TL;DR/The Short Version:
Little cafe in Place Ville Marie selling breakfast items, sandwiches, coffee, tea and a few Asian food offerings. Had the chicken banh mi and it was great.
The Long Version:
I love eateries that cater to locals and Cafe Mix A Bol is one of them. They are open Monday to Friday 7am-2pm only. Their clientele is mostly office workers nearby or people taking the commuter trains out of Central Station.
I've walked by Cafe Mix A Bol many times to and from the VIA Rail train station, but it's always been closed because these days when I'm in Montreal it's mostly on the weekends. I might arrive on a Friday, but I would have just had breakfast or lunch on the train, so their limited hours never worked out for me. However, recently, my husband and I decided to do a weekday trip to Montreal. He agreed to indulge in my desire to hit food spots that are only open on weekdays, lol.
So we stopped by to share a grilled chicken banh mi ($9.25) and he also got a coffee ($3).
The banh mi was a good size for sharing and they even cut it in half for us. It had grilled chicken, pickled carrots, daikon, cilantro and mayo. The mayo was a bit more than my preference, but I prefer my sandwiches not too saucy. Other than that, the banh mi was delicious. It was nicely grilled and the bread was crispy on the outside. I did notice that the carrots and daikon were sliced into rounds instead of the usual strips. It did not affect the taste, but it's something I noticed because it was different, lol ;)
Staff were pleasant.
There's a small seating area inside the cafe.
They sell Vietnamese summer rolls/salad rolls as well (Goi Cuon) as banh mi. They have Korean bibimbap too. And they have North American sandwiches like tuna and chicken salad.
They have baked goods and really huge cookies.
They do catering as well.
So glad I finally got to try them. My husband doesn't get my obsession with places like this, haha, and I can't really explain it either, but a food business that is small and independently owned that can open bankers hours and survive must be good, right? And the owners are usually really pleasant because they likely have good work-life balance :)
Review #151 (2025) read more