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.

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Bistro Lakloche - A New Face on Parc Street

The 411

A recent addition to the Bernard/Park street neighborhood, LaKloche came up on my radar of places that do brunch. The Bernard street area is one of my first loves when it comes to places to eat brunch. As of lately my taste and preferences have taken me to other spots and I didn’t think that there were any new spots worthwhile checking out in that area. So, with news of a new place recently opening I figured that a trip to Bernard street would be in order.

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The Sparrow - A place so nice I went there twice

The 411

The sparrow has got to be one of the places with the most buzz. I have gotten emails about it as well as read various forum postings raving about this place. Unfortunately, I’m slow to getting around to places especially since the places I get to see are scheduled a month in advance. Even though I may not be the first one to write about this place I can still feel good knowing that it is still an undiscovered gem to many others. Situated on St Laurent street south of St Viateur, The sparrow stands where the old Mile End bar used to be. Its name takes inspiration from the bird which is not native to North America but rather brought over from England and that is a great way to describe this gem of a place. Originally intended to be a bar with food, the liquor license took a long time to get so upon meeting a chef from England they decided to start focusing on food, and with just a tiny kitchen, have been pumping out amazing food that draws inspiration from England pub style cuisine mixed with Montreal’s unique brunch flair.

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La Moulerie - Back To Bernard Street

The 411

A while ago I made a claim that I had been to all of the brunch places on Bernard, but it turns out that I was wrong. I discovered that not only did other places decide to serve brunch since my statement but I had also actually missed some. One of which was La Moulerie, a popular place for dinner that everyone with whom I have spoken with who has eaten dinner there was very satisfied. Plus, the bonus that they do sea food and the thought of combining it with brunch made my mouth water. So making sure to not to let a chance like this pass me by, a decision to check out La Moulerie was made and the question would be, will it’s reputation for a good meal apply to brunch?

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Rumi - An out of this world experience

The 411

Brunch comes in all shapes and sizes, or tastes and flavours in this case. Anywhere you go in Montreal you can get a brunch ranging from a classic eggs and bacon place, to a bar that does bistro style brunches or even restaurants that make their brunch with an ethnic inspiration. Rumi is the latter in this category. Rumi is already a popular restaurant on Hutchison that you should go check out for dinner if you ever get a chance as it is one of my personal favorites. To describe the cuisine is not easy, its a mix of North African, Persian and Turkish and its 100% yummy.

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Laika - More than just a bar

The 411

Over time I get emails telling me of people’s favourite places and I make it a point to eventually check them out. Laika was one of those places. I had heard some good stuff from a few people and what I had read online was rather positive as well but for the life of me I could not figure out where this places was, and I have been up and down almost every inch of St Laurent for years without having seen it. It wasn’t until I was reviewing another place in the area that I actually looked across the street and had an “Ah Ha” moment. Now that I knew what it looked like I was even more curious to check it out.

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Le Vieux St-Laurent - Some pretty good moves for an old man

The 411

I consider myself well versed in most places that serve brunch in Montreal, but when I went to brunch with a friend of mine this past Saturday, I was educated about a couple places I had never seen before. So once my head stopped spinning, we walked through the St Laurent street fest and made it to Le Vieux St Laurent and a wonderful experience followed (and I don’t mean the shopping at the street - I’m talking about the food)

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La Cantine - Not your ordinary brunch spot

The 411

Once an a while I will do a brunch double header which is an early morning breakfast/brunch and a later brunch that same day. This is usually on account of my schedule being out of hand and a deep love for all forms of breakfast and brunch related foods. So this Saturday was one of those days where I went early in the morning with a group of friends then later on went to catch up with a friend of mine over brunch. So, we were in the mood for something not too traditional, maybe a little light or even out of the ordinary, so a heaping plates of eggs and bacon was not on my mind since I already had some in my stomach. Now after going through a couple options, Cantine seemed interesting - it’s menu looked non traditional, the décor was nice and it was close by. Oh yeah, also, I found parking in walking distance so that made the decision that much easier.

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Café les Entretiens - and all that jazz

The 411

Laurier street is an amazing street, with small shops, local bakeries, and great little restaurants. I often find myself going here and a few weeks ago was no exception when I was having brunch at Byblos with some friends. After which I went around walking on Laurier and saw some interesting brunch places that looked quite tasty. One spot in particular caught my eye and ear; and that was Café les Entretiens it had an amazing interior with tall ceilings and had a piano inside and jazz music pouring out.

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Le Petit Italien

The 411

A while ago I made a claim that I had pretty much finished off all of the brunch places on Bernard street then “Le Petit Italien” decided to do brunch. Now, if you have never been to Le Petit Italien it serves a really good dinner of classic Italian food with a nice decor and big portions. As a result, this brings two questions that need to be answered: Does this winning formula translate to brunch and is there such a thing as an Italian Brunch?

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