After a weekend of doing the Cabane à Sucre and visiting several delightful breweries and beer bars around Montreal, it was time to head home, stopping off in Le Plateau for a brunch. We used to go a lot to Lawrence for this, but Lawrence has retooled their concept and menu and isn’t much of a brunch spot any more. And another former area favorite of ours, Universel, moved and isn’t convenient anymore. But just around the corner from Lawrence is another spot known for brunch, Fabergé, that our friends Rick and Sarah had gotten as a recommendation, so we all headed off there for a proper sendoff breakfast.
One thing I like about Montreal is that most of its better breakfast joints manage to have nice, funky, and vibrant interiors (with another favorite, L’avenue, leading the way). Fabergé fits in quite nicely, with a nice modern interior and boldly painted walls featuring a very abstract and stylistic interpretation of the Montreal skyline. And even at a nice, semi-early 9am arrival (Montreal isn’t generally a city of early risers, especially on the weekends), the place was starting to get busy; we didn’t wait for a table, but the line would start forming shortly after.
The brunch menu at Fabergé has all of your basic breakfast items on it, most of them having a slightly interested twist. I went for “La Belle Province”, which was a bacon-stuffed waffle with blueberry compote and candied bacon. I enjoyed this a fair bit. I hadn’t had a bacon-stuffed waffle in years (the last I think was from Al’s Breakfast in Minneapolis), but the overall concept was good, and the compote more rich with concentrated blueberry notes than being overly sweet. One minor quibble: the waffle itself was a bit heavy; I definitely prefer my waffles to be lighter and fluffier, with a really good crisp on them. Still, a solid breakfast.
Carol opted for the Cinnamon Toast Brunch, which was basically a cinnamon-heavy French toast. Carol quite enjoyed this, since she always likes a good French toast, but most of the better options for that back home in the Upper Valley seem to have closed up. A good bread, a nice egg batter, and finished to a good crisp, this was nicely done.
Our friend Sarah got the Huevos Rancheros, which I didn’t try, but it looked pleasant enough, and she reported that the potatoes were particularly good. I’d certainly consider giving this a try on a future visit.
Rick went for one of the more interesting items by ordering both a Benedict (a fairly classic rendiction) and a side of “breakfast poutine” (breakfast potatoes, caramelized onions and peppers, topped with Hollandaise sauce). Aside from being a bit of a Hollandaise overload, this looked like a really great breakfast plate, especially with the nicely-done home fries and a nicely executed Hollandaise.
Overall, I think Fabergé was a great spot to round out our trip to Montreal, and a good solid option to keep in the rotation for our periodic trips to Montreal; now that we’re finally past most of the issues of the pandemic, hopefully we’ll be able to get back up there more regularly.
