Background on Montreal Restaurants
As part of my trip to Montreal, I did much research via chowhound, Fodor's, Frommer's, Yahoo travel, and other web sites on good restaurants nearby. I knew I wanted to eat at places that I can't find back at home. That meant French bistros and nice bakeries. But it also meant so much more. I learned Montreal really was a good town for foodies, with countless other unique dining experiences with restaurants specializing in items ranging from fois gras and Montreal bagels to smoked meats and poutine. Even though I was in the city for five days, I could've easily filled many times more days than that with recommended restaurants.
Context for this Particular Restaurant
Although I didn't see any non-chowhound reviews of Byblos Le Petit Cafe, chowhounds loved it, especially its unique Middle Eastern brunch. I knew I had to go. We tried to go on Monday but it was closed and instead we went to St. Viateur Bagel Cafe. On Tuesday we tried again, successfully.
The restaurant's home page is http://www.geocities.com/cafebyblos/ but is only in French.
Byblos Le Petit Cafe Review
"This is amazing," said my mom as she ate what she described as the most unusual breakfast of her life.
We got many items:
- Basket with pita bread, and sweet bread with poppy seeds.
- With the sweet bread, we used some rose petal jam. Good stuff.
- With the pita bread, we received a plate containing herbs, walnuts, feta cheese, a few olives, and some slices of radishes. We made tasty sandwiches. The feta cheese was such good quality that my mom and I, both of whom don't usually enjoy feta, liked it. Mom said, "This is wonderful. I can\'t believe it." I even liked the olives and I usually only like black olives.
- Halva, a spread made from ground nuts and honey, also came as a topping. Good. It reminded my mom of a similar Jewish dish that we don't often find.
- Koukou. (A Middle Eastern version of an omelette.) I don't remember what ours was stuffed with but dad liked the stuffing. I say the dish was much like a quiche.
- Croissant. Good quality. Buttery and flaky, almost flaky enough that the whole thing could flake apart.
We almost didn't finish but my mom couldn't let anything go to waste, especially the halva.
We drank:
- Orange juice. Fresh. Good quality.
- Coffee. Thick, but my parents said it still tasted good.
Some items we had aren't pictured.
The restaurant is casual and welcoming. Arabian (?) wind music provided some ambiance. The dining room was filled with natural light streaming through large windows. We sat in the corner visible in the picture below and hence had a panoramic view of both inside and outside.
