It was part of my mission to visit a cafe in Montreal, to experience drinking coffee in this European-like city. I was looking for something with more character, and that led me to Chez Boris.
Food
I ordered a Latte and Mr. ordered a caffeine-free Roiboos Tea. They serve Kittel and 49th Parallel coffee/espresso, and tea from Pure Tea. The Latte was good, served at the right temperature, coffee was not burnt and it was creamy.
The highlight of the visit wasn’t the drinks, but the donuts (beignets) they serve. They are Russian style donuts (ponchiki), which frankly, I had no idea what that means until I looked it up.
Because we were there before 10am, each drink purchase came with two beignets. We got four beignets with our purchase, yes!
The Beignets are fried fresh, to order, and you have the options of Sugar, Cinnamon, and Chocolate. Since we got 4 beignets, we got to try all 3 flavours. It’s super hot to the touch when we first got them, but it’s hard to not sink our teeth right into these freshly fried dough. The texture of the beignets is cakey, denser than typical North American donuts but not overly heavy or greasy; it reminded us of churros, except it’s in a ring shape. Looking up online, there should be cheese or sour cream (i.e. dairy with heavy fat content) in the dough but I couldn’t taste it. The good ol’ plain sugar was delicious, cinnamon sugar kicked it up a notch, but my favourite was the chocolate one — the warmth of the donut slightly melted the cocoa powder coating, making it rich and decadent, and just a little bit messy to eat.
Ambiance
The mismatched furniture (Mr. would call this eclectic), the light fixture using milk jugs, the decor…this is so hipster! It was quiet when we went, so I can totally see customers hang out at this place over a cup of coffee and some donuts, working away on a laptop/tablet, or just reading a book.
I did enjoy watching the staff mix the dough and fry up the donuts right in front of us. I even got to chat with him for a bit, but he wouldn’t share the secret behind these delicious donuts.
Final Thoughts
We thoroughly enjoyed the donuts, and seriously I wouldn’t mind a couple more. They were great with coffee. The donuts would have cost $0.90 each so it ended up to be a pretty good deal for us. Apparently they make savoury donuts in order to offer donut sandwiches; too bad we didn’t try them. I should seek out some Russian style donuts in Vancouver.
Chez Boris
5151 Avenue Du Parc, Montreal, Quebec
514-900-1965
www.chezboris.ca
VanFoodies.com 
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