Chocolats Favoris is one of the new "it" spots. I say that because technically they've been around…read moresince 1979 and have 26 locations in Canada (even one in Victoria!). I've never heard of CF until Em. She, being the dessert lover that she is, told me I needed to try it. Seems like there's a soft serve chocolate dip battle going on between La Diperie and Chocolats Favoris. There's five sizes to choose from (baby, mini, small, medium and large) and four soft serve flavours (vanilla, chocolate, orange and strawberry). The chocolate one you can't dip but the other three are fine. There were a dozen chocolate dip flavours. Let the indecisiveness begin. It's nice that you can sample the dip flavours before you commit. There's also the éclatée option ($1.49 - $1.99 extra) where they add extra toppings. If soft serve doesn't tickle your fancy, they have gelato and sorbet as well as fancy artisanal chocolates. You can even buy their fondues to go in small tin cans. - Strawberry with melting hazelnut dip ($4.59 small) - nice that they have other flavours besides the typical vanilla. The melting hazelnut (milk chocolate) was just what I wanted. I found their chocolate dippy be much stronger and thicker than La Diperie's. No ice cream managed to squeeze through the chocolate dip fortress. - Orange with crunchy hazelnut ($4.59) - this was much darker and richer hazelnut flavour compared to mine. - Vanilla with cookie dough dip ($4.59 small) - I didn't try but A liked it. Although, he still prefers his go to combo of vanilla with cookies and cream. Solid dessert chain (that reminds me of Juliat & Chocolat).

Well known for their many different chocolate dippings. Great variety, however, way too sweet!read more

Les Gourmandises de Marie-Antoinette has been on my bookmarks list since forever, my older son was…read morein the mood for croissants and I wanted to try something new, so there we were one Uber ride later. The Bakery/tea room is located near the Marché de Maisonneuve in a lively sector, the decor is very cute and if unlike me you're a fan of pink then you'll enjoy it even more. They have a huge variety of pastries, I hesitated a good three minutes as they all looked so delicious, I finally opted for a grapefruit pastry, the texture was so soft and tasty! My kids opted for a cream puff pastry filled with chocolate as well as croissants. The staff was very friendly and even engaged in conversations with my kids (I do have to admit that they're the talkative kind lol). If you're in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve go and have one of their desserts you won't regret it!

Small French bakery near Marche Maisonneuve. Always a treat to go there. Wonderful choices of tasty…read moremacarons, small pastries, cakes, chocolates, I've tried a little bit of everything including their larger cakes but I always go back for the macarons! Customer service by phone and in person has been excellent and courteous. Covid precautions were respected. In normal times, this bakery doubles up as a small cafe... can't wait to be back to enjoy a coffee, croissant and some other sweets!

What could be better than an ice-cream version of a mojito? If this sounds good to you, you must…read moretry Virevent's lime-mint sorbet. There are lots of lovely homemade flavours (some dairy-free, merci beaucoup!). You may wish to forgo the gelato, though, in favour of soft ice-cream dipped in melted Swiss chocolate. Holy cow, Batman, that's delicious. This spot is always busy with walk-up neighbourhood business. There is sidewalk chalk for the kids and there are colourful picnic tables out on the sidewalk. If you have a stroller or a wheelchair, be sure to invite along a friend who can go in and purchase your ice cream for you. This establishment is not accessible for those who cannot climb stairs. (No railing either, if stairs are a challenge.) I haven't tried the macarons or candy that's for sale. At Christmas they reopen for a while to sell ice cream yule logs but they only have ice cream cones in the summer.

Listed #1 ice cream spot on a Montreal blog, I *had* to visit this place…read more An important thing to note: I don't know if it just happened to be the day I went, but there was only one ice cream lady working and she spoke French only. Rudimentary French will do, but she may not be able to tell you the flavours in English, although she will try. A friend in our group who speaks English only struggled a bit to order on his own, but had we not stepped in I'm pretty sure he could've gotten by through simply pointing to whatever he wanted. My picks were the mint+lime and vanilla+strawberry+basil mix. The latter was definitely my favourite. It was light, refreshing, and tasted predominantly of basil with swirls of icy strawberries throughout. The lime mint was nice too, but the strawberry-basil was the unique standout for me. Limited seating space, with the largest spot being one table which can fit a maximum of 5-6 comfortably.