NO LONGER SERVES BRUNCH

L’orignal – The Moose is Loose

The 411

L’Orignal is popular restaurant in the old Montreal and on weekends the party goes on right until 3 AM. So, when I found out that in the early Fall they began to offer brunch on Sundays I was curious to see how a supper club would handle brunch especially since I feel that most dinners I have eaten at supper clubs are usually fancy, overpriced and leave me hungry. However, what I found was a pleasant surprise and made my Sunday.

At 1st glance

“Orignal” in French means “moose” and the decor for some reason works with this. From the moment you see the front door you notice a moose shaped metal statuette mounted to it and when you walk in you will find a rich usage of wood in the floor and walls. The walls also keep the original stone look of the building which adds some charm to it. There is plenty of seating and no lineup. In fact, since it is so recent and is situated in the old port its likely you will never have to wait in line unless a lot of people discover it – not to mention the fact that its on a small street randomly placed along Notre Dame street. I wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t for my Google map.

Food

The menu changes frequently and they were testing out some new items so some of what I will be reviewing may not be there when you go. The menu had 7 items and 3 sides. Small menus are usually a good sign that what they do, they do well. The menu is not a classic breakfast menu by any means. In fact the items have a bistro influence in them and if you are looking for 2 eggs over easy with bacon then you will not find it.

Keeping in mind that you are in the old port, most items price fairly high from $12-$15 you can find items ranging from; Steak and Eggs ($12); Fritata with Shrimp and Chorizo ($13), right up to a Grilled Salmon Salad ($11). We went with a mix of classic and experimental. I had the Breakfast Sandwich ($12) which came with sausage, ham, bacon, eggs, greens and small side salad. It had a nice thick sourdough bread that was light ,tasty and the meat and inside was delicious – refined yet filling. My friend had the Strawberry Shortcake which although sound like a dessert was a couple small pancakes with real maple syrup and topped with fresh strawberries, an amazing creme anglaise and a mint leaf to make it look pretty.

We also saw (but did not eat) the Mushroom Toast and Egg dish ($13) as we were on our way out and it looked really tasty. Sides were available as: Hash Brown ($5), Mish Mash ($7), and Meat ($5); we ordered the Mish Mash and it was really good and had some nice chunks of meat with what I believe was chorizo in it. In fact, it is likely a better option than the other 2 since you basically try out both in one plate and for only $2 more. One thing to note is that they do not offer regular coffee so you have to choose from espresso, cappuccino or latte (for example) and they don’t do free refills on it which makes sense or else I would be having 10 cappuccinos.

Service

The service was very nice and they did a great job of explaining the menu and which one would be more filling. They checked up on frequently and were very friendly. Also, at the end of our meal, our waiter asked about how we felt about the menu and meal experience since they were tweaking the menu and wanted feedback.

Vegetarian

There were 2 vegetarian options although there was a lack of health menu items which would have been nice to see since many people do look for that. Interestingly, we did suggest to the waiter that they add it to the list and they did seem interested so who knows, the menu may change again. Although you are not stuck if you are a vegetarian since the strawberry shortcake is really good and the Mushroom Toast and Eggs is definitely something that needs to be tasted.

Wrap up

This is definitely well worth a trip to Old Montreal. The menu is innovative, fresh, tasty and likely to change so you will always have something new to pick from. Its only open Sundays so do keep that in mind.

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Price	$$$	$15
Overall		4/5
Wheelchair Access	NO	0/3
Parking	Free & Lot/Meters	2/3
Public Transit Access	129, 365, 61, 75, 36	Get Directions
Metro	Square-Victoria? ,Place-d’Armes?	10 minutes

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