New Cafe: Le Café Bloom in Pointe St Charles

I had the fortune of meeting up with fellow blogger and friend Janice from Kitchen Heals Soul for lunch at the new Le Café Bloom.  I had plenty of time to listen to Lesley Chesterman being interviewed on CBC Radio 1 while driving around looking for parking  (the streets of Pointe St-Charles aren’t very busy but the parking was surprisingly limited – worse than Mile End I might even say).  It was all about the recent backlash of chefs against customers, and how maybe the tables had now turned and the customer is, perhaps, not always right.  She mentioned the twitter handle @PunisherMtl which is full of one liners from customers that are ridiculous and according to the description 95% true.  You can also follow along on the hashtag #thepunisher.  I’m not sure how I feel about all that.  Jen Agg of The Black hoof (@TheBlackHoof) was also on CBC the other day defending a few of her more controversial tweets about customers.  They were basically along the lines of “Dear (almost) everyone in here right now.  Please, please stop being such a douche.”   She retorted that it was a joke, but unfortunately sarcasm is difficult come across over a tweet.  I like to be professional in everything I do, and am not really sure tweeting about customers is the way to go.  Something like @PunisherMtl seems a bit more light hearted… chefs and restaurants are anonymous.  But, I think customers have to remember their manners too, and limitations of the restaurant.  I’ve heard tales of people saying they are vegan and then eating meat off of a dining companions plate….  But wasn’t I meant to be talking about a cute cafe in Pointe St Charles?  Oh yeah…

So, I found out about the cafe from the blog Clarah… Tout Simplement.  I am making a concerted effort to get out more after a year of hibernation with a baby, and this seemed like a great bet.  Cute cafe, close-ish to wear I live, and new.

First off, the place is very well designed and you can tell there has been a lot of thought put into the cafe from the colours, mosaic tile countertop, furniture and paintings.  The place was buzzing when we were there, which is a great sign for the owners.

We could see the Bol du Jour whizzing by our table to lucky customers, but unfortunately it was sold out by the time we ordered. I see from their website they use seasonal, local, fair-trade, organic or ethically-sourced ingredients.  They offer pastries from their neighbour Ma Tante Quiche which is nice.  I like neighbouring businesses helping each other out.  I also see on their website they offer brunch which I believe must be on weekends only, as I only seem to recall small breakfast items.

We each took the salad trio which included a cabbage salad, a couscous salad with chickpeas, parsley and cranberries, a beet salad, and a green salad.  I suppose it was more like four salads than three really!  It was lovely, and filling.  I also took a piece of chocolate cake to go.  It was rich, and dense but surprisingly light with a hint of salt.

Moms!  This place is super kid friendly with high chairs, kids toys, and adequate space between the tables for strollers.  The bathroom that I used didn’t have change facilities, but worse comes to worse you could always close the curtain on the private table at the back and use that I suppose (I hope the owners don’t hate me for suggesting that!)

All in all it was lovely and the staff were really nice too.  If you are in the area, or in St-Henri I would recommend heading there for coffee or lunch.  It would be a great place for a bunch of moms to meet up too, but I’d head there at off-peak time if possible as it was pretty full right over the lunch time hour.

Congrats Pointe-St-Charles!  You’ve got a great addition!

Decor: Bright, cheery and eclectic.

Service: Efficient and friendly.

Price: Well priced.

Good for: Lunch, coffee, hanging out.  I seem to recall some breakfast items and I see they are open at 8:00. I’d definitely consider heading there on the weekend for brunch.

Baby Friendly:  Yes!!!