Henden

After conquering the fried chicken world by opening Bird Bar on Notre-Dame west less that 3 months ago, Kimberly Lallouz has set her sights on becoming the Queen of cocktails in Griffintown. Last week some of Montreal’s movers and shakers of the city’s media and social scene gathered for the VIP opening of Henden, a beautiful speak easy located directly under Le Bird Bar. You needed to know the password to get in past the burly doorman who guarded the door like a solider.

Surrounded by a nest of historic stone and mortar Henden is a place where anything can and will surely happen. Henden is for the hedonist, the party animal, the quiet cocktail connoisseur and just about anyone looking for a good time. The space is small enough to be the perfect size for a great party. Big spaces means having to fill them with people but at Henden there’s no room for filler. The decoration is seventies lounge inspired with marble tables, orange velvet sofa with a Moroccan rug and influences of black and gold. 

Offered both as a place where we can wait for a table upstairs at Bird Bar or come for a post-meal drink, Henden is a seating a capacity of 25 and a standing room of about 45 people. A selection of food from the restaurant’s menu will be available at the bar downstairs for those who don’t want to miss a beat of the party. Great cocktails, cool music and delicious food make for a great time and Henden can be reserved for your private parties. You can enquire more about that here.

During the media event we slurped back oysters, enjoyed the best caviar and accoutrements from Imperial Caviar and Seafood and sampled canapés such as homemade popcorn fried chicken (and a vegan equal) with crème fraiche, chives and flowers and fried green tomato tacos.

The real VIPs of the night were the signature cocktails. We sampled the Blacker the Berry (Crown Royal Black, Dark Origins, Diplomatico, Blackberry, almond, chocolate bitters, activated charcoal) and the Andean Dutchman (Ketel One, Papélon, pineapple, almond, lemon, egg white). Both cocktails were sweet to taste but had deeply complex flavours. My favourite was the Blacker the Berry.

We’ve already fallen in love with Bird Bar and now we get to go a step further, a touch deeper and spend more time in the Henden whether we’re the cocks or the hens looking for a great night out.

Image credit: Alison Slattery Photography