Caviste – Festival en Lumiere treat

The 411

During Festival Montréal en Lumiere we get a chance to get a rare glimpe at some of Montreals restaurants make a brunch menu. Places like Caviste are more of a dinner restaurant and do not have brunch on their menu except for really rare occasions. With this narrow window to try out brunch at Caviste we booked a table and made sure to see how Caviste would handle brunch.

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Lawrence – The wait is over

The 411

Lawrence is a new addition to the plateau/Mile end area with an interesting story to tell. It had its roots as being the kitchen staff from The Sparrow which was one of the hottest brunch spots in the city. They came on the scene and turned a whole lot of heads and changed things up. Recently, in late 2010, the Kitchen staff from the Sparrow moved. It was a mutual arrangement since the Sparrow no longer wanted to do brunch and the kitchen staff had made quite a name for itself pumping out some seriously tasty brunches. So, recently they opened Lawrence and started to serve weekend brunch. For those who loved the Sparrow brunch, it’s still here; it just moved a block over. Now we can see what changed, what stayed the same and if it’s 4.5/5 rating still stands up after the move.

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Hachoir – Funky Brunch on St Denis

No Longer Serves Brunch

The 411

Within the last couple months, Le Hachoir came to Rachel street and replaced the old Cafeo. Almost immediately, foodies started talking. I have some positive chatter on various forums and people I know have definitely had their curiosity peeked. So what better reason to make a trip over? With enough time to reach their stride in terms of service and operation, enough time had passed so a review would be fair.

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Fuchsia Epicerie Fleur – Vegetarian friendly brunch

The 411

It’s been over a year since I have tried a vegetarian or vegan brunch spot. In fact, there are only 2 spots in Montreal that offer a vegetarian or vegan brunch so when I heard that Fuchsia did vegan and vegetarian brunch dishes, I was doubly curious. I had read some things about it online and felt that it was time to see if there was another good vegan brunch option in the city.

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Pyrus Bistronomique – Fancy Brunch with a twist

The 411

A recent appearance on the Montreal food scene, Pyrus offers us a bistro meets varied European cuisine approach to food. I was tipped off about this by one of my friends who is an even bigger foodie than me; she’s way pickier than I am, so I was curious to see what brunch would be like. I already like the area of Laurier with it nice shops, great little restaurants and quaint little neighbourhood with a great vibe.

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Le Toaster – 3 years in the waiting

The 411

When I first started this site, Le Toasteur was a name I saw a couple times on various forums. I always felt it had a cool name and people seemed to have positive things to say about it. I never got a chance to check it out and I have even eaten a few times on Laurier street around there but I never got a chance to try it out. So, after almost 3 years (yes we’re almost there), I managed to make it to Le Toaster and see if it was worth my procrastination.

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Café Névé – A great local secret around the corner

The 411

There is a little café on Rachel street with a reputation for great coffee, a laid back atmosphere and reliable WiFi. Right at the corner of De Bullion and Rachel, this unassuming little place welcomes you in with its particular laid back vibe. With its sofa up front near the large window and, scattered tables where students can study and do group work Café Neve really offers that community experience. When my friend suggested I join her and get the Névé experienced, I couldn’t turn her down. I had heard about Névé before, mainly for its great coffee and decent prices, so when I found out that they offer breakfast, I had another reason to go.

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Café Local – Local secret no more

The 411

Tucked away on Saint Viateur street is Café Local. This is a nice little spot that offers a brunch menu to a street that does not have too many brunch options. With its nice large corner terrace, ample interior and narrow but plentiful windows, it makes for a nice place to escape in the summer and grab a bite and have a coffee.

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Montée de Lait – Refined brunch experience

The 411

Once upon a time I promised one of my good friends that when she came back from her 5 month European excursion we would go to this place called Bouchonné. Well, 5 months turned to 6 then to 8 then to 10 and we finally got a chance to go for brunch only to find that it had closed down. We decided to check out Montée de Lait instead sinceI had heard good stuff about their lunch and dinner service. You may be confused when looking at the map since Bouchonné used to be on 5171 boul Saint-Laurent and Montée de Lait was on 1424 Bishop but Montée de Lait moved a few months ago, and all the Google maps and various site listings are presently messed up. So, now that we have this mini mystery straightened out we can focus on solving the mystery of how the food will stack up and see if this place is worthy of all the foodie praise it has been getting as of recently.

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Fabergé – New kid on the block

The 411

Faberge is a recent arrival on the brunch scene in Montreal. Situated on Fairmount street, it adds a solid brunch option to that part of the city. The surrounding areas of Fairmount offer a few brunch spots but the coverage in the area is rather spotty. People have begun talking about Faberge; there’s online chatter as well as word of mouth which is starting to spread. Considering it opened this summer, it’s nice to see some good buzz right off the bat. I usually wait a couple of weeks once a new place opens just so they can get their footing right and make all their little mistakes early on before they get into their groove.

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