Hochelaga Maisonneuve, or HOMA for short, is an interesting part of Montreal. Historically a working class neighborhood, it has recently started gentrifying. You will notice new condos popping up and many more cafes and restaurants that are not your usual greasy spoon. Although, HOMA manages to keep some of its working class flavour in its restaurants in the sense that you tend to get larger plates with decent value for what you pay. This is very welcome in a city where the $20 brunch is not that uncommon.

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The 411 Ethnic brunch is often a concept rather difficult to pull off. Many have a choice to make: you can go the classic Montreal breakfast route, disregarding their ethnic tradition; you can try to go full ethnic and put something traditional on the table at the risk of it being closer to lunch than brunch; and sometimes, you strike a balance between the two. Su is a Turkish restaurant that I’ve been to for dinner before and quite enjoyed the meals there. I’ve always gone with at least one Turkish person so they help in navigating the menu and make those hard decisions as to what to order.

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The 411 Over the years we have seen a more Latin inspired brunch theme with different restaurants. With what seems to be a slow but steady growth, Mexican and South American restaurants are popping up offering some really tasty food and introducing a tasty brunch option to their menus. When we heard that there was this little place in the village that was serving Mexican brunch we were excited to see what our taste buds would experience.

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The 411 Bernard street used to be my favourite spot when I began doing reviews; you had an impressive concentration of places that served up brunch mainly west of Parc street. I used to love it but fell out of love over the last few years as I started seeing other streets and neighbourhoods. However, recently I heard some buzz circling back in the Mile End and have made my way back and to be honest the street looks good with some new spots and Nouveau Palais is one of them.

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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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The 411 For some time now I’ve hear about Maamm Bolduc, the buzz about it has been positive, a breakfast spot where you can get your classic breakfast favourites at a decent price, generous portions and with little or no fuss. These spots are a staple feature of the Montreal brunch scene. Not every spot needs to reinvent breakfast; if you do it well for a fair price and make delicious meals then you have a winner. So now it is time to see if M Bolduc comes into this formula.

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The 411 Just recently I was presented with a scheduling challenge. Find a spot on the South Shore or close to the Jacques Cartier bridge so one of our friends could make it to his appointment after brunch and do so rather quickly. I did not feel like going down to the South Shore, so I had to find something somewhat close to the bridge. Now, I had to dig deep into my brunch map and look at an area I almost never frequent. What I found was Touski Café and Coop. I have no clue how Touski Café Coop came on my list but we were curious, hungry and on a timeline so it was decided.

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Le Jurancon – A Marseille inspired brunch

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Fine French dining meets brunch – often a pairing you don’t see on a regular basis. Interestingly, brunch is not native to France and although there are more and more spots that offer brunch nowadays you would not associate it with a small little French bistro. So, when I heard that Le Jurancon was offering brunch, I was quite curious. How would it pair French dining with brunch? What ingredients and what surprises would we be in store for, and how is it that a French restaurant finds itself in the eastern part of the city? This and many more we hope to answer as well give you some idea of what Le Jurancon has to offer.

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Vic Market- A great post workout brunch

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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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Chez Gautier – A gem hidding in plain sight

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Hidden in the McGill ghetto Chez Gautier has been around since the 70’s yet few people would know that it serves up brunch. In fact, while I was at McGill most people living in the ghetto would go to the same spots and likely walk by this place countless times. Little did I know then that there was brunch to be had here, and not only is it a good deal, it is a very enjoyable experience both for food and dining.

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