Montreal Restaurants

I've been looking for the perfect breakfast crêpe in Montreal for a long time. It hasn't been easy, but I think I've just found it.

This treat is called "Bonne Journée" and comes from the kitchen of "Café Crêpe" - a small café that is named after what it makes best.

Read the rest of: "Bonne Journée from Café Crêpe"»

With few exceptions, I never order anything that I can cook well myself. Thai is one cuisine that I would love to wow guests with. Its distinguishing feature is the use of coconut milk, lemon grass, peanuts and chilli peppers in harmonious constellations for consumption. But sadly, I've never actually done anything about studying it, maybe because I am a regular at Restaurant Thaïlande. Let's face it, we're a lazy species, and if others can do it better, why not go to them?

Read the rest of: "High on Thai at Restaurant Thaïlande"»

There are many restaurants in this town proving their worth by hiring the right chef, PR agency or interior designer, attracting the "in" crowd or serving the most "creative" (sometimes absurdly creative) nouvelle cuisine dishes.

And then there are restaurants that don't need to prove anything: as long as they stay true to their mission and character, they will be deservedly popular.

L'Express at 3927 rue St-Denis belongs to the second category. In the 20-odd years that the place existed, it slowly transformed its status from that of a "cool new thing" to that of a Montreal institution...

Read the rest of: "L'Express Way"»

I am not exactly a frequent visitor at tea salons - a fact pretty much ensured by the very presence of the Y chromosome in my DNA.

Yet, since about a year ago, I regularly find myself at a place that ranks suspiciously well on the tea connoisseurs' list of Montreal cafés and restaurants. And what do I order there? Tea. And cookies...

Read the rest of: "Tea and Cookies at Nocochi"»

I am not a wine connoisseur, and completely hopeless when it comes to Hungarian wines, so I am not going to give you any advice to guide you through the wine list at Aszú. Heck, I didn't even try any Hungarian wines there! My mission for the night was much simpler: to have a decent terrace meal in the Old Port and enjoy a nice conversation with my dining partner who happened to be another SiteBits contributor...

Read the rest of: "Dinner at Aszú"»

I am amazed and grateful at the variety of cafés in Montreal. It is a city where people love to bring their office or school work to coffee shops, since most of them offer Wi-Fi. Hot beverages are essential during the colder months, but there is a difference between hitting the chain coffee shops and arriving by chance to a café in the middle of the very eclectic Blvd. St-Laurent..



Pi Café (Café π) is basically a mixture of coffee shop, workplace, gallery, chess venue and a place for tranquility. I've been there a few times, and it is a wonderful place to enjoy a café latte or tisane while you pull out your book, computer or schoolwork in a reasonably quiet environment.

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Read the rest of: "Café π: Coffee, Tranquility and One Hip Bathroom"»

Somebody on the site mentioned that Le Grand Comptoir is one of the few restaurants in Montreal with friendly, non-pretentious “single person" table service and I would agree with them. What I mean by that is that going there by yourself doesn't necessarily present you with the typical dining-alone nuisances, like having to sit at the counter and thus forgo being able to relax in a chair, or being subjected to attitude from the host(ess) and the server. (After all, you're taking up a whole table and you'll only leave one person's tip!)

Like I said, Le Grand Comptoir is a fortunate exception to those experiences. You can go there alone at almost any time of day (except the lunch hour: too busy) and find more than a handful of individual tables to choose from...

Read the rest of: "Alone at Le Grand Comptoir"»

I awoke one morning after a night on the town with a desperate craving for a fast, filling, delicious breakfast to indulge my palate and soothe my aching stomach. Fortunately, the decision of where to go was easy: Dusty's, on the corner of du Parc and Mont Royal...

Read the rest of: "Breakfast at Dusty's"»

The plaster dust from recent renovations has finally settled at Holt Renfrew, arguably the finest department store in Montreal. The store is shinier than ever, and designer clothing and fine perfumes await your every glance. However, if like me your idea of a good time doesn't usually include shopping, then you are in luck - Holt Renfrew is also home to unarguably some of the best in-store dining in the city. In fact, the basement Cafe Holt is a destination in itself, and not just for weary shoppers as I imagined.

Cafe Holt's modern decor is accompanied by a thoroughly modern gourmet menu, which is in turn centered around a very traditional bread....

Read the rest of: "Café Holt"»

Le Convivial's chef Emmanuel Nozati did his magic again last night with his delicious five-course meal and a carefully selected list of matching wines.

We already knew of his braveness with local ingredients from a visit to the Auberge Hatley where he used to cook (it is with great sorrow that I announce that right after our visit the hotel burned to the ground. The terrible accident had nothing to do with us, I swear!). Anyway, it was good to feel that the fate of your Thanksgiving dinner is in competent hands...

Read the rest of: "Le Convivial"»