The 20 best breakfast sandwiches in Montreal right now

In 2018, Frank Serevido decided to carry on his family's legacy by resurrecting the Mile End landmark Boulangerie Clarke on the main vein of Pointe-Saint-Charles, Centre Street. Clarke Cafe quickly became famous for their Italian-style sandwiches and more recently for their take on breakfast between brioche buns: Cajun mayo, crisped mortadella, a perfectly fried egg, bacon, sweet pickles, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. One bite is all it takes to taste all the complexity, balance, and deep flavors put into this labor of love. If you plan on getting your hands on this stupefacente sangwich, be sure to place your order before 11 AM because there’s a hard cut-off and limited supply.

Saint-Henri hasn’t been the same since Raegan Steinberg and Alex Cohen opened the doors to their now-iconic nosh bar. Arthurs—only tourists call it by its full name—serves up reimagined Jewish classics and you’d be mashugana to think they wouldn’t include their take on the breakfast sandwich. Pay special attention to the technique put into the preparation of their scrambled eggs. Expertly cooked, somewhat runny, and packed full of creamy flavor. Served on a fresh challah roll with some maple syrup-basted all-beef grilled salami, melty American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo.

When David Ollu, Mélodie Perez-Mousseau and Youri Bussières-Fournel took their Bouillon Bilk training out east to open up their own restaurant Hélicoptère, they brought their A game. Not just because it's a fine dining destination, but they doubled down with a café worth putting in the mileage for with a breakfast sandwich that knocks you off your feet: Perez-Mousseau's recipe for brioche buns is a pillowy base for a fennel sauasge, egg patty, BBQ sauce, cheddar, and house bacon (house!) with some greens to balance it all out.

Top that off with fresh pastries and coffee and you're done, son.

When Jeffrey Finkelstein opened up his Mile End bakery, he brought his prodigious experiences at Per Se, French Laundry, Noma, Toqué!, and El Bulli with him. You can taste the skill and passion his team puts into all of their creations, and that includes the breakfast sandwich: It conjures some Mediterranean and Israeli influences to deliver a surprisingly different take on the usual suspect. Served on a freshly baked house English muffin, it combines egg, harissa mayo, American cheese, and sauteed green onions for a flavor profile you won’t soon forget.

Injecting a well-needed dose of style and culinary prowess right into the main strip of Sherbrooke Street West, this café and wine bar serves up a mean brunch headlined by a home run of a breakfast sandwich. Pro tip: Don’t even think about not upping your game and adding the savory house-made sausage smack in the middle of the egg, American cheese, lettuce, special sauce, and griddle toasted potato bun.

Everybody was talking about Andrew Soulis' ode to the old-timey snack bar when it opened up in Verdun and its banana bread recipe. While it's true that that's a fine enough reason to pay a visit, their breakfast sandwich formula—pork or chicken sausage (or avocado for vegetarians), cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and mayo on a springy brioche bun—is a winning combination. Don't turn down getting the hashbrown on the side; better yet, ask to have that crispy potato unit inside your sandwich. You won't forget that advice after you've tried it.

What started off in 2018 as a surfboard shaping room and café in the heart of Little Burgundy quickly transformed into a local staple for good vibes and great eats. They really “hit the lip” was their take on the classic breakfast sandwich: Fried egg, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo stuffed between a fresh egg bun. If you really want to hang loose, you can opt for the deluxe sandwich which throws a house mustard, some smoked ham, and pickles right up into the mix if you're looking for a luxuriant kick.

You can always expect excellence when it coms to a love child institution from two of Montreal’s most beloved restaurants, Joe Beef and Maison Publique. As soon as you walk through the door and sit down in the airy, warmly light space, you know you’re in for something special and—guess what?—their breakfast sandwich slaps! Coming in hot with a breakfast sausage patty, lettuce, egg, cheese, and mayo, all on a homemade sesame brioche bun. If you’re tempted to pair the sandwich with one of their specially brewed 4 Origines McKiernan Cassis beers to complete the hangover reflief formula, don’t hesitate.

You can call it cheating if a breakfast sandiwch needs to be handheld to be considered a sandwich, but when it's this good, we don't really care: This neighbourhood joint on Masson is a destination for many reasons, chiefly among them the 'Le Gros Bill' sandwich that combines a grilled cheese stuffed with bacon, ham, cretons, and baseball mustard, which is then topped with a sunnyside egg and surrounded by home fries done right.

Brunch may be ubiquitous in Montreal, but there are only so many that can be crowned champions of that mealtime, and the Village's Le Passé Composé easily ranks among them.It wouldn't be brunch either if they didn't offer up a solid breakfast sandwich, and we're thinking their best is the Bagel Passé Composé. The name lacks in creativity, but the sandwich ain't: A St-Viateur bagel is filled with basilic cream cheese, smoked salmon, panko fried avocado, fried jalapenos, Niçoise lettuce, and cilantro sprouts—then it's surrounded with even more cream cheese on the plate for dipping. 

