Café du Monde

Tucked along the St Lawrence River at the very end of Rue Dalhousie the Café Du Monde may be a little hard to find if you don’t know the area. Go looking for it anyway, you won’t be disappointed. They are quite famous for their Sunday Brunch and we were very brave to attempt a walk in with 8 people on a Sunday at 1pm. We did however walk in and after a minimal wait of 10 minutes or so we were given a great table in a Sun filled alcove surrounded by windows. The ideal seat would have the St Lawrence right outside the window, we had the opposite side and yet we still had great views of the river and the street. The kitchen here is open and the chef’s are a real bunch of hams and will mug for you of you want to take pictures, the hostess encourages it and they all get in the act.

We had the best time here. Our waiter was a little stiff when we first sat down but dealing with three teenaged girls and a smiling nine year old could have broken some men but he was up to the task and was joking with us by the end of the meal.

We tried a wide variety of menu items. We had all had breakfast so we went more with the lunch items. Al and Jason had a steak and with a little encouragement so did our granddaughter Amie. Brandon had the children’s pasta dish and Jeanna and Julia had French fries. Jen and I order the ham and cheese sandwich.

The brunch menu was really quite extensive and many of the items were named for places in France. Where else can you find poached eggs done nine different ways? The Lyonnaise pairs poached eggs with duck confit, leeks, shallots, onions and white wine; The Provencal pairs poached eggs with red and green peppers, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, onions, garlic and basil.

For a healthy choice they offer yogurt, cranberry bread, muesli and a bowl of fresh berries. Pancakes are also offered as well as omelets and scrambled eggs.

While we were waiting for our meals we were provided with a basket of very good crispy rolls and butter. We made short work of it and our waiter made sure we had another basket.

The Angus steaks undercut with shallots came perfectly cooked with a heaping pile of fantastic French fries, baked tomato and fresh greens. It was the perfect size, even Amie who is less than 80 pounds was able to finish hers, not however all the fries.

The ham sandwich was more like a hero on a crispy roll with the cheese oozing all over, excellent. I am never quite sure why a ham sandwich in France or Canada is so much better than at home but this one was no exception.