I Ate All the Donuts in Montreal so You’d Have to, Too

After just two days in Montreal, one of my friends sent me a text.

Uh, Amy, it looks like you’re eating a lot of donuts in Montreal.

No one is surprised by this anymore, right? If you follow me on Instagram, you know. Every day in Montreal started with a donut. And, if you ever find yourself up in that enchanting city, yours should too.

Café Plume

Did not have donuts. Despite all my extensive pre-trip research about donuts in Montreal, my first stop was a disappointment. The barista said they only have donuts ‘sometimes’ and offered me a croissant instead, but I was not to be deterred from my donut plans. Instead I got a (quite nice) cappuccino to go and marched on.

Café Olimpico

This is one weird little café – in the best way! It’s like a New Jersey diner, with sports paraphernalia and TVs hanging from the walls and supreme Italian coffee. The mustachioed barista worked the espresso machine with more confidence and panache than I’ve seen in any Brooklyn beanery. This is the kind of place I would be a regular at.

I opted for the maple bacon donut – my first ever, despite the lasting trend. I thought it’d be an appropriate place to finally try it, here in Canada. It was a tasty balance of caramel sweetness and tiny bursts of salty bacon goodness (I’ve always hesitated over those donuts with whole slices of bacon on them. Overkill, I think). The donut was solid, but I’d really recommend Olimpico for its coffee showmanship.

Léché Desserts

To think, I almost didn’t go to Léché. Even though it was mentioned several times on various websites about Montreal donuts, it was an hour walk away – in a totally random direction. But then I found out that Atwater Market was nearby, and I felt the walk was justifiable.

Oh, sweet donut heaven.

Pistachio cream, Ferrero Rocher, double chocolate brownie, lemon meringue. Deciding on any one donut would feel like a betrayal of the delicious potential of the rest. But when they bought out the fresh peanut butter and jelly donuts, I jumped on them. Delicious. Dreamy. Divine.

I think an hour long walk really justified a second donut, but I showed some restraint. And now I regret it.

This place is worth the detour. Atwater Market is a delight, too, and the little neighborhood that I walked through on Rue Notre-Dame was enchanting.

La Cornetteria

I apologize for what I’m about to do to you.

This tiny place is unassuming. On the edge of Petite Italy, it’s run by an authentic Italian baker, a real charmer. After I ran out of my three French phrases, we moved on to limited but totally comfortable English. He made my iced latte like a martini, shaking the espresso and ice over his shoulder. As I sat down to devour my ‘cronetto,’ he went off to work in the back kitchen.

Imagine a buttery, flaky croissant, deep fried and rolled in fine sugar. If you’ve never had a cronut, all I can say is that this is what I imagine transcendent meditation is like.

The owner popped back in to see how I liked it.

“Best cronut I’ve ever had,” I said, pulling off a delicate flake (it was oh so hard to savor it slowly). He went back to work with a little hop in the air and a fist pump.

I saw other people come into the bakery and not order cronettos and I wanted to shout, “HOW? Don’t you know how amazing they are??” Still, I’ve learned not to butt into just any conversation with my donut opinions, so I kept to myself. And everything in the bakery looked amazing, so it was hard to fault them. I was also given a sample of frozen espresso. It’s like highly caffeinated chilled mousse. It’s amazing and I don’t understand how it’s not incredibly popular everywhere.

Tim Hortons

Oh, Canadian classic, I wouldn’t forget you. I picked up a maple glazed at the Tim Hortons in the train station. I tried hard to wait until I was on the train to eat it – I had a very cute photo planned – but between juggling bags, smooshing the donut, and my increasing hunger, I ended up scarfing it down in line while waiting to board.

For a chain, Tim Hortons really gets it right. I might say it’s even better than my donut from Olimpico.

I loved exploring Montreal through its pastries (though I couldn’t quite sample them all). It was a great way to give my daily wanderings a direction and explore the different neighborhoods. Chatting with the border agent on my way back, he asked me what I did up in Montreal.

“Ate a lot,” I admitted.

“What’s the best thing you ate?” he asked.

I know he was just going through some routine questions, but I couldn’t help getting excited. “Oh, have you ever had a cronut?”

I used Pinterest to help plan my Montreal trip – check out my Montreal board for more ideas!