This Somerset West establishment belongs among Ottawa's best restaurant bars, not just its best seafood destinations.
Le Poisson Bleu
610 Somerset Street West
Wednesday to Sunday, 5 PM to 10 PM
Weekend brunch, 10 AM – 2 PM
Closed Monday & Tuesday
Ottawa’s Chinatown is usually framed as a destination for East and Southeast Asian food, but the neighbourhood has, over the years, become one of the city’s most eclectic dining corridors. Alongside the expected Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Filipino spots, you’ll now find cafés and restaurants that look far beyond Asia for inspiration. Le Poisson Bleu, with its unique identity, stands out in this landscape.
Le Poisson Bleu opened in early 2022, taking over the former Roku space on Somerset Street West. In just a short time, this family-run restaurant has become Ottawa’s must-try seafood destination. Much of its reputation comes from its use of dry-aged fish, a technique still rare in Canada and unique in Ottawa. But that is only part of what makes this place special: it stands out as one of the rare establishments where the food and the cocktail program both elevate Ottawa’s restaurant scene.
The restaurant is led by siblings Alex and Eric Bimm, along with their cousin Sophie Bertrand. Alex and Eric bring experience from respected local kitchens, including Les Fougères and Whalesbone. Bertrand’s background includes bartending and management positions at several notable Montreal establishments from the Barroco Group, including the internationally acclaimed Atwater Cocktail Club. This combination of expertise is evident not only in the menus but also in the attentive, knowledgeable service delivered by the staff. Servers are well-versed in both the food and cocktail offerings and are always happy to guide guests through menu highlights or offer thoughtful pairing suggestions.
Peebee & Jay ($19) takes the experimental route. Built with Monkey Shoulder Scotch, peanut butter, lemon, Irish cream, and Coca-Cola, it undergoes dairy clarification and carbonation, then is topped with red wine. The resulting cocktail is stunning to look at. It’s bright, refreshing, effervescent like a sparkling wine, but well-balanced and with a peanut butter finish.
Le Poisson Bleu may be Chinatown’s most serious cocktail program, but that observation understates what the restaurant has accomplished. The food program is very innovative. Dry-aged fish remains rare in Canada because it demands planning and specialized handling. Fortunately for us, they have embraced those challenges, allowing them to offer dishes that remain impossible to find elsewhere in the city.
The BC wild tuna tartare ($28) offers finely diced tuna mixed with tapenade mayonnaise and accompanied by house-made chips. Their dish allows the quality of the tuna to remain central while using savoury accompaniments to provide crunch and contrast.
The dry-aged trout crudo ($23) is served with locally-grown radish, radish-top sauce verte, and beurre monté. The sauce provides richness and acidity, while the diced radish contributes crunch and freshness. The trout remains the focal point throughout.
A limited-run dry-aged yellowfin tuna burger proved memorable, transforming a technically demanding ingredient into something approachable.
Even more memorable was a reverse-butterflied sea bream for two ($76) served on a bed of kale, pickled celery, and spätzle, finished with lacto-fermented bell pepper romesco. The impressive and delicious dish showcased the kitchen’s ability to balance acidity, richness, texture, and depth.
Nice to know: The restaurant’s popular Wednesday Buck-a-Shuck promotion provides the strongest oyster value currently available in Ottawa: East Coast oysters served with mignonette, horseradish, chermoula, crème fraîche, or hot sauce.
My question is: where does Le Poisson Bleu belong within Ottawa’s restaurant scene?
They are not competing directly with cocktail bars such as Ocelli, Stolen Goods, or Jackalope. Those establishments have later operating hours and cocktail-first identities. Judging it by those standards would miss the point.
Notwithstanding, it’s difficult to categorize. Ottawa’s seafood restaurants typically compete on sourcing and freshness, whereas Le Poisson Bleu adds the dimension of execution and a cocktail program strong enough to stand on its own. Not many restaurants in the city devote as much effort to modern cocktail techniques and in-house prep, then pair it with the aforementioned food program, one that punches above the city’s weight. Within Ottawa’s dining landscape, it occupies a niche of its own: a seafood neo-bistro.
Our city has a decent selection of seafood restaurants and cocktail bars, but within this unassuming brick corner building near the eastern edge of Chinatown lives something unique: an establishment that combines both at the highest level, weaving it into the format of a premium neighbourhood bistro. That is Le Poisson Bleu in a nutshell.