Brunch in the West is often challenging. Yes, there are lots of brunch spots west of Decarie but I often find that they have similar menus and aren’t really creative in terms of what they make. Having gone to hundreds of different brunch spots, I get tired of the usual bacon and eggs so when our brunch brought us out west, I had to look around and find something a little different.

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The 411 Westmount is not known for many places to eat, let alone have brunch. I think one of the main reasons is that there is really a few small sections that are not residential areas. Interestingly, Brasserie Central took over a previous spot we reviewed a while ago so we were familiar with the area. (more…)

The 411 Homestyle Bakery and Black Lion Pub is a recent brunch addition to the West Island. Situated in Beaconsfield, this lovely Homestyle and Black Lion Pub sounds like it’s a bakery situated in a pub. Well it’s not, it’s actually a pub and a bakery sharing the same space.

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The 411 Sometimes plans change: you have a place you want to go for brunch and something happens and you can’t go, leaving you to scramble to find something close by. Well this happened one Saturday. Our plans to do brunch in Westmount were derailed and with a time constraint as well as having to stay in the area, I was getting depressed. Then my friend told me that Park restaurant on Victoria avenue actually served brunch. If you don’t know Park restaurant, it’s becoming one of the most talked about restaurants in the city. Chef Antonio Park serves up a combination of Korean and Japanese inspired dishes with an emphasis on organic and sustainably farmed ingredients. I always kind of wished that they did brunch then my friend told me she just found out they did and we ran over.

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The 411 Off of decarie, on Queen Mary, is an old neighbourhood that has been undergoing some changes. The area is gentrifying so that means old buildings disappear and new condos show up – whether this is a good thing or not is another discussion but I’m just here to talk brunch and breakfast. My friend moved there recently and has been going to this little spot called restaurant Queen Mary. Right off the bat, she told me that it’s more of a greasy spoon than the places I go to but that doesn’t mean I haven’t reviewed a greasy spoon nor am I opposed to reviewing them. The greasy spoon often gets a bad rep but it serves a vital purpose of providing filling food, quickly and on the cheap end. You can settle up to the counter to order your dish, down it with some coffee and then pay $5 and be full. Lets keep in mind most brunches can in some cases come close to $20 when you factor in your dish, coffee, taxes and tip.

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The 411 St. Jacques Street isn’t known for brunch, at least besides the legendary and now defunct Picasso. There really aren’t any brunch spots in the area; a bunch of motels, yes, but not exactly an abundance of great places to eat. So when I heard that a breakfast spot opened there, my first question was: next to which motel? My second question was: is it yummy? So, it turns out that I have driven by this place a few times, and not because I have been frequenting the various motels in the area. I must have been subconsciously led to it on account of the giant egg sign. What can I say; I get drawn to these places.

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The 411 Lasalle and Ville-Émard are part of the city where I don’t have too many brunch options listed. I mean, there are a few spots, but they tend to fall into the greasy spoon category. Not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with greasy spoons, but choice is a nice thing to have. So, ‘by choice’ I mean having some greasy spoons, some fancy spots, and some ethnic spots, you know, some kind of variety. So Byla Byla is an interesting option; it’s a sit down restaurant, so not your usual kind of greasy spoon, while also not an exclusive fancy spot, nor is it 100% ethnic.

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Oxford Cafe – an NDG institution

The 411

Out in NDG is an institution called the Oxford Café. I say institution because it has been around for ages. Lots of people in the area know it well and it had a reputation for a good breakfast years ago. It’s a no-frills diner style spot that does not look like it’s changed since it opened. You come in to get some classic breakfast dishes, have some drip coffee and kick it old school maybe with a newspaper and let your day sink in. So, with this institution around and almost having done every spot in NDG I felt I needed to check it out.

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Vino – Hidden Gem of NDG

The 411

My goal to visit every brunch spot in NDG keeps getting delayed because everytime I think I’ve covered them all another place shows up on my radar. Vino is one of those places. In fact, it was submitted by one of our readers who raved about it and after seeing their menu on their site I could see why. Normally places need to get in line before I review them and I usually go to places I found out existed over a year ago. Since I tend to do brunch both Saturday and Sunday, you can imagine how backed up I get. However, just by seeing Vino’s menu for brunch, I was motivated and decided that this place needed to get reviewed sooner than later.

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Eggspression- West Island Brunch all week long

The 411

Once upon a time I had a goal to try out every breakfast/brunch spot in the West Island. I felt I was pretty close then my focus shifted back to downtown Montreal. I had a list of what I reviewed and what needed to be reviewed and I felt I was pretty close to getting it all done. Then my friend organized a get-together at Eggspression just off of St. Johns. I was confused. Could iit be that there was a spot I missed and so close to an area that I am in at least once a week? It turns out that Eggspression has been there for quite some time and my friend was shocked that I did not know about it. With a new spot added to my list, off we went to see what there is.

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