The 411 Recently I started helping 2 friends start a review blog called Montreal Food Divas. They specialize in dinner but my reward for helping them was a brunch, which is my 2nd favourite form of compensation (cash being my 1st). The challenge was to go somewhere nice that neither of us have been to before. This can get tricky with bloggers since I needed to find a hidden gem that would impress them but at the same time somewhere that would be new for me as well. Fortunately, with over 200 reviews in my stomach, I can get a feeling on what a place will be like without having eaten there. Roy Pendu seemed like it would fit the criteria of being somewhere new with a menu that is little different.

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The 411 While Montreal is known for some stand-out restaurants, often there are places that will do a diner service but not be open for brunch. I often wondered how they would approach a brunch menu, and am glad to see Restaurant Les Cavistes has taken up the challenge. Best described as a French bistro placing an importance on wine, I have been following Les Cavistes for years. They even temporarily tried out brunch during the Festival en Lumière and I was quite pleased. So when I heard that they were bringing it back I felt it would be interesting to see how a French bistro handles brunch.

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Caviste – Festival en Lumiere treat

The 411

During Festival Montréal en Lumiere we get a chance to get a rare glimpe at some of Montreals restaurants make a brunch menu. Places like Caviste are more of a dinner restaurant and do not have brunch on their menu except for really rare occasions. With this narrow window to try out brunch at Caviste we booked a table and made sure to see how Caviste would handle brunch.

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Hachoir – Funky Brunch on St Denis

No Longer Serves Brunch

The 411

Within the last couple months, Le Hachoir came to Rachel street and replaced the old Cafeo. Almost immediately, foodies started talking. I have some positive chatter on various forums and people I know have definitely had their curiosity peeked. So what better reason to make a trip over? With enough time to reach their stride in terms of service and operation, enough time had passed so a review would be fair.

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Le Passé Composé – Grammar was never this yummy

The 411

Passé compose has been a name that people have been asking about. It’s a restaurant on Roy street that has some online buzz about being pretty decent. I have been curious about this place and the website did a good job of peaking my curiosity with tasty pictures and interesting menu items posted. In order to satisfy my curiosity and get my brunch fix, a visit to passé compose took place and what I found impressed me.

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Café Cherrier – Old style Bistro time warp

The 411

Ever pass by that nice building on St Denis on the corner of Cherrier, you know the one with the nice canapé on it, terrace on the outside and giant painting on the exterior wall? I have and in fact, I’ve been asking myself that question for years. I once almost went inside but it was snowing and I was on the side of the street and the steady flow of traffic was in conflict with my love of jaywalking. But all that aside, I finally made it to the other side of the street to check out what Café Cherrier is all about.

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L’evidence – A gem of spot on St Denis

The 411

St Denis is one of those streets that has tons of tucked away places that you may pass in front of dozens of times but only on the 13th time do you realize that a restaurant is actually situated there. That’s the case with L’evidence: I have passed by it for years and only when I met up with my friend and we decided to go for brunch at a new place was I introduced to L’evidence. My friend had known of this places for a while and me… well lets say I have eaten at all the restaurants north, south, east and west of it, but I never knew they did brunch. So, after I got my eyes checked, we went in and checked out what makes this place so special.

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Universel – A Universe of Brunch on St Denis

The 411

For the longest time I have heard about Universel, a breakfast place on St Denis that seems to have quite a loyal following, similar to some of the popular Mount Royal or Bernard street places. I felt it was only fair to give it a try and see what keeps people coming back to it. I originally found out about this place on some food forums that I follow; it seems to be popular in certain circles but still off of other peoples radars so checking this place out and sharing it with others may be a tasty idea. You may have likely walked or driven by this place tons of times, it’s near the Square St Louis park as well as steps away from the Sherbrooke metro.

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La Fabrique – Where meal ideas are made daily

The 411

A while ago a friend of mine told me about this place called La Fabrique where the interior is almost as interesting as the food. With its constantly changing menu and interesting and funky approach to cooking combining different flavours and styles, I felt that this would be an interesting place to check out their brunch as well as the main courses. Now, brunch is only offered once a week on Sundays and this makes it difficult for me since I don’t always have time for brunch on Sunday but somehow it happened this week and I had an opening. Unfortunately, it came a day after an article in the gazette had appeared about the place (I knew I shouldn’t have waited all that time). Not to be deterred by not being one of the first ones to write about I was still committed to going and off I went in search of a culinary adventure.

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Fruit Folie – Bursting with fruit

The 411

St-Denis is a street where all you need to do is walk a little bit and find a nice gem of a place to eat, and brunch is no exception to this rule. Fruits de Folie falls into this category by providing well priced food and tons of fruit on most of your plates (as the name implies). Although this is my first time coming to Fruits de Folie, I know a lot of people who have spoken about it for quite some time now, and the peer reviews all follow a similar theme of lots of fruit and very affordable. Now since I can’t disagree with those two ideals, off I went exploring.

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