Jaja occupied the familiar ground of Pastaga on Saint-Laurent, but the restaurant’s reset is deliberate. When former staffers Francis Duval and Geneviève Beaudoin took over the space in 2023, they weren’t interested in preserving a greatest-hits menu. Instead, they returned the room to its original logic: a neighbourhood spot built around sharing plates and bottles worth lingering over. The cooking was pared back and seasonal, driven by what’s available rather than what’s expected, with dishes designed to move easily across the table. Desserts, handled by Beaudoin—whose background includes Le Mousso and years alongside Patrice Demers—were precise without being showy. Wine remained central, with a cellar that treats natural bottles as a spectrum rather than a statement.

It closed in 2025.