Food and Drinks in Montreal

Café Méliès is a pretty restaurant/lounge located inside the Ex-Centris building. It’s been open for years and is a favorite to many Montrealers. I visited it a few times for drinks after work but it was my first visit for brunch after taking a look at the exciting menu!

Sadly, my experience wasn’t good at all. First of, we made a group reservation for an early birthday and arrived to none since it was given to another group by mistake. The staff was nice though and made a new setup for the group to come.

Once we got seated, I ordered a big bowl of café au lait like I always do to start the week-end and asked for a side of honey. The wait, in the empty restaurant, was so long that my coffee was cold by the time I was able to add a little sweet to it.

I forgot about it quite fast with the good company around me and looked forward to the brunch platter I ordered. We ended up getting served an hour later, with no bread being offered during the wait.

I ordered the poached eggs, with lobster covered with a paprika hollandaise sauce served on English muffins. Sadly the first thing that came to my mind and the other guests after our first bite was whether it was made with fresh or canned lobster. The plate was too small to be placed in a brunch menu too. It was obvious that a side dish was needed to feel satisfied.

After a very deceiving brunch, we had to wait an extra 45min to get our bill. I can’t tell if it was the wrong day to visit Café Méliès but I’m going to stick to drinks when I think about making a stop.

CAFÉ MÉLIÈS
ADDRESS: 3540 St-Laurent
PHONE: 514-847-9218
HOURS: MON–WED 11AM–10PM/ THURS–FRIDAY 11AM-11PM / SAT 8:30AM-11PM / SUN 8:30AM–10PM (with breaks)
ALCOHOL: Yes
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Yes
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
PRICE: $25

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Supermenu.ca is a new online ordering service in Montreal for when you just want to stay in! It offers an exciting list of restaurants for each postal code and the ordering process is very user friendly.

My favorite feature on the website is actually the way the menu is listed. It’s quite easy to find the items you’re looking for. Also, Supermenu.ca doesn’t charge high fees like its competitors.

Check it out now!

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So many new restaurants open in Montreal and I feel like there’s so much hype around them in the first weeks. Le Comptoir was not an exception. On my side, I got introduced to the restaurant by eating a carte blanche menu by their sous chef Sunny Stone on a popular Cookies Unite event.

It was only months later that I ended up going for lunch. Le Comptoir is a beautiful wine bar featuring exciting cold meats made in house.

For my appetizer, I ordered the salad on top of a confit of pork knuckle accompanied by a pickle puree. I simply loved it! It was very well balanced and I was quite impressed by the pickle use which really completed the plate.

My main course consisted of a piece of baked salmon on top of braised fennel. Once again, a very strong dish. The salmon was perfectly cooked and went well with the fennel. I think the size of the plate was perfect too as some restaurants tend to go over the board and the real star of the dish ends up getting lost.

I’m looking forward to trying Le Comptoir for dinner but so far, their lunch service really blew me away. The desserts menu looked very tempting and is also not to miss.

Try it for your next 5 à 7 or business lunch, you’ll be sure to impress your guests!

LE COMPTOIR
ADDRESS: 4807 St-Laurent
PHONE: 514-844-8867
HOURS: TUE–FRI 12PM–2PM, TUE–WED / SUN 5PM–12AM, THU-SAT 5PM–1AM
ALCOHOL: Yes
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Not much
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
PRICE: $25

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I’ve known about Pucapuca for years in the Mile-End but I always had a bad timing with the restaurant hours. It was only after an evening of watching Roller Derby that my friends and I found it open.

I knew that it was Peruvian food so I expected to eat ceviche and grilled meats but to my surprise, it wasn’t about that at all. The menu, incredibly cheap for $15, offers an appetizer, a main dish, a dessert and coffee/tea.

The appetizer was either a soup or a salad. The salad was a big hit amongst my friends with its smoked salmon and generous vegetables but I decided to try the corn, tomato and pasta soup. It wasn’t anything special but very comforting.

As for the main course, all the plates came with rice, chick peas and green peas. I opted for the grilled shrimp and received a long skewer with about 12 shrimps! They were perfectly cooked and seasoned and I couldn’t get enough of it.

The food was so generous that I could not finish my plate so I left with the rest of it and took my dessert to go – a slice of apple pie covered in Dulce de Leche.

For a solid meal after a long day, Pucapuca is the best place to go to. Beware, you might fall for the owner who is the cutest host and cook I have met.

PUCAPUCA
ADDRESS: 5400 St-Laurent
PHONE: 514-272-8029
HOURS: TUES-SAT 11:30AM – 2:30AM
ALCOHOL: No
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Yes, the tofu dish is amazing!!
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
PRICE: $15

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There has been tons of reviews on Icehouse lately that I had to go and try it. The restaurant opened just a few months ago as Nick Hodge’s latest project, also owner of Kitchenette.

