a quick way,” explains the Frenchman.

As the chef returns to his first love of French cuisine, having opened the Atelier Joël Robuchon in Montréal, he feels he is wearing old shoes: “I know it by heart, but we had to think differently, especially for lunchtime when people are in a hurry. We will choose dishes, not necessarily simple, but which can be prepared quickly. add the executive Chef”

The Pâté-Croûte will obviously be in the spotlight (editor’s note: he has competed on a few occasions in the Championnat du Monde de  Pâté-Croûte in Lyon and organized the most recent edition of the North American finals), but I’m going to make a larger portion made to share, the same for meats and fish. There is a major trend to portion out food, which gives it a different taste, and which unfortunately does not do justice to the work of the producers. Here we are not into ultra-luxury, we want to offer a casual luxury that will appeal to people in the neighbourhood. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, I want to do it right. We also have beehives on the roof (hence the name HONEYROSE for honey) on the 15th floor, and we will use this honey for cooking and baking,” says the chef.

Moreover, he adds that the 1920s was a turning point in the era of cuisine, especially the French one with Auguste Escoffier and César Ritz, the almost fusional duo that laid the foundations of the modern hotel industry. “Where Ritz goes, I go,” said Escoffier. “I have a project to make small services in homage to the ’20s in Julia’s Atelier where we will revisit the different periods of French gastronomy,” adds the executive chef.

“The goal is to create experiences, to feel like you’re somewhere else, whether it’s in 1920s Montréal or in Europe,” says Émilie Gosselin, marketing director of HONEYROSE Montréal. To take this experience aspect even further, there will be a boutique where people can buy items bearing the hotel’s logo, as well as jewellery, chocolates and even antiques.

A hotel connected to Montréal and its metro

With an exceptional location, at the top of the Place des Arts metro at the De Bleury North exit, they are truly anchored in the neighbourhood as the entrance is just a stone’s throw from the station, “It’s really an offer for the neighbourhood that we’re developing and it’s really the raison d’être of Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio brand, which is to connect the hotel to its community. You can think of the person who is telecommuting in their flat and wants to take their mind off things by just coming in for a coffee,” she adds.

“We’ve worked on the concept of the restaurants to emphasize casual luxury, which will fit in well with the neighbourhood, if I may say so, it’s going to be great,” says the chef.

Let’s talk about the design

“The lobby will be crazy. There will be a monumental steel staircase. The workers have been working on this project for over a year. From the perspective of the lobby, you get the impression that the staircase goes forever, it’s a trompe-l’oeil,” says the man who trained in the kitchens of the Four Seasons Georges V in Paris, among others. Moreover, this staircase leads to the third floor, where the banqueting rooms will be, including the largest room, the Josephine, which can accommodate 300 people. Chef Faye will be working closely with the sales team to create personalized wedding experiences.

HONEYROSE Montréal :More than an hotel

While hotel condos are an increasingly popular format, this one will feature rental units called IVY Apartments. As you may know, the demand is very high on this side and the HONEYROSE Hotel team has seized this opportunity to grow its community, which will have access to all the hotel’s services.

The HONEYROSE Montréal Hotel opens its doors in the spring of 2023. Join the team by taking part in their job fair on April 5, 2023.

Reserve your stay now

Please note that Chef Grégory left the HONEYROSE in early 2024