Nüvü – Two umlauts in the same name, how awesome is that

The 411

The story behind this review is a little bit different from the others. This trip to Nüvü started with an email to another blogger which I follow: uneparisienneamontreal.com This is a cool French language blog that is part fashion, part brunch and is the creation of the very talented Laure. Basically, she is me but in French and with a focus on fashion as well. It’s cool how we tend to check out some of the same places and can be on the same page for good places and those places that disappoint as well. Long story short, we got to chatting and decided to do a meet up, and what better way to meet up than over brunch. We decided to try out Nüvü which is a pretty recent spot with an interesting menu and nice décor. How would the brunch go? Would Nuvu deliver? Who would show up late? All this and more in the paragraphs below.

At 1st glance

Nuvu is a modern looking place with lots of white projection screens and a white motif. There is a long hallway from the entrance to the main dining room and bar. This is closed off so it makes for a nice privacy for those eating. I saw a lineup form there at around 1:00 and although there was no line when we got there, you may wait a little if you show up during prime time. The interior is very nice, very white and very impressive. There is a large bar in the middle that helps mark the separation from the front to the back; the front is a wider dining area with tables and chairs while the back has some sofa seats on one side of the table.

Food

The menu has some interesting items and I do like the two deals they offer with kids meals being 50% off and a 2-for-1 early bird deal from 8:30-9:30. The kids meal is a price discount and is not a separate dish. I do like how they get to eat grownup food and to be honest, this is not the kind of place that will serve up chocolate chip smiley face pancakes for the kiddies. They are refined dishes and tend to be quite varied with most dishes being in the $12-$16 range. There is also a special promo where, for $24, you get: a choice of mimosa or smoked salmon followed by any of the breakfast options and a mountain of fruit or fruit salad. This becomes a decent deal if you are going to get one of those $16 dishes and something else on the side, but if you will be getting a lower priced dish this may not be an amazing deal. One thing I liked about this menu was that they use a mornay sauce which is a béchamel sauce with either parmesan cheese and/or gruyere. I have not seen this on any other menu so I liked this option. The menu has around 10 items which are as follows:

We started up with some much-needed coffee which came served in these interestingly shaped cups. It was a really wide teacup with an oval plate and squared spoon. Although, it did not change the taste of the coffee, which was decent, but it was kind of cool. All the dishes come with some complimentary entrees such as these little muffins which were cute and small. They were moist and good. I did not feel they were outstanding but they were definitely above average and a nice touch considering it was included. They also gave some cretons and crackers which were ideal for scooping the cretons. I really liked these cretons and that is something important to be noted especially since I am generally neutral on them. They were tasty, of a good consistency, and the taste was neither overpowering nor was it understated, it was just right.

Next came our main dish. Laure had the eggs Florentine ($14) which came with two eggs, spinach, mornay sauce, a choice of sausage or bacon, potatoes and a fruit cup. The dish was very tasty and was actually my favourite. The spinach was fresh, the eggs were perfectly poached and you get a slice of bread which is kind of like some mix of corn bread and something else. I like having this bread especially since lots of places have cut back on offering bread, which is something very helpful to mop up the egg yolk when it inevitably breaks. The fruit was sweet, which came from a fruit syrup of sorts and it also had a coulis on top. I normally avoid coulis on fruit but this time it worked because the taste of the fruit was the star and not the coulis. At other places is too sweet but at Nuvu it worked well and was a welcomed addition.

I ordered the Nüvü ($16). Normally, I avoid dishes named after the place because you always put such high expectations on them and can be often disappointed with what you get. This dish, however, impressed me. It was served with two wonderfully poached eggs, mushroom, spinach, mornay sauce, sausage and bacon, potatoes on the side, a fruit cup and their bread. Coffee was included in this dish (it was not in the other) which takes a bite out of the 16$ price tag but it is on the border of the becoming expensive. I did find value in getting bread on the side, as well as sausage and bacon as opposed to a choice which other dishes usually offer. The eggs were well poached, the mushroom and spinach were good, the taste of the dish was impressive and I was full by the end.

There is another option on the menu called the VIP. For $24 you get any main dish from the menu; a mimosa or smoked salmon and fruit salad. If you are the kind of person who would order entrees and side dishes anyway, this place is perfect since you can get that stuff included in your dish and save some money while doing it.

Service

Our waitress was excellent. She was very polite, answered our questions quickly and correctly and was always nearby. Coffee refills were lightning fast and my cup was never empty. One small issue was the table prep as we were missing cutlery on our table but it was not a big deal since they fixed it quickly.

Vegetarian

There are some vegetarian options but meat is quite prevalent on the menu, mainly in the form of bacon and sausage. There are no vegan options whatsoever.

Wrap up

I enjoyed Nuvu. I did find that the price could be a touch high for some dishes but prices in the village are a little higher than the rest of the city. Overall, I could use a $1-$2 price drop. I did like fact that there is a discount on the kids menu as well as a 2-for-1 early bird special, not to mention the free entrée of muffins, cretons and cheese which, if you quantify, can come out to a great deal of extra money. You do get quite a varied plate and I like the fact they did somethings differently: like the toast bread, mornay sauce, and the coffee cup. The décor is nice and the projection on the wall is kind of cool. The fact that you can get extra stuff included in your dish is great if you would end up ordering that, this makes the slightly higher price make sense and actually a value. Although, if you want your dish and nothing else then the appeal of included muffins, and cretons with cheese may be lost on you.

View NÜVÜ Bistro-Expériences in a larger map

Price	$$$	$12-$15
Overall		4/5
Wheelchair Access	NO	0/3
Parking	Parking Meter & Street	difficult
BUS	15,358,150,410,430	Get Directions
Metro	Beaudry	1 minutes

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