When we arrived it was cold. The next day it was terribly cold. Actually, all the days during my stay in the end of November in Montreal were COLD.



The visit could be called an attempted escape from the unusual emptiness, which is characterizing the city of all cities during Thanks Giving as well as New York's 'Black Friday' madness. Or simply a long weekend, relaxing from the rush and noises in the snowy Canadian city of Montreal. It was a lovely weekend full of hot chocolate and other delicious goodies, trying to distract us from the cold outside. No, of course I wasn't sitting inside all time, missing the sights and not experiencing the flair this city has to offer, but it was hard to stay out for too long while the cold wind almost didn't allow you to breathe properly. Although, I should be used cold temperatures, (Thank you Warsaw for letting me experience -25°C..) because of the wind the cold here was harsher than our European one.

But enough complaining, to be honest, I am very happy about the snow during the time of our stay, because otherwise the city would have looked very grey and the atmosphere certainly wouldn't have been the same. Also, since European weather decided to mess around with its inhabitants, it was the first and last snow I saw this year (I hope I didn't jinx it now!!).

Long story short, here is one of the very cute and well visited little cafes/restaurants we used as shelter from the cold.


Type of Place: Olive & gourmando is the perfect place for cold weather (I know I'm repeating myself!). It's a very cosy, though spacious place, but be prepared to wait around 20min to be seated. The red-painted walls, the candles, the dimmed light and the fact that they thought about every tiny little detail concerning decoration makes you wanting to stay there for hours and hours.

Food: Click here for Menu
I wouldn't call this a restaurant, neither a cafe. It's something in between.
They serve a range of smaller dishes like panini, sandwiches, salads etc. and also two or three breakfast options. Also, if you don't feel like sitting down and you're in a rush, you can simply grab some of their homemade pastries, or you order them as a side to your coffee.

We had the 'Cubain' panini, which I really liked but I was missing the taste of the lime and cilantro in the mayonnaise, which was supposed to make the whole thing a bit more 'special'. Like that it was very tasty but a bit more spice wouldn't have been wrong. The 'Gustavo' panini was also good. Their choice of ingredients is creative, but as I said before it could be 'stronger' as to the amount of spices and herbs they use.

Our dessert was the Pear Crumble, which was rather a warm caramelized pear with homemade granola and a maple bufala yogurt. But that wasn't a bad thing at all, it tasted great and I wish I did not share it with my friend, but ordered my own one (I hate sharing food.. classic symptom of food-envy or "Futterneid" - those of you who know me, know what I am talking about ;) ) Their coffee is also great as is their homemade lemonade. The older couple, sitting at the table next to our's, had Mac&Cheese.. I wanted to jump over to their table, steal it from them and lock myself somewhere to eat it. Nooo, I'm not a food freak - it just looked and smelled, so, so delicious!
What I really like is that almost everything is homemade, which you could see and taste and what assures you that the ingredients are fresh and chosen individually.

Price: It's not super expensive, but C$11 (Around €7,50) for a panini is o.k., maybe a little bit too expensive. But since everything is homemade I can understand the prices a bit better.