#montrealcafe

Cafe Myriade | My first ever cafe crawling experience

Location:

Metro Station: Guy Concordia

Myriade: a classic, in my opinion. I’ve been to this location many times, however they have opened many other locations since Myriade has become very popular. I’ll be posting a separate review for their location at the Plateau in the near future.

 The first time I came here was the first ever time I ever cafe crawled - about a billion lattes and americanos ago. It was Fall 2015. My high school best friend and I decided pretend we were university students and went to the Myriade next to Guy Concordia. We felt pretty cool, until we got there and we realized just how packed it could get on a Thursday evening…

We both ordered lattes (mine was a pumpkin spice latte) and we were very excited. Being new at this, I even told the barista to do a “latte art design” on my drink (face palm). He was very shocked at my unusual question. I don’t really blame him. The lattes did come out beautiful though; I included the picture above.

They have a few seats inside but a bunch of tables outside. Lucky for us, there was one more place left outside… allowing us to enjoy our drinks in the cold… and the wind. 

Since it was our first time having such gorgeous drinks, we obviously took way too many pictures - probably distracting the actual coffee loving students who were trying to study. Meanwhile, I was content with the fact that my pumpkin spice latte actually tasted like pumpkin (sorry Starbucks).

Now that I actually am a Concordia student, I have to say that I do go here once in a while for a nice americano before my morning classes. There’s honestly nothing better than waking up a few minutes early to come to school some time before class and relax at a coffee shop. There’s something about that morning sunshine in a newly opened cafe, with the smell of fresh coffee filling the whole room. Something about that calming swing melodies swaying in my almost empty mind while sipping a hot cup of coffee. Something about the calm before the chaos of lunch in a very popular cafe. I live for it.

I love how this place has mainly a wooden aesthetic, it gives it a cozy feel. Also, they use 49th Parallel coffee!!! Such a bonus. Favorite beans. Life. 

Also, if you guys wanna follow me on Instagram for more photos my name is legendoftamar <3

Cafe Sfouf

Location: 1250 Ontario St E

Metro Station: Beaudry 

Ever since I was little, my grandmother would bake me this yellow dessert. She would call them Sfouf and would tell me she would always make them for my dad back in Lebanon. We are Armenian, but my dad’s side of the family is entirely from Lebanon. You can imagine how much of the Lebanese culture has stuck with my family and how much they enjoy recreating dishes and activities that remind them of their childhood. For me, “Sfouf” was more than just a dessert, but also a little memory I would always associate with my grand mother and my father.

When I heard that there was cafe in Montreal named “Sfouf”, I was definitely intrigued. I wondered if it was a coincidence, or if the owners intentionally wanted to name their cafe after a yellow dessert. When I saw their yellow logo, I knew it wasn’t an accident. I decided to go there myself and take a look at this original-sounding coffee shop located close to the Plateau.

Walking in, Sfouf looked like a normal indie coffee shop. Obviously, it looked unique with its beautiful decor but nothing too extravagantly different. It blended in nicely with the Montreal coffee scene.

I especially loved the plants that were decorating each corner of the cafe. Plants are very important to me as they liven up a space and make it feel like Summer despite Montreal’s cloudy weather.

There were many corners to this coffee shop. They have your usual huge desks that were filled with students &amp; their laptops (including me). They have couches, great to hang out for some chit chat. And… they had a little corner for children! They call it “Le Petit Sfouf” and they have provided toys for kids to play with while their parents enjoy a nice cup of coffee. Very nice addition!

I ordered a cappuccino off of my Indie Coffee Passport and quickly opened my laptop to get some work done (AKA pretend to work while I take at least a hundred pictures of the coffee shop).

As I was “working”, the barista brought my *beautiful * cappuccino.. along with a piece of Sfouf! That’s right - they offer a free sampling of Sfouf with their drinks for those of you who are curious. And it was delicious.

I deeply appreciate coffee shops like this one. They have created a wonderful spot for Montrealers to hang out, all the while keeping their culture and spreading it around. Now more people will know about Sfouf! It definitely feels like the world knows about my little family story now. I will for sure bring my grandmother here one day.

Small tip: When you go, make sure you take a picture of their “corner” pictures below; it’s their most photographed corner!

Visit my official Montreal Cafe Crawl website to discover my cafe explorations!  

Insta:legendoftamar

Hello beautiful people!!!

So… I have some pretty big news for you.

As you may know, I’ve been using Tumblr as my primary blog but I’m so happy to finally announce that I have made a Montreal Cafe Crawl blog online!!!!

