Aux Vivres
Montréal, Québec

Aux Vivres used to have really bad service a few years back. However, we go fairly regularly now (averaging once a week) and the service is good. They don't let you sit at a booth if you're only two people, but that's not the end of the world and they seem to enforce this equally. I usually have Le Complet for breakfast (tempeh, cornbread, large salad with dill dressing, scrambled tofu, slices of yam) and my appetite doesn't come back for a long time. They've got a smoothie that really tastes like a creamsicle (ah, childhood): I can't resist it. Le Complet comes with a chai latte or coffee and it's $9: not bad for the amount of food you get with bev. included. I've also been there for supper a few times and am a big fan.

I had a wonderful brunch at Aux Vivres. I ordered Le Complet, which consisted of tofu scramble, cornbread, coconut tempeh bacon, sweet potatoes, salad and a few pieces of fruit. The coconut bacon was incredible. I was also really impressed with the Bombay Banana smoothie, which consisted of bananas, ginger, coconut milk, masala, raw sugar and dates. All of the coffee drinks were served with a combination of soy and coconut milk, which was a nice touch. There were many vegan dessert choices, although I wasn't very impressed with the one that I chose (a chocolate/vanilla parfait topped with raspberry sauce).

My only real complaint is that the service was slow. It didn't take very long to get our meals, but we waited for more than 30 minutes to get the check. At the same time, we were there during peak brunch hours, so the wait wasn't unreasonable.