You may have heard about Hof Kelsten. In a short time, the legend has grown about the bread guy, Jeffrey Finkelstein. He is Montreal’s prodigal son, who has worked at some of the top restaurants around world. His list includes Toque, French Laundry, Per Se, and even El Bulli. Now back in Montreal he has been making bread over at Hof Kelsten and also has some other items that are a little more than just bread. Simply put Hof Kelsten does brunch. So one Saturday morning, the Montreal Food Divas were miraculously awake and not hungover so it seemed logical to do brunch. Now finding a spot that will impress the Divas is not always an easy task but we knew that Hof Kelsten would not disappoint.

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The Montreal restaurant scene is constantly changing, with new places popping up and old places closing down. Wilfred sur Laurier is the new kid on the block, having opened at the end of fall. They quickly started making waves as having an impressive brunch. So how impressive is it you may ask? Since our first visit we have been back 3 other times.

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Ma’tine is a new discovery on the brunch scene, located in the gay village. We were excited to check out this new brunch spot that brings some brunch muscle outside of the usual Plateau and Mile End areas. Early buzz on Ma’tine was that it was a fresh new take on brunch, with the original team that made Micro Resto la Famille one of our favourite spots. The Daniel-Six brothers (Jérémy and Maxime) have been making waves everywhere they go and all you need to do is try their food and you will understand why.

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Araucaria – Mile end day long brunch

So a little back story: a little over a year ago, I was in a bar in Tokyo having drinks and overheard someone talking with a distinct Quebec accent. It turns out that that accent belonged to a Montrealer doing a pilgrimage to various bars and restaurants in Japan. When we got to talking of favourite places and he mentioned how he knew the people over at Tripes and Caviar and they were doing some creative stuff there. So, although a year later, we decided to check it out.

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Often we get asked for suggestions in certain areas; Where is the best French toast in Montreal? What’s the best spot in the plateau? Sometimes, the answers are easy, other times they are trickier, like when people ask where should they go in little Italy? Now, lets be clear, little Italy is a very small area, In fact, it’s not even a real borough so it floats between Villeray, and Rosemont/Petite Patrie. So, we use the metric of: can I make it to the Jean Talon marker in under 10 minutes? Sadly, with that metric it’s only a handful. But, when Salmigondis opened up in walking distance, we were curious to see what kind of addition this brunch place would make to the Little Italy area. (more…)

Bernard street has had a love-hate relationship with me. When I first started this site, Bernard was the street where you had to have brunch. With lots of choice and good ones at that, it was my favourite place to be especially in the summer with all those terraces. However, as time went on, I discovered new places, better brunches, and the spots on Bernard either closed down or didn’t evolve, that is, until recently when Brasserie Bernard brought a beacon of light on Bernard street and made having brunch in Outremont a more enjoyable event. (more…)

A while ago, H4C opened up in Montreal and we were fortunate enough to try out their dinner. We enjoyed dinner there, and when we heard that they would be rolling out brunch we were excited. This part of St Henri has been changing over the last couple years with new restaurants and condos popping up here and there. This takes a normally working class area and changes the landscape. I don’t particularly feel like re-living my university day discussions about gentrification so I will avoid the social commentary and get the point that there is a new good brunch spot in the area that makes some really creative dishes that you would normally see in the Plateau or Mile End. (more…)

Some restaurants have such buzz around them that you wait anxiously for them to offer brunch. This isn’t easy since most restaurants focus on dinner and brunch isn’t really an option. When we found out that Barbounya was doing brunch we were excited to see not only a restaurant with a solid reputation serve brunch but also that it was an ethnic brunch since Barbounya serves Turkish food. (more…)

Back in October a new spot sprung up on Mentana. This small 26 seater has slowly been making a name for itself and gaining fans by offering some interesting dishes in a lovely environment. Now you may ask who is Lili? Well, we did and it turns out it’s the name of the little girl of the owner born at around the same time that they opened, and although I personally have no children (that I know of) I do tip my hat to anyone who opens a restaurant and has a kid at the same time. Because, each on their own is an incredible amount of work. (more…)

The 411 One morning we decided to try out Micro Resto La Famille. What is a micro resto you may ask? Well, walk in and you will see it’s an incredibly tiny restaurant with space for 10 people maximum (and that’s being creative). Now, at Montreal Breakfast Review, we have a policy that no matter how large or small or far, we will eat there. (more…)