It would mean the world to me if you checked it out <3

www.exploringmtlcafes.com

Insta:legendoftamar

Facebook:exploringmontrealcafes

Cafe Perko

Location: 753 Rue Villeray, Montréal

Metro Station: Jean Talon

Hello lovely people!!! I have finished finals and am currently in my summer semester (already, I know). I’ve been in the process of also applying to almost a 100 internship positions for Fall 2017 as a “software engineer intern”. It’s been hard. It’s been tiring. Exciting, but energy sucking. What could possibly help me in these stressful times? What could possibly fuel me up to be motivated and alert in my job application process? 

You guessed it. Coffee.

I came here last weekend and it was a true refresher. My cousin drove us in this lovely spot in Villeray since she wanted to work on her writing (she’s amazing by the way, you should check out her poetry on her account @doekent). 

In contrast to other coffee shops in Montreal, I hadn’t heard of Perko too much. I had stumbled upon it on a few posts on Instagram but hadn’t noticed any hype. So why did we go? By the time she picked me up it was around 5 and almost all coffee shops close early - except Perko, which closed at 9. So we went for it. And I’m VERY glad we did. 

This is how you discover hidden gems. And it is the best feeling. Stepping inside this relatively big coffee shop, I immediately noticed the one table that was open. The place was packed. We bolted for the one table. The picture I took and posted above is from right before their closing time and does not represent the amount of people that fills the cafe on their regular times.

The space was gorgeously decorated and felt almost home-like. There were cute signs and sayings all over the place. The baristas were very nice too. 

I ordered a latte (obviously) and my cousin ordered a chai latte. Both were very delicious and my latte definitely fuelled me up and motivated me to continue writing my cover letters. 

One thing I noticed was that there were a lot of kids and babies around. Some really loud… I wondered why there were so many babies in this one coffee shop. I got my answer when I saw that Perko had a little section for kids where they put many baby toys and couches for parents to relax on. I found it very cute and inviting for families. There were also changing tables in the bathrooms. 

Another cool aspect about Perko is that it’s a student friendly coffee shop. There are many plugs, AMAZING wifi, a room you can rent (I think for 10$/hour) to study in… and they even have a PRINTER. Isn’t that unusually cool? And very nice of them? You can donate some money if you do print but they’ve made it completely free which is… amazing. And generous. 

In conclusion: I got a lot of work done here. I loved the vibe of the cafe, I loved the coffee, I loved the people, I loved everything about it. I will definitely go back. And you should too!!!

Darling

Location: 4328, boul. St-Laurent, Montreal

Metro Station: Mont Royal

End of April… marks the end of finals. School’s out!… Well only for about 3 days until I go to summer school. 

Nonetheless, gives me enough time to explore my city without any pressure from my academic responsibilities!

Today, my boyfriend and I were planning on having a lunch type date in the Mile end until our plans miserably failed when we realized our chosen restaurant wasn’t going to open for another 4 hours. We decided to hop on a random bus on the corner of the street since it was pouring like crazy and we didn’t feel like staying out in the rain. We got off a stop when we started feeling like we knew the neighbourhood and ended up in the Plateau… again. 

After finding a place to eat, we decided to walk around some new areas in the Plateau we hadn’t discovered yet. Although it was raining, breathing in fresh air was so refreshing considering we had been locked in our room the past 3 weeks trying to stuff 5 courses worth of information in our heads. 

I felt like I was in a European dramatic movie - walking in the rain with a little umbrella with my favourite person, discovering places with nothing else in mind. Queue the Parisienne music. 

We suddenly stumbled upon an exotic looking shop on the corner of a street. From the outside looking in, while we were dripping with water, we could see plants and wine and bright lights and greenery and comfortable couches and… coffee! Sold.

We went into the coffee shop and was immediately warmed with welcomes from the waiter. A coffee shop - but a different kind at that. The first thing that caught my eye was with no hesitation the lights on the ceiling. I don’t really know what the letters spell out, but they sure look aesthetically pleasing so I rolled with it.

The section next to the windows was very casual with the couches. There were mini candles decorating each table and plants flowing around every corner, making the space extra inviting - battling the coldness of the weather outside. As the Jazz music was playing in the background, we took a seat on the couches, avoiding the tables since we didn’t have laptops since we didn’t have school. Emphasis on the comfort!!! No school equals we can sit on the nice couches and relax. 

I saw students around me on their laptops still working very hard on their studies… accompanied with their glasses of wine instead of the usual latte. I liked it. I love coffee but i live for these different little details in shops. 

Let me explain the wine though, because it is a very important part of this “coffee shop”. It’s not really a “coffee shop”. It’s a hybrid. Half coffee shop, half bar. You heard that right. It’s also a bar. Order food, order alcohol, order coffee - sit at the huge circular bar for a nice glass of wine or beer or anything else, or sit on the couches like me and still order your usual. I got a chai latte this time so I tried to be a bit different than my regular latte. And it was delicious! One of the best I’ve ever had.

