I usually don't mind writing a first review. I tell myself I'm doing a service by recommending a shop to fellow Montrealers. Doing so for Oscar feels different, you see, I wish Oscar was my little best-kept secret.
It could very well remain just so: it is the most discreet of the exuberant shops I know. You'd be so rushed to escape the tackiest part of the Plaza St Hubert that you could miss their lavish (but still, receeding display) all at once.
Oscar is the sweet-shop to rule them all. Once you open the door, lollipops as big as your head reach out to you like bouquets of LSD-inspired flowers. You can start coyly, on your right are chocolate or yoghurt-covered nuts and fruits. Then you move on to individual chocolates, it's getting serious... Behind you are all the Halloween sweets your trick-or-treaters will want (chocolate pumpkins, eyes, packs of mini-Hershey bars...). At the back are the real candy (twizzlers, liquorice, fuzzy peaches etc..)
They tend to specialize in imported goods mostly from France (make sure to ask beforehand if you want a particular, regional confection) and Italy (especially wafers) but tend to find the little rarities or odd-twists-on-classics. I have found beer chocolate and cheesecake fudge for example..The display is very seasonal, in the fall they stock up on jams and syrups, but don't you dare ask for strawberry jam here, they have quince jam and beet-mango chutney, as well as rose or lavender syrup, thank you very much. They go wild around Christmas, when they stock up on German and Austrian chocolates, or full displays to offer as gifts.
I should also mention their good tea selection and their self-serve cookie counter. The store is just the nemesis to my box fetish. Whatever the candy, you put it in a cute box, I'm all in. And they tease: all the pâte sablée cookies they have, all in different tin boxes with the seasons, Art Deco motifs, popular French vacation spots, the little candies in perfectly round glass containers... If you have the smallest of sweet teeth, you can buy little travel-size candies or mints in every tin you might dream of : Elvgren pinups, Super Mario mushrooms, Betty Boop...
The only downside is their prices, after all they cover a niche market, expect a niche price (especially on imports, maybe not on Halloween sweets). Thing is, you will hate yourself for leaving empty-handed. And should you want to spend less, you will regret not buying that full bar of cranberry nougat, or the UFO-shaped osties. So plan ahead now for when you get a raise.. read more