Le Jurancon – A Marseille inspired brunch

The 411

Fine French dining meets brunch – often a pairing you don’t see on a regular basis. Interestingly, brunch is not native to France and although there are more and more spots that offer brunch nowadays you would not associate it with a small little French bistro. So, when I heard that Le Jurancon was offering brunch, I was quite curious. How would it pair French dining with brunch? What ingredients and what surprises would we be in store for, and how is it that a French restaurant finds itself in the eastern part of the city? This and many more we hope to answer as well give you some idea of what Le Jurancon has to offer.

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Vic Market- A great post workout brunch

The 411

Every once and a while we hear of a spot in Westmount that offers brunch. This is a treat because Westmount is so small and has limited areas where there are restaurants, since the rest is primarily residential. In this case, it helps that our editor extraordinaire Kara takes works at the gym in Victoria Park and told me that they opened a café downstairs that does brunch. I had stopped in for a snack at the café before and liked its décor as well as the food so I was curious to see how a café tied to a gym would handle brunch since it’s generally not the healthiest meal of the day.

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Sheraton Laval – Restaurant La Piazza

The 411

All-you-can-eat buffets are something you won’t find much of on this site. It’s mainly because of two things: firstly they cost way more (remember I pay for all my meals and my guests meal as well) and secondly, I find that quality takes a back seat when you try to feed so many people. I have been going to brunch at the Sheraton for years, usually Mother’s day and or Father’s day is spent here and my family has liked it for quite some time so I know the meals there in quite detail.

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Enchanteur – An enchanting brunch in Villeray

The 411

Villeray is a part of town that I have been frequenting for many years. In fact, before it became one of the new hip places to live in Montreal, I remember it as a dingy, grey and run down area with a lack of decent places to eat and go out. I was shocked when I went to L’enchanteur and saw an area that had changed; there were some cafes, restaurants, condos, young families etc. It is definitely not the way it used to be. Now I have the chance to check out a spot that will provide brunch and not just a bacon and egg dish but something with a menu that has more than 3 items.

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The Sparrow – Back from the grave

The 411

If the Sparrow seems familiar to you, then you must remember our previous posting on the Sparrow back in 2009. A little background is in order here because initially, the Sparrow served brunch and it was an English pub style brunch which kind of shook up the city’s brunch scene. The kitchen staff stopped serving brunch and opened their own spot (you can read the full article with more details here). Now time has passed and just recently, the sparrow brought back brunch and this time, it’s with a twist. What makes this visit extra special is that I got to do it with my favourite French language blogger Laure who runs Une Parisienne à Montreal, a great fashion, food and brunch site. If you haven’t checked out her blog yet you should absolutely do so.

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A Table – Nuevo Latino success yet again

The 411

Last year I had the pleasure of checking out Madre, which is one of the restaurants of Mario Navarette Jr, a chef who does Nuevo latino style of cooking. Madre was a hit and is one of my favourite brunch experiences so, when I heard that he had another place that did brunch by the name of A table, I needed to check it out. Situated on Fleury, in the Ahuntsic area, A Table is not in it the usual spots you would expect a cutting edge restaurant to be. Often we picture the Plateau, Mile End or Old Port but this location choice is quite interesting.

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Araucaria – Mile end day long brunch

The 411

One day we decided to get creative and try out an ethnic brunch. There were variables we had to keep in mind though: it needed to be a place I had not already been to; it had to have an ethnic influence and, it needed to be in or near the plateau-mile end. After some searching, I found Auracia which is a Chilean restaurant. To my surprise, 2 friends decided to come join us and both are Peruvian which prompted the line of never “bring a Peruvian to a Chilean resto”.

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Le Hangar – Wellington discovery

The 411

Just recently I had the good fortune of having a twitter conversation with another blogger regarding brunch and so the natural thing to do when chatting with foodie bloggers is to meet over brunch and share experiences. If you haven’t read the works of Miss Courey, she is what can best be described as a food, relationship, and Montreal blogger. Her site is now moving up on my list of local blog reads and you should check it out. The challenge with doing brunch with a foodie blogger is finding a spot that both parties will like and that no one has been to before. I have found that the more I blog, the harder that becomes and to be honest not every place I go to is amazing. I ended up picking a spot I had heard some buzz about and was a recent addition to my list of places to go see. Normally, I’m backed up with places but Le Hangar got a bump since I needed somewhere new with a good reputation.

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Le Pois Penché – 1940′s Paris in Montreal

The 411

Fancy brunch; sometimes those words can scare you or take your breath away. Fortunately, in Montreal we have lots of choice when it comes to brunch and there is almost one kind of brunch for every person whether it’s an ethnic inspired brunch, classic brunch, greasy spoon theme or a fancy brunch. Some people may find it odd to take something as straight forward as eggs and bacon and make it fancy. Don’t get me wrong, some brunch places have tried and there have been some successes and failures. So, when I hear about a fancy brunch spot I get worried because of two things: first being having to pay more for a brunch that may disappoint and the second being that the brunch may get all experimental on me. Le Pois penché has been on my list to check out for some time now. It was suggested by my friend’s brother and he knows about tons of spots so I trusted his opinion. Nevertheless, I am always worried when I eat anywhere too close to Crescent street but I was committed to giving Le Pois Penché a fair try.

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Oxford Cafe – an NDG institution

The 411

Out in NDG is an institution called the Oxford Café. I say institution because it has been around for ages. Lots of people in the area know it well and it had a reputation for a good breakfast years ago. It’s a no-frills diner style spot that does not look like it’s changed since it opened. You come in to get some classic breakfast dishes, have some drip coffee and kick it old school maybe with a newspaper and let your day sink in. So, with this institution around and almost having done every spot in NDG I felt I needed to check it out.

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