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Montréal is certainly no
Paris
when it comes to cafés. But good cafés do exist in the city
(just don't expect to find anything like Les Deux Magots here!)
What To Avoid
If you ask us, we recommend skipping not only Starbucks (thankfully, there
aren't that many in Montreal), but also all of the local wannabes - Tim
Horton's, Presse Café, Second Cup, Van Houtte, etc. Most of them are unoriginal,
cookie-cutter outlets with mediocre coffee. Java U is a little better,
but just barely.
For Coffee Geeks
If you consider yourself a coffee geek, you should try these four cafés in Montreal:
- Veritas in
Old Montreal
- Café Italia in Little Italy
- Café Olimpico in
Mile End
- Café Myriad in
Downtown Montreal
The last café on this list, Café Myriad, is a
new and long-anticipated addition to Montreal's coffee geekdom scene. Opened by
former
Veritas barista, Anthony Benda,
it became an immediate hit with both coffee afficionados and Concordia University
students (the café is located on the same block as Concordia Library).
Cafés For Snacking
We are partial to
Nocochi
in Downtown Montreal,
although it doesn't really conform to the standard vision of a comfortable café
and actually, food is not really its true forte. Rather, it's a cookie-oriented
place serving good tea and decent Illy coffee. Of course, sandwiches, omelettes and
other breakfast/lunch staples are on the menu as well.
Lately, everybody seems to be in love with
Olive + Gourmando - a bakery/café
in the heart of Old Montreal
- above all, this applies to guidebook editors. Unfortunately, in practical
terms, this means having to enjoy your coffee and scone in a rather cramped
setting.
Cafés For Lunch & Brunch
Vasco de Gama with its
designer sandwiches and
Holt Renfrew Café, a more
of a full-service sit-down place are excellent options in Downtown.
Le Cartet
in Cité Multimédia,
set up as a high-end "boutique alimentaire" with communal tables for eating,
serves decent but not outstanding brunch. It feels very
Paris and very
New York at the same time.
Veritas
(Old Montreal)
serves a good selection of healthy sandwiches and salads.
Bring Your Laptop, Sip Your Coffee
If you like to surf in a comfortable and stylish environment,
we recommend
Veritas in
Old Montreal (unfortunately,
there's only one plug) or
Caffè ArtJava
(837 Ave Mont-Royal in Plateau Mont Royal
or
645 Ave du Président-Kennedy in Downtown Montreal).
Laika (4040 Boulevard St-Laurent) in
Plateau Mont Royal attracts many designer
wannabe types (your laptop had better be a Mac!).
Select Café Restaurants- Café Italia
6840 Boulevard St-Laurent, (514) 495-0059 Simple, unpretentious café with excellent coffee
and traditional Italian pastries.
- Café Myriad
1432 Rue Mackay (Downtown Montreal), (514) 939-1717 Opened in November 2008 by a prominent Montreal barista Anthony Benda.
Myriad is a tiny café that was immediately colonized by students of nearby
Concordia univerisity. Expertly brewed coffee, friendly ambience.
- Café Olimpico
124 rue St-Viateur Ouest (Mile End), (514) 495-0746 A bona fide institution in Montreal's coffee scene,
Café Olimpico (also known locally as "Open Da Night" or "Open D") has
been serving what's considered by many to be the best coffee in town
for more than 30 years.
- Café Rico
969 rue Rachel Est (Plateau Mont Royal), (514) 529-1321 A neighborhood café selling fair trade coffee.
- Cluny
257 rue Prince (Cité Multimédia), (514) 866-1213 A café/bar/restaurant serving tasty sandwiches, salads and hot dishes.
- Crêpe Café
362 rue Notre-Dame Est (Old Montreal), (514) 759-6755 A small café that serves mostly Breton crêpes and coffee
(exactly as the name would suggest), but also sandwiches and salads.
- Holt Renfrew Café
1300 rue Sherbrooke Ouest (Downtown Montreal), (514) 282-3749 Hungry shoppers enjoying the famous sandwiches in a minimalist décor.
- Le Cartet
106 rue McGill (Cité Multimédia), (514) 871-8887 Opened in 2005, this "boutique alimentaire" + café has been getting
increasingly popular with 30-something, particularly for brunch.
- Nocochi
2156 rue Mackay (Downtown Montreal), (514) 989-7514 Nocochi specializes in light breakfast/lunch fare and offers
something unique in addition to its relatively typical menu
of omelettes, sandwiches and salads: the cookies. These
tiny multi-coloured Persian treats can be bought "to go" (by the
box) or consumed on the spot. The cookies, the food, the coffee
(Illy), as well as Nocochi's clean
and airy light-toned
interior design attract an appropriately mixed crowd: museum goers,
old ladies chatting after shopping, visiting Europeans and Concordia
students.
- Olive + Gourmando
351 rue St-Paul Ouest (Old Montreal), (514) 350-1083 A cafe/bakery very popular for lunch (sometimes it's difficult
to get a seat as there are only about a dozen tables). Open
until 6pm, closed Sun and Mon.
- Soupesoup (Cité Multimédia)
649 rue Wellington (Cité Multimédia) Despite what its excessively descriptive name would suggest, this
café doesn't limit its menu to soups - in fact, sandwiches at Soupesoup proved to be at least as big an attraction as the headline item.
- Titanic
445 rue St-Pierre (Old Montreal), (514) 849-0894 A semi-basement café serving breakfast and lunch (weekdays only).
- Vasco de Gama
1472 Peel Street (Downtown Montreal), (514) 286-2688 A cozy, centrally-located café serving pastries, high-end sandwiches
and salads.
- Veritas
480 Boulevard St-Laurent (Old Montreal), (514) 510-7775 A modern café serving healthy food and first-class coffee.
Legend: = contributor review(s); Please keep in mind that our site does not attempt to provide comprehensive restaurant listings. These are simply the restaurants picked by our editors and contributors - subject to all the subjectivity such a method implies. |