Lemeac - Refinement and Style all in one

The 411

Up on Laurier, Lemeac is a place that has had some solid chatter among foodies for some time. It’s a French bistro on a part of Montreal that I am in love with; the street and restaurants have an air of refinement and reputation for good food. I have seen Lemeac’s reputation for brunch on various foodie sites and have always been curious about it. How would it be, is it all hype, what will the prices be, will it be worth it? All these questions have been swimming in my head for over a year and this time I decided to take the plunge and explore it. Lemeac had something in store for me.

(more…)

Restaurant Madre - Latin fusion at it’s finest

The 411

Fusion cuisine and brunch are two things that, when combined, can elevate a dish to new levels or crash and burn. Most people are quite comfortable with their eggs and bacon and making fancy brunch dishes inspired by different cooking styles does not always get the warmest reception. I’ve written before about “nouveau” brunch and in fact, I was inspired to check out some of these places by a Sarah Musgrave article that covered a couple places in the city; Madre was one of them. Now, my greatest concern with nouveau brunch is that meals tend to deviate from classic breakfast items and end up being more of a lunch dish. Don’t get me wrong! I don’t mind breaking the mold and trying something different; I may have my old school roots but I do like being surprised and seeing someone take a novel approach to brunch. With that said, Madre proved an interesting challenge: a nouveau brunch style place that combines various South American cooking styles (Nuevo Latin). This is not an easy challenge by any means, although I have had Latin themed brunches before and the options on the menu are limited. If we consider that we are looking at fusing different styles from South America we could end up with something more lunch than brunch. In the end, I called up my oldest brunch buddy who happens to be a foodie and we went on our fancy brunch adventure.

(more…)

100 Secrets - A secret no more

The 411

In a continued attempt to expand the geographical area of brunch reviews, I headed to the gay village in hopes of showcasing some good brunch places that people may not know about. There are some nice little restaurants in the gay village many of which are tucked away on side streets that don’t get as much attention as those in the plateau. 100 secrets is an original selection from a friend of mine who had done some serious brunch research and provided some much welcomed new locations for future reviews.(You can check out my brunch map for all locations)

(more…)

M sur Masson: A feast for your taste buds

The 411

The only thing I love more than discovering new places that I have never heard of before is finding one in my neighbourhood and that was M sur Masson. Situated in Rosemont, M sur Masson has been known as a really great place to have a good French Bistro meal. It is in a very interesting area in the east end where you will see big changes going on in the neighborhood - old neglected areas make way for newer younger restaurants stores and homes. The area is young, vibrant and changing before your eyes and I expect that even more places will open up and offer new and innovative food creations.

(more…)

L’orignal - The Moose is Loose

The 411

L’Orignal is popular restaurant in the old Montreal and on weekends the party goes on right until 3 AM. So, when I found out that in the early Fall they began to offer brunch on Sundays I was curious to see how a supper club would handle brunch especially since I feel that most dinners I have eaten at supper clubs are usually fancy, overpriced and leave me hungry. However, what I found was a pleasant surprise and made my Sunday.

At 1st glance

“Orignal” in French means “moose” and the decor for some reason works with this. From the moment you see the front door you notice a moose shaped metal statuette mounted to it and when you walk in you will find a rich usage of wood in the floor and walls. The walls also keep the original stone look of the building which adds some charm to it. There is plenty of seating and no lineup. In fact, since it is so recent and is situated in the old port its likely you will never have to wait in line unless a lot of people discover it - not to mention the fact that its on a small street randomly placed along Notre Dame street. I wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t for my Google map.

(more…)