The 411 Ham, as a single word can evoke so much passion among food lovers. Growing up I fell in love with prosciutto – its complex flavour, salty nature and ecstasy-invoking abilities. Nothing made me happier than being somewhere where I can indulge and go hog wild on it. Over the years, my preferences have changed, evolved even, but deep down inside I still yearn for taking a perfectly sliced piece and wrapping it around my finger and popping it in my mouth. When I passed by Hambar and saw cured meat hanging in the entrance, I felt like I was in heaven. Then when I found out they offered brunch, curiosity and excitement inspired me to see what was going on.

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Best Brunch Terraces 2011

With summer in full swing, winter is but a distant memory. In Montreal, when the sun comes out so do the people and they head to terraces where they can have a tasty brunch and a great view to enjoy the weather. Fortunately, Montreal offers us loads of brunch spots with terraces. We have scoured the city in search of the perfect brunch terraces and have found some you may like. The list is not exhaustive and is intended to give you a spot or two to go to in each of the respective areas. We took a look at Outremont, the Plateau, Old Montreal and NDG.

Outremont has, arguably, the most options for brunch terraces in the city. All one needs to do is walk down Bernard street and see an ocean of people all seated in a variety of terraces. The list includes spots like Café Souvenirs, Senzala and Les Enfants terribles, La Moulerie, and Bistro Le Republique. There used to be le Petit Italien but they recently stopped serving brunch. Les Enfants terribles has one of the largest terraces, while Café Souvenirs is one of my favourite on the street. The menu offering at the majority of these spots is similar with the exception of Senzala, which has a Brazilian theme and is located west of du Parc. Though they may offer similar brunch options, the taste and overall satisfaction varies from person to person. If you wish to know more, just click on each link above and read the reviews (because right now we’re only talking about the ones that look pretty). (more…)

Ristorante Otto – Fancy Brunch on McGill Street

The 411

Old Montreal has its fair share of fancier brunch places; McGill street alone is home to a good concentration of them and one that I have been curious about for some time is Otto. Situated inside the W hotel this restaurant serves up a weekday early morning breakfast starting at 7 am and going until 11:30 am, as well as a longer weekend schedule of 7 am to 2pm. I have been to Otto for dinner and enjoyed it. Otto is a fancy restaurant; the décor is exquisite; the outside terrace is vey nice and covered by umbrellas. With this rather positive dinner experience I wondered how it would convert to brunch.

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Holder – Old Port Bistro meets Brunch

The 411

Now this review is actually a few months old and seems to have gotten lost in my pile of reviews so I figured I should post it now. This goes back to a special event that I had for my website’s 1 year anniversary. The idea was to find a spot that would offer a decent brunch in a nice area and that would take reservations for 20 people. It is important to note that reservations for brunch is not an easy thing to come by especially if you know that not everyone would show up on time. I know some places do smaller reservations but for 20 people that would be a stretch. So, I went over all the places that could fit a group of this size and then Holder came to mind. I had never eaten brunch here before and I had heard that they recently began serving brunch. Since I have eaten dinner there a few times and was quite satisfied with the food, I figured I would try out a new review with my anniversary gathering. They had no problems taking such a large reservation so I contacted my friends and the anniversary brunch “Bonanza” was on track.

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