We had the pleasure of having brunch at a local watering hole/hole in the wall in the Alexandra - Marconi neighbourhood of Montreal a couple weeks ago while visiting Vanessa’s family. We met up with our friend Camille, owner of Allume, who knew we were hungry and looking for the best vegetarian food that didn’t feel like vegetarian food; she also raved about their fake pulled pork. By the way Camille described it, we were expecting a new restaurant/cafe but when we arrived to our surprise, this was a trip back to any Quebecer’s childhood. As soon as you walk in, you’re greeted with the smell of delicious hot sandwiches, soups, salads and espresso. The whole space is literally a vintage bodega/convenience store with a dinner setup inside, the tables hidden within the shelfs of inventory and stock. The staff were super welcoming and provided great service. I came back the next day by myself because I didn’t wan’t to play around: I needed the Halloumi sandwich ASAP. Shout out to our awesome server who was a fellow east coaster from Fredricton, NB!
baked goods
Catching Montreal Coffee Waves at September Surf Café /
We recently got a chance to go on another new coffee shop excursion last weekend in Montreal. This time it's this super cool, surf influenced coffee shop called September Surf Cafe. Besides sourcing their coffee from the east coast, which is an obvious preference for myself being from PEI, they also have this interesting surf lab (Shaper Studios) inside, that offers DIY surfboard workshops and shaping resources. Located in the Little Burgundy neighbourhood of downtown Montreal, it offers a very relaxed atmosphere with knowledgable staff. You can go in there to get some work done or just simply enjoy a quick coffee sesh. This spot is worth checking out next time your downtown.
XMAS Eve Coffee Run in Quebec /
This will be the second year in a row I haven't been back home to PEI for the holidays but this is also the second year i've spent christmas in Quebec and been fortunate enough to spend it with my 2nd family. We woke up today on Xmas eve and decided to go for a quick coffee run to this new coffee boutique in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu called Autour de la Table which we've been meaning to come to for awhile now. We brought a superb Brennan Michael candle with us and lit that thing off and had a great chat with the owner. We had a last minute stop to the grocery store to grab our xmas eve dinner ingredients which we'll have some photos up from that up on the blog soon. Happy Holidays Folks!
-Sean