Icehouse features Texan food and drinks. It’s not the first restaurant in Montreal to offer this exciting type of food but I feel it’s the one that gives the most real experience.

You are greeted by the staff as soon as you come in and are either lead to the counter or a table depending on your number of guests. Our waitress offered us a choice between a fresh Bourbon Lemonade or a Michelada.

To order, you simply have to decided what you want from the blackboard menu and let the cooks know at the counter. Before getting our food, our waitress came back with a big brown paper sheet to cover our part of counter. She also made us notice that we had paper towel dispensers right in front of us on the wall.

I chose the Bourbon Lemonade to go along our appetizer, shrimp popcorn! The drink was lovely and was perfect with the shrimps that had a sweet frying batter.

Our second dish was a half bucket of fried chicken and it came along coleslaw salad, smoked potato salad and buttermilk bread. The chicken was sadly overcooked so I was glad we didn’t get a whole bucket. It must have stayed just a few minutes too long frying so its batter was easily falling off. I also got the same sweet taste from the shrimps so I was once again relying on my Lemonade to balance everything out. The couple sitting next to us ordered a lot of different dishes and were also saying how everything tasted just sweet.

As for the sides, I did find the smoked potato salad very interesting. I did not really care about the coleslaw after the potatoes since the dressing was a bit similar. The real star for me was the buttermilk bread! I could have eaten three of those!

Overall, my experience at Icehouse wasn’t the best. The staff was great and the service was fast but the food ended up all tasting the same and I don’t think I would have finished it if it wasn’t for my two Bourbon Lemonades. I did have a lot of fun trying all the different spicy sauces available at the counter!

When it was time to pay, my friend and I were a bit shocked by the bill. I would never pay that much for food that makes me want to run to the gym after! But it’s definitely not my last visit at Icehouse. Now that I’ve done the fried experience, I’m ready for the tacos and different appetizers that all sounded very good!

ICEHOUSE
ADDRESS: 51 Roy E.
PHONE: 514-439-6691
HOURS: TUES-SAT 5PM – 1:30AM
ALCOHOL: Yes
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Almost
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
PRICE: $80 for one appetizer, one half-bucket and 4 drinks

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Photo credits: Tourisme Montréal

I have to admit that I’m not one to wander much on Mont-Royal, especially if it’s for a drink or a bite. Of course, I have my favorites and I gladly stick to them.

It was after a lovely picnic evening with my friends that we all decided to head out for a drink now that the weather was too cold to enjoy sitting on the grass. A friend proposed Plan B and sold me the idea that they had a heated terrace at the back.

Of course, the terrace was packed once we arrived but we settled ourselves in the comfy seats located in the back. As soon as I opened the cocktail menu, I got blown away by the exciting selection. In my books, any bar that knows how to make a Ti’Punch has won me over.

A few more drinks later, we did get our table outside and it made me love Plan B even more. The setup is small and private, and it is not uncommon to see people stay for hours.

The staff was very welcoming and always ready to propose new drink ideas. They offer a small snack menu but I did not try any of it, I was too excited to get my drink on. Check it out this summer, either for an early 5à7 (if you want to get a table outside) or a drink in the middle of the day on the week-end.

PLAN B
ADDRESS: 327 Mont-Royal E.
PHONE: 514-845-6060
HOURS: Daily 3PM-3AM
BITES: Yes
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
DRINK PRICE: Around $8 in general

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Milani is the only restaurant I know that has Christmas lights all year long. It’s also my favorite go-to restaurant for a great Vietnamese soup when I’m in Mile-End. It’s owned by a cute family with the husband serving tables and his wife cooking in the back.

After a long week-end at Montreal’s Roller Derby, it was time to get a comforting meal to forget all the PBR I had. I usually always order the satisfying BBQ pork soup but for a change, I tried the spicy chicken soup. The broth was lovely and my bowl was full of vegetables, just how I like it.

Next time you’re in the neighborhood on a rainy day, make sure to visit Milani. The service is not so fast but there’s no rush when it’s soup time! If you’re hungry enough, add some fried spring rolls!

MILANI
ADDRESS: 227 Bernard W.
PHONE: 514-278-7240
HOURS: N/A
ALCOHOL: No
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Okay
CREDIT CARDS: Cash Only
PRICE: $10 for rolls included

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Au Pied de Cochon, a very well known Montreal restaurant run by Martin Picard, offers one of the most interesting sugar shack experience in Quebec and it was with great joy that I finally tried it for the 2011 season.