A mandatory stop for seasoned foodies, locals, and culinary-minded tourists alike! Born from a self-proclaimed ‘series of happy mistakes’, Dyan Soloman and Eric Girad brought their baking and pastry skills together to create this Old Montreal mainstay. Their ‘Poached Egg on your Face Panini’ is anything but a mistake, however: Mixing poached egg salad, sriracha, Clos des Roches raw milk cheese, speck (smoked prosciutto), and confit tomatoes in a grilled panini is the perfect combination of salt, fat, acid, and heat. 

We're sure your tastebuds will agree.

Le Réservoir's chef Marc-Alexandre Mercier has taken this brewery and pub to the next level with his ccoking, and among some proper and inventive dishes stands not one, but two honest and straightforward breakfast sandwiches worth ordering every time the weekend brunch service rolls around: There's your standard—a B.E.L.T served with sour cream and mustard (a combo that's testament to the chef's ability to tweak and twist)—and then there's a fried chicken sandwich that we say, yes, this makes for a fine breakfast nosh. Fight us on that if you want.

It's such a classic eat in the Mile End that we'd be remiss to exclude it when rounding up the best brekkie sandos in town: Larrys and Lawrence may do a lot of things wroth eating, but their breakfast sandwich stands tall among them all. It's a house sausage patty and fried egg served on an English muffin, and damn it all if it isn't one of the best breakfast sandwiches in town. We're almost frustrated by how endearing it is despite its simplicity.

Chef Danny St-Pierre has been an instant success with this restaurant that took over the time-honored Plateau brunch spot Les Folies from back in the day; he took a long disused spot known for breakfast and, thankfully, kept up the morning tradition by serving eggs Benedict sandiwches we won't soon forget: Poached eggs are served in Martin's potato buns with a variety of toppings that are all worth trying, but if you need a suggestion? The 'Saumon en Gravlax' scratches the breakfast sandwich itch nicely with smoked salmon, lettuce and dill, and a lemon sauce that subs in for hollandaise.

A classic in town, the family behind Cosmos has given us more than one heart attack: First was with, well, their menu. The second was when the restaurant went up for sale. Thankfully, a guy named David Minicucci bought it up and (thankfully) has carried the torch by learning the recipes and merely cleaning the place up a bit. Trust us when we say that 'his version' of the Creation sandwich, an OG of Montreal breakfast sandwiches, remains true to the original from Tony Koulakis more than fifty years ago: Fried egg, bacon, salami, cheese, lettuce and tomato on your choice of bread (and there are a LOT of breads to choose from). Served with their famous potatoes.

Time-honored and unforgettable, Beautys Luncheonette perseveres through time thanks to a dedicated family that keeps up traditions while occasionally upgrading the digs. The Beautys Special is among those dedications: Cream cheese, smoked salmon, tomato, and onion on a St-Viateur bagel. Few things ever get so good and simple, but we're pretty sure there's a 'Beautys Effect' while eating this one to enhance the flavour: Sitting in on eof their booths, looking around at the Hymie Sckolnick memorabilia, it's just a taste of Montreal history.

Ever since a sandwich renaissance was declared for Montreal in 2020, we got to thinking: Who's dedicated to the art of the sandwich in this city and, what's more, who among that subset are killing it in the breakfast department? Capitaine Sandwich is a definite answer, and their Déjeunan option with egg, bacon, seasoned ground beef and cheese on a grilled flatbread is no joke. 

Go scouting for images of Patati Patata online and you're going to find feeds absolutely filled to the brim with their poutine. We're not saying that their take on Quebec's national dish isn't without merit, but never—and we mean NEVER—forget about their menu's other mainstays. When it comes to breakfast sandwiches, though, the Spécial Luc is a crowning achievement: A spicy omelette, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo taken from their tiny quarters and eaten morning, noon, or night is a wonderful thing.

Mile-Ex's destination for cheap eats is all about its sandwiches and easy access to floor-to-ceiling fridges stocked with all manner of typical dep beverages. That said, you can easily expect that that makes for a fine breakfast sandwich recipe. Spoiler alert: It does. Grab yourself whatever poison you're into (or just stick with coffee) and grab their variation that comes with a fried egg, bacon, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and chipotle mayo on some toasted multigrain bread.

We're going to let you in on this secret, so don't screw it up: Little Italy may be rife with some of the city's most excellent eating institutions and show-stopping culinary young guns, but if you ask most chefs and cooks where they go to grab a snack in the early hours, it's Dépanneur Lalime. Their breakfast sandwiches come hot and fresh and are a prime example of how much more excellent our dépanneur food scene could be. They haven't been doing their breakfast sandwich ever since they were open in 1959, but it's so good that we'd believe it if they said it's been around since then.