Jean Talon market is a magical, almost romantic, place; on sunny days strolling from stall to stall getting some fresh fruits and vegetables, checking out various stalls for all your culinary needs. It’s one of my favourite places to bring people who come in from out of town. As you stroll around, you might want to add something else that is magical and ever so representative of Montreal… and that would be brunch. . (more…)

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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Mount Royal street is a veritable Mecca of places to have brunch in Montreal. You only need to walk down a few buildings until you find a place. When we heard that la grenouille was making waves with it’s brunch we got curious and went to check it out. (more…)

Cardinal tea room is a newcomer to the scene. Connected to Sparrow, which has been serving brunch for a few years now, this 2 floor old-style gem has that laid back feel with ample natural lighting and a more relaxed ambiance for brunching. Cardinal tea room has that British imperial style to it and, nothing says England like tea and cookies. The interior has two lovely floors flooded with natural light, bookshelves, a piano, a chalkboard, a steamer trunk and all those old style items that really make for quite the experience.

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Over on Villeneuve street, just a little east of Parc, is this little café, or is it a laundromat? Or is it both… Actually Blanc de Blanc is both and a little more. One afternoon after having having spent some time on Mt Royal, we walked over and decided to try it out. (more…)

The 411 The hangover brunch: you know what I’m talking about. Last night was fun, maybe a little too fun… So you wake up in the morning with a headache that would stop a charging rhino dead in its tracks. Since you don’t have one of those miracle IV drips that fix hangovers you have to reply on 2 things can make your hangover go away: one of them is brunch and the other is more alcohol. Yes, the reason we invented bloody maries, caesars and mimosas was for this very moment. To make your weekend brunch extra boozy and help suppress those memories of dancing on the table the night before with a random stranger you spent all night with, Suwu finds its niche. (more…)

The 411 The East End has traditionally been an issue for me. Brunch places tend to be only your standard eggs and bacon spot; nothing fancy or healthy just the usual spots with menus that don’t inspire. But now, there is a bright light in the East and that beacon comes from Masson street. Here, you will find new brunch spots popping up that aren’t your everyday standard fare. (more…)

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 Over the years there have been more and more vegetarian and, in particular, vegan restaurants opening up in Montreal. This was not the case when we started. Finding a vegan spot in general was tricky and even more so a place that did brunch AND was vegan. You could always manage to get a vegetarian option on the menu since not every dish had meat in it so you were ok on that front. Nowadays some minor changes to a menu can allow a restaurant to offer a Gluten free option. Having Buckwheat crepes is one easy way of doing this but there are still many items on the menu that require a little more creativity to make them truly gluten free. So, when we passed by Resonance on Avenue du Parc, we were enticed to see that it was offering both a vegan & gluten free brunch.

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