Nothing but luck got me a table for 14 friends and I, people that I found in less than two hours should I add. Reservations are usually made in December the year before and if you get a call back, it means that you’re in! On my side, I emailed them too late but I ended up getting a call two weeks ago with the offer to take a cancellation for the week-end that just passed.

The experience that Au Pied de Cochon offers is a fine dining voyage into the familiar sugar shack dishes we are used to eat every year. It feels funny to use the term fine dining though as you will see how generous the food is. I will let the pictures speak for themselves on this one.

Oysters with a subtle maple jelly

Green salad with pork rinds (oreilles de criss), cheddar and ham cubes

Pea soup with foie gras cubes

Fried makis with creton

Lobster omelette

Smoked maple maquerel with buckwheat blinis

Roasted pork shoulder with vegetables and a can of beans and cottage cheese

Roasted chicken with gnocchis

Dessert galore: pancakes fried in duck fat, Tarte Tatin, maple taffy on snow and iced nougat topped with chocolate and maple candy floss (or "Sex in your mouth" as I heard at my table)

Overall, I loved my experience at Au Pied de Cochon’ sugar shack! The food was lovely and there is not one single dish that I disliked. One thing I would have done differently is that I would have skipped the meat pie (which is an extra on the bill) that I tried at home already because I did feel really full at the end. I skipped dinner time and still didn’t feel hungry on the next day – what a binge!

The price per person is $54 excluding service and taxes. With drinks, coffee, meat pie, candy floss for take-out and more, it went around $100. I think the price is worth it as you will not get a similar experience elsewhere. The location is nice and close to Montreal, the staff is hard working and fast and the food is great!

I loved how the services were timed. I really feel like everyone at my table got the time to eat, have great conversations, go for little walks in between dishes and really enjoy the sugar shack experience. I think that most locations in Quebec have turned into a fast food buffet service and they kind of want to make sure you’re out in a hour or so. Try this one if you’re thinking the same and I promise you won’t be deceived!

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BU is a wine bar located in Mile-End on St-Laurent street. It’s been there for a while now but I never got a chance to try it before. From outside, it looked way smaller than what the actual space is.

As soon as I got seated, the waiter introduced me to their 5 à 7 formula which is so rare in wine bars. It involved a selection of wines for $5 and tapas from $3 to $5.

But after reading the regular menu, definitely inspired by Italy, I decided to try three dishes in their starter size with a trio of Pinot Noir. It’s always fun to find wine bars with trios even if BU’s were a little more expensive than what I am used to.

From left to right: Lamb with tempura artichoke, Bison with beans and tomatoes and Halibut with lentils

The food was good but not outstanding. I was served everything at the same time so it all got cold quite fast. A few extra minutes of cooking would have made the meat more caramelized and the sides could have used a little more seasoning.

Conclusion: BU is a great wine bar to choose for a 5 à 7 with friends. It can accommodate big or small groups and also has a lovely and long bar counter. The food is well presented but the most expensive plates may not be worth it. Do go crazy on the desserts though!

BU
ADDRESS: 5245 St-Laurent
PHONE: 514-276-0249
HOURS: SUN-WED 7PM – 11PM / THURS-SAT 5PM – 12AM
ALCOHOL: Yes
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Okay
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
PRICE: $60 for a trio of food and wine

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Vieux Vélo is the latest brunch venue in Little Italy. It serves breakfast all day along some lunch items. As soon as I got in, I knew I would like the place. With its laid-back atmosphere, smiling staff and simple dining room, you know you’re in a for a good time with your crew. They also make sure to bring you a warm coffee on the outside bench if you showed up too late for a free table.

The menu is a two-pager with one side for breakfast and brunch and the other for lunch. It is clear that benedictine eggs are their specialty and thus I had to go with it.

I chose the B.A.B. – a mix of bacon, avocado and brie. I was slightly deceived by my plate not for its simpleness but lack of ingredients. The avocado was less than generous under the masses of delicious fat and it made me crave something green and acidic. A small side of green salad would have been wonderful to complete the benedictine.

Also the potatoes covered of spices were a big let down as they were way too overcooked. I stubbornly kept eating them hoping I would find one that would be okay.

Conclusion: Now, this review pretty much sounds awful but I have a deep feeling that it wasn’t meant to be that morning and I need to give them another chance seeing how so many people loved it. My coffee was delicious and my plate would have been wonderful if the promised ingredients would have been all equal and well cooked.

VIEUX-VÉLO
ADDRESS: 59 Beaubien E.
PHONE: (514) 439-5595
HOURS: TUES–FRI 8:30AM – 4PM / SAT–SUN 9AM – 4:30PM
ALCOHOL: Yes
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Yes
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
PRICE: $15

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