The Montreal downtown core or the Golden Square Mile as some people like to call it is lacking quality brunch spots. You have a mix of chain and some scattered spots here and there but the area oddly enough needs development in terms of more quality places offering brunch. Now Café Parvis opened late last winter and did not do brunch at first but a few months after opening, they started offering brunch on the menu. Now if you don’t know where Café Parvis is, then head down to Mayor street and look for the funky little café next to Furco, duck in for a coffee and a bite and you will soon be adding it to your list of downtown places for go to.

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The 411On McKay street near Concordia University and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts you will find Nocochi, a lovely Persian tea shop that I have always enjoyed going to for tea and light snacks. It’s a great spot to go to especially after spending an afternoon at the museum checking out the latest exhibits. So, one morning after trying out a yoga class nearby, we went into Nocochi to try out their brunch..

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The 411 On the corner of Lambert-Closse and De Maisonneuve is a Montreal institution called Corner Snack Bar or Moes. With breakfast options available all day long, this Montreal time sake is dear to many and many wild and crazy nights have ended up here (or rough morning-after’s have been saved by their filling dishes). If you have ever been out drinking at night and need some food to fill you and recover Moe’s is your go to spot. . The staff in this family business gave us a mini history lesson and explanation as to why some people call it Moe’s. Once up a time over 50 years ago the corner snack bar was owned and operated by a man named Moe. He would later sell it to our waitress’ grandmother and now it is run by another family member. People used to call it Moe’s before but since Moe’s is the name of another restaurant in Montreal it was difficult to use that name so they used corner snack bar even though it is still referred to as Moe’s by many. (more…)

Araucaria – Mile end day long brunch

The 411 The breakfast sandwich is a growing trend that can be found on many brunch menus across Montreal. The concept of a breakfast sandwich or a breakfast burger adds a filling option to any brunch menu. In most cases, it’s a matter of hit or miss – meaning, it’s either mediocre or spectacular. So, you can imagine our excitement when we heard that Mbrgr Burger Bar started offering brunch. If you are familiar with Mbrgr, it’s a higher end burger restaurant over on Drummond Street. I’ve been here a few times over the last few years and enjoyed the burgers.

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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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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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Birks Café By Europea – A truly refined dining experience

The 411

Fancy, that’s what comes to mind when you think of Birks; that and Bling of course! Now, why would Montreal’s fanciest jeweler show up on a brunch blog? Is it because they gave me loads of free bling? Unfortunately, no. (although if they want to message me, we can talk) Is it because they ditched the whole high end jewelry business model and switched to bacon and eggs? Not that either. It’s because they started offering a weekend brunch in their store. Yes, you heard it correctly, there is a weekend brunch offered inside of Birks on the second floor and not any ordinary brunch; it’s quite the experience. So ladies and gents, make space on your credit card, we’re off to see what Birks brunch has to offer.

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Nüvü – Two umlauts in the same name, how awesome is that

The 411

The story behind this review is a little bit different from the others. This trip to Nüvü started with an email to another blogger which I follow: uneparisienneamontreal.com This is a cool French language blog that is part fashion, part brunch and is the creation of the very talented Laure. Basically, she is me but in French and with a focus on fashion as well. It’s cool how we tend to check out some of the same places and can be on the same page for good places and those places that disappoint as well. Long story short, we got to chatting and decided to do a meet up, and what better way to meet up than over brunch. We decided to try out Nüvü which is a pretty recent spot with an interesting menu and nice décor. How would the brunch go? Would Nuvu deliver? Who would show up late? All this and more in the paragraphs below.

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Cafeteria – Morning after remedy

The 411

In Montreal there are some staple places that, as a student, you go to after a night of hard partying and drinking. Sometimes you don’t have much time to make it to bed so you skip that and get some food. Now, if this has happened to you once, twice or maybe a few more times, then you know one of the spots you go to for this. That’s right: Cafeteria, St Laurent’s own little spot if you are done partying but don’t feel like straying from the street too much.

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