my adventures in baking: Eating out in Montréal, part III: Resto L’Avenue, Pâtisserie Au Kouign Amann, & Cantinho de Lisboa

Part III of our gastronomical tour through Montréal takes us to Resto L’Avenue, Pâtisserie Au Kouign Amann, and Cantinho de Lisboa. Check out the other posts here: part I (Atwater Market & La Panthère Verte), part II (Bocata, La Gargote, & Olive et Gourmando), and part IV (Gibbys and Modavie).

Resto L’Avenue was a super funky breakfast joint we happened upon while out for a walk on Mont Royal. They had mannequins, a spray-painted mural wall, and a black-lit bathroom with florescent writing all over the walls. Contrary to the decor, the food was pretty traditional breakfast fare and was yummy and hearty. And, they served watermelon water...interesting!

the huge watermelon water tank

pretty cappuccino

all of the meals came with a fruit skewer

scrambled eggs with bacon, potatoes and cheese
(although I thought the cheese would have been melted over the eggs, lol)

eggs over-easy with sausage and potatoes

Kouign amann is one of my favorite desserts. It's flaky, buttery, and simple but delicious. And, I love making laminated doughs so it's a win-win! I've actually made kouign amann twice with varied results: very successfully as part of the Rose's Alpha Bakers club and once semi-successfully (although still yummy) using David Lebovitz's recipe. So, when we were planning our trip to Montréal, I had to search for the best place to eat kouign amann and found the aptly named...Pâtisserie Au Kouign Amann.

This bakery is a tiny neighborhood place (so tiny they don't even have a website!), which just happens to specialize in this amazing pastry. When we got there (around 10:00 am, I think), they had already sold out of the first batch of kouign amann so we had to come back about 30 minutes later for the next batch which was in the oven. We actually reserved our slices to make sure we would get some when we returned! And, boy am I glad we did - they were warm, caramelized, sweet but not overly so, and buttery.

a delicious slice

the hot kouign amann, fresh out of the oven,
waiting for a lucky buyer

some of the other pastries they sell

Last in this post is Cantinho de Lisboa. An eat-in or take-out café with a Portuguese flavor. Cantinho de Lisboa was near our airbnb rental so we ate there twice - once for lunch and once for breakfast (when Olive et Gourmando was too busy...see part II for my thoughts about O+G). The food was very good, flavorful and not too heavy, and the atmosphere was fun and comfortable. Even though we were there for lunch, it wasn't too busy so we were able to hang out, write postcards, and read. The counter staff were all very friendly too!

When we went for lunch, I had a warm prosciutto and cheese sandwich on a baguette and my husband had a ham sandwich on a croissant. Both were served with a bit of salad and fried potato sticks...both were also delicious! When we returned for breakfast a few days later, I had a plain croissant, which they served with a sweet tomato jam...which I had never had before, but was surprisingly yummy! My husband had a ham and cheese croissant which was served with fruit.