On a recent trip to Montreal with a group of friends, I was searching the web and Yelp for a good place to eat close to my hotel that was not Asian and I happened upon Café du Nouveau Monde. When I saw that one of their featured cocktails was my favorite Negroni, my decision was made toute suite.
Seeing that the café is in the same building as the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde and that I arrived about 20 minutes before curtain, I was very pleasantly surprised to be seated immediately, albeit at a smallish table for two, but just right for a single diner.
The café was in high gear with theatre-goers, but my server attended to my desire for a Negroni as soon as I had the menu in my hand. The drink was delivered in no time flat, and my oh my, it was as good as if I had made it myself. I shared that information with my server while ordering my meal, and was paid a visit by the bartender shortly thereafter for a nice conversation about proper balance and craft cocktails in general. A very nice and knowledgable lady. When I ordered a second one, it was just as perfectly made as the first.
My food was exceptionally good from entree (sauteed mushrooms on crostini) to main (grilled pork chop, a special) to dessert (affogato, served properly with grappa and a shot of espresso on the side).
The café pretty much cleared out at curtain time, but it wasn't long before more people showed up to keep the place lively. And while I did have a main server, others on the friendly and attractive wait staff had no problem checking in on me and I certainly enjoyed practicing my conversational French with them.
I returned twice during my week in Montreal, once for lunch with a couple of friends (warm octopus salad for me, very good) and for another single dinner (sauteed shrimp entree, roasted scallop main and white chocolate cheese cake dessert, all delicious) later the same day. And yes, more Negronis at dinner, each as good as the very first.
I would have loved to return to Cafe du Nouveau Monde again, but it being my last night in Montreal, it was made memorable by the food, the Negronis, the great bartender and wait staff.
À la prochaine, Cafe du Nouveau Monde!