I felt like I was in a different country in this cafe. With decorations like mini instruments on the walls, to the candles on the tables, to the vintage looking decor, I also felt like I was in a Jazz club. Everything was so perfectly shaped together. 

I know I say I love all the cafes in Montreal - and I do, don’t get me wrong - but this place is really one of my favourites now. It made me feel like I’m in 1920s Paris and I lived for it. Next time, I’ll even dress for it.

Sometimes, your plans might go awry and your chosen restaurant will open only 4 hours later. However, sometimes… those moments are calls for better adventures and more exploration with improvisation. Let the rain guide you to beautiful shelters.

HVMANS cafe

Location: 1455 rue Sainte_Catherine Ouest, Montreal

Metro Station: Guy-Concordia

Hello hello!!! I have officially closed all my school books and made myself a nice cup of tea. I am ready to tell you about the all new coffee shop that literally opened about a week ago and how it quickly turned into my favorite spot near school. 

But let me start with a little background story (obviously). So Monday around noon, I came to Concordia for my class. All along the metro ride there, I was wishing I was home instead, drinking coffee, doing something relaxing. Monday blues had hit me hard. Even though my first class started at 2. And I only had one class. Okay… not the worse Monday you can have, but it was still Monday. And I walked into school unhappy. But my bitter unhappiness suddenly turned into confusion.. 

As I walked up to the second floor, I realized that none of the lights in the school were turned on. It took me a while to realize that Concordia was having a power outage. Cherry on top of all the issues this school has been having this semester.

They evacuated the building and my class got canceled. My Monday was getting  a bit better and a little more interesting.

I’m in downtown at this point - with no laptop or notebooks. I can’t do any school work. What do I do? Yap, you guessed it. 

I decided to try HVMANS cafe that just opened next to the EV Building. Let me tell you - every single cafe crawler I know had tried this place within days of its opening. And fell in love. So yes, I was excited to see it for myself.

_______________

I walked into the cafe, immediately greeted by beautiful sunlight entering from their huge windows. 

I noticed their decor was mainly concentrated on a very pale color palette - mainly white and pale wood with strong greenery accents. The windows amplified any light that came in, and the white-ness of the entire place reflected even more brightness and made the space shine. I’m a huge believer of light and its benefits to our mood. I was instantly happy. My Monday blues were cured.

Although the cafe was mainly white, they had decorated the space with many little plants (including cacti), which provided a beautiful contrast and amazing prop for those Instagram latte pictures. Plants are becoming a trend in Montreal cafes and I’m absolutely loving it. More please!!! They add so much life, yet have a subtle elegance.

The chairs here were extremely comfortable and they have many tables - and a lot of window seats. I don’t know about you but window seats are my absolute favorite spots in coffee shops. I sometimes hunt for those seats when entering a coffee shop and have my eyes set on the window seats. It’s a bit stressful. But not here, because almost their entire cafe is windows. Chances are - you’ll get the exact seat you want. They have many individual tables and a big desk at the very end if that’s what you prefer. I think I changed my spot about 3 times so I could experience different settings in the cafe. 

Let’s talk about coffee. First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever stayed so long at a coffee shop before (6 hours) and I don’t think I’ve ever ordered so many drinks at once! I took a chai latte (which was recommended by my cousin), a regular latte and a matcha latte. And a croissant on the side.

Ok, let’s start with the chai. Heaven. and gorgeous. and heaven. Best chai latte I’ve ever had in my entire life! The cinnamon wasn’t too empowering, the spice wasn’t too much and the amount of milk was just right. I think I finished it in 5 minutes. I didn’t even take a bite out of my croissant in between sips like I normally do. I need to go back there for another chai. Soon.

The regular latte was my friends’ and she loved it. The latte art on this one was really nice. I need go to back to try their regular coffee since I didn’t this time (oops). 

And the matcha - delicious matcha! Matcha lattes are one of my favorite drinks and not a lot of cafes do it right. It’s really easy for matcha to taste like fish (it’s not suppose to) so I really try to look out for coffee shops that get it right. And HVMANS did. I go to Leaves cafe for my matcha but now this place is a good competitor. And you can see that I had a lot of fun taking pictures of it too.

Another aspect I loved were the people. The barista was super nice and forgave me for my broken french (I really tried). And since this cafe was all new, and right next to a university that lost power for  a few hours, a lot of Instagrammers stopped by at my same time. I was able to meet/see some of my favorites, which made my experience here even more exceptional. 

So, hvmans of Concordia, if our school ever has a power failure again, you know what to do. You know what the real drill is!!! HVMANS: the perfect hideaway on a Monday. 

IG: legendoftamar