The 411 Foodies…we come in all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds, all with different preferences. Our preferences differ from person to person, but at the end of the day we all love good food. A while ago I contacted a fellow blogger from The Butter Melts out of habbit, whose site I have been following as of recently. We spoke of doing a brunch rendezvous and managed to meet two other bloggers, Gluttoners and the sassy foodophile . Now we have four foodies and need to find a new brunch spot that no one has been to… so, no pressure whatsoever… So, when all else fails I go to my handy list of spots and go over every one and see if it’s foodie enough. Now, the risk of having a foodie brunch is that you may end up with something that resembles lunch, so after some research Le Comptoir made its way to the top of the suggestion pile.

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Bistro Lustucru – A rare treat

The 411

Over the years, I have reviewed 175 brunches and I have likely eaten at over 200 different spots. In fact, my blood hollandaise levels would likely put fear in the hearts of any doctor. I find that, at some point, my pace of reviews will exceed the available amount of decent brunches. So, in a hope of offering you something a little newer and fun, I will try to review some pop up brunches. Pop up brunches are brunches that are not offered regularly that can be special events or rarely occurring events. The hope is to offer you something very new and interesting that you may want to try. I initially had something like this when I did the brunches at festival de lumieres back in 2011. I realized that there are some spots that I was curious to see how they handle brunch. When one of my friends told me about Caroussel events , I looked into it and saw that there was a brunch at Lustucru, which is a spot that I had eaten dinner at a while ago and was curious on what sort of brunch would appear on their menu.

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Happy 2012 to all. With a new year ahead of us we look back on 2011 and take a look at the state of brunch in Montreal. We look at the new spots we discovered, some dishes we remember and we look ahead to see what new discoveries await us. Before we get started, let us take a moment to remember two brunch spots that have left us this year. Sadly, we’ve lost McKiernan and Montée de Lait this year, both of which were on my list of favourite spots and had some really creative dishes that were rarely found elsewhere. Fortunately, we added some new quality places on the list this year but these two favourites will be missed.

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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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Best Brunch Terraces 2011

With summer in full swing, winter is but a distant memory. In Montreal, when the sun comes out so do the people and they head to terraces where they can have a tasty brunch and a great view to enjoy the weather. Fortunately, Montreal offers us loads of brunch spots with terraces. We have scoured the city in search of the perfect brunch terraces and have found some you may like. The list is not exhaustive and is intended to give you a spot or two to go to in each of the respective areas. We took a look at Outremont, the Plateau, Old Montreal and NDG.

Outremont has, arguably, the most options for brunch terraces in the city. All one needs to do is walk down Bernard street and see an ocean of people all seated in a variety of terraces. The list includes spots like Café Souvenirs, Senzala and Les Enfants terribles, La Moulerie, and Bistro Le Republique. There used to be le Petit Italien but they recently stopped serving brunch. Les Enfants terribles has one of the largest terraces, while Café Souvenirs is one of my favourite on the street. The menu offering at the majority of these spots is similar with the exception of Senzala, which has a Brazilian theme and is located west of du Parc. Though they may offer similar brunch options, the taste and overall satisfaction varies from person to person. If you wish to know more, just click on each link above and read the reviews (because right now we’re only talking about the ones that look pretty). (more…)

Voro – Fairmount sprouts a brunch option

The 411

Nestled on Fairmount street, you will find a lovely spot called Voro: a café where locals like to come have a coffee, soak up some sun and grab some brunch. Situated on Fairmount (corner Jeanne Mance), Voro is ideally situated for locals who want to duck in and grab a bite. You will find there is a mix of people; families with small children, older people, and people in the 20’s. In fact, the day we were there, there some strollers parked outside. Why they were outside I don’t know, since people had some inside with them – maybe to save space?

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The Sparrow Kitchen Staff Take Flight

By: Bhavna Patel

It’s been a regular week-end brunch joint for many Montrealers – be it for their unique English-themed menu or the trendy ambience. As the weeks pass though, many foodies are coming to the disappointing realisation that brunch is no longer being served at The Sparrow. “I’m not happy to hear about the news,” says Sandy Branco De Sousa, a frequent visitor to the gastro-pub, “they offered a variety of great dishes you normally wouldn’t find in other brunch spots.”

Open for the past 18 months, restaurant manager Ethan Wills admits the restaurant was doing well. “Lunch-time seats would fill up with local nearby residents, but when it came time for brunch, people from all over the city were showing up,” he says. Yet, The Sparrow ended its brunch service on Sunday, November 14. The five-member kitchen team, head chef and manager are all moving on. Having become an established Mile-End brunch spot, the question on many minds is – what happened and where to go for brunch next?

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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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NO LONGER SERVES BRUNCH

Bond Lounge Grill – Shaken, not stirred

The 411

On Fairmount west of St Laurent you will find an interesting bar with an amazing theme: James Bond. Who would have thought that everyone’s favourite man of mystery has a home in Montreal. This bar has made a name for itself with its James bond inspired décor and more importantly, it also does brunch. We tried coming here early 2 months ago and it was closed. This time we tried again but a little earlier and got lucky; that and a special world cup schedule worked to our favour. They change their hours frequently so you should probably call before you go or you can swing by and hope that they are open.

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The Sparrow – A place so nice I went there twice

Brunch has changed please see our new post article

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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