Breakfast at Faberge
Our plan today is to spend it with a friend from home who moved to Montreal for her studies. We’ll call her Wanderlost!
We made plans to have breakfast at a place Gimpy had found called Faberge. We tried to arrive early since we’d read it gets quite busy on the weekend. Thankfully we were seated within minutes, since it filled up very quickly afterwards, and by the time we left there was a lineup outside!
While the breakfast menu is pretty standard fare for breakfast places, its always a great way to start the day with a tasty and well prepared first meal! We enjoyed the atmosphere, food and most importantly catching up with Wanderlost a little!
McGill
While Wanderlost is not actually studying at McGill University, she attends some classes there and on our way to Mont Royal, we passed through the campus. Wanderlost gave us a very brief tour. Maybe its just how the day ended up being, but one of my favorite times is being outside when its sunny, crisp and cool outside. Being able to walk about the campus on a sunny cold day was a total treat for me!
Mount Royal
Behind McGill is an entrance to Mount Royal Park. The park itself is rather large, and there are a few ways to get to the top of the mountain. The path we took involved a few flights of stairs. While I had my usual complaints going up. I did quite enjoy the winter park atmospheres and the periodic looks back at Montreal below.
Once we arrived at the top close to the chalet, we had the opportunity to really take in the view! I personally love winter, especially on awesome days such as this. The view was spectacular and to see everything covered in snow was an added bonus!
After spending some time around the lookout, we decided to walk around the top of the mountain. There are some great trails that facilitate this. We spent over an hour walking around, enjoying the winter wonderland and snapping photos whenever we got a chance to!
Orange julep
By the time we were ready to head down, we were on the other side of the park. Our plan was to visit another eating location that had been recommended by a few different sources: Gibeau Orange Julep. This is kind of like an old school 60’s diner that serves all manner of fast food. On top of this, they are known for their creamy orange drink which they serve out of these taps that reach into the back of the kitchen.
I’m a huge fan of Orange Julius and this is very much like this. I’m not sure if there is any relationship between the two entities but this was a great stop for us to make! I ordered another poutine to try and thankfully this one was MUCH better than the one we had on our first night! The Orange Julep drink is also amazing, so good that both Gimpy and I both grabbed another one for the road! Highly recommend this place if you ever visit Montreal!
With the hiking that we did, we decided to head back to our AirBnb for a little while before thinking about dinner. We releaxed a little at our place, watched a movie before heading out for dinner. We originally had plans to go to a restaurant called L’Express, but by the time we arrived, they were booked full and we couldn’t get a table. So we ended up walking a little and found ourselves at Schwartz’s!
Schwartz’s Deli
Schwartz’s Deli, is a famous Montreal eatery known for their Montreal Smoked Meat. I’d been here before many years ago and remember it fondly. There is typically a huge line up outside given its popularity and if there was a bigger line I likely would have opted for another place to eat. However, maybe because it was dinner time and a bit later, there was barely a wait and we were seated quite quickly! We all ordered the standard Montreal Smoked meat sandwich, with some sides of pickles!
Everything tasted amazing. Sometimes I wish I would have had them pack a few pounds of the meat for me to take home, but it would have been a pain hauling it around for the rest of the trip!
Sadly, it was time to say good bye to Wanderlost. She had a test the following Monday and needed the next day to study! We walked her to the bus stop, made sure she was away safely before heading home ourselves.
Fous Desserts
We didn’t have anything pressing the next day so we decided to sleep in a little. When we finally decided to step out, the goal was a leisurely stroll through the neighbourhood on the hunt for a good croissant.
Our first stop was Fous Desserts. Gimpy had read about some very nice croissants here. Unfortunately, when we arrived, they had sold out of them and we were pretty bummed. We both ordered some pastries and coffee and resigned ourselves to no croissants! When we were about ready to leave, we see one of the bakers come out from the back with a tray of freshly baked croissants! we HAD to HAVE ONE and I’m so glad we did! We got it to go and while still outside the store ripped open that buttery sucker to see the hot steam rise from its insides. It is quite possibly the best croissant I’ve ever had in my life! My one regret, being so enamored by it that I didn’t take a picture!
Best of the rest
We did have a list of other bakeries to try, but nothing really stacked up to the freshly baked croissant we had at our first stop. So while it was fun to check other places out, we nonetheless concluded the first was the best!
Drogheria Fine
One place high on my list of places to go was Drogheria Fine. This is this tiny little hole in the wall that I read about in a food blog prior to this trip. The concept was unique enough that I made it a point to find it and try it! The idea is it is this tiny little Italian store that is primarily a take out window for one thing only. Gnocchi! They serve it in a Chinese take out container full of Gnocchi and sauce. Normally, even though I LOVE pasta, I’m not one for Gnocchi. However, maybe its because this was such a novel idea or I was a bit hungry it tasted great! Another place to try if you ever make your way out here!
St. Catherine’s Street
With our bellies full, our next stop was to Montreal’s famous St. Catherine’s Street. Gimpy had heard a lot about this crazy shopping street and wanted to check it out. I’d like to say that everything was amazing and great to see, but to be perfectly honest, it is a bit underwhelming. Maybe we got there on a bad day, but it didn’t seem all that different than any busy downtown street lined with different stores. I’ve been to many other cities with similar setups, so I can’t say it was all that impressive (Sorry Montreal!)
l’Express
For dinner Gimpy and I made reservations at L’Express. Since we didn’t get a chance to go with Wanderlost the day before, we wanted to ensure we could at least get in today. We arrived and were seated. We proceeded to order a few items we’d been very keen to try, namely the bone marrow. While it was very good, its REALLY heavy and so I don’t think its something I could really enjoy frequently. What I really could do all the time though were the endless pickles that they provided along with the bread. I remember munching on those things throughout the evening. Overall all the food was very tasty and we enjoyed our meal. Though we found the service to be a bit slow when it came time for us to get things like the bill.
Diese Onze Jazz Club
One of the other things big in Montreal is its Jazz scene. I’m a big fan of that musical genre and was eager to see if we could find a Jazz club and take in a few sets on this trip. I don’t know if Gimpy LOVES jazz but she was willing to go with me to one called Diese Onze Jazz Club. What we didn’t know at the time was that the night we visited is actually an open mic night, so anyone from the audience could throw their hat in the ring and actually perform for the crowd. When we first got there it was pretty empty but by the time we left the entire place was packed!
I really enjoyed the time taking in the tunes and the amateur performers giving their performances! In between songs Gimpy and I had a good chance to chat as well, so overall it was a pretty awesome evening!
We ended up staying for a few hours before heading back to our place, we had an early start tomorrow. We decided to spend it in Ottawa and had an early train to catch.