Café Myriade, as well as being one of Montréal’s first speciality coffee shops, was one of my first coffee experiences in Montréal. When I visited in 2013, there was just one Myriade, which opened in 2008. Now there are three: the original, this one (Dominion Square) and a third in Saint Denis (formerly Le Couteau – The Knife). Dominion Square is by far the smallest of the three, tucked away in the basement of the Club Monaco clothing store.

It’s also fair to say that as a result it’s one of the most elegant speciality coffee shops I’ve been in, with the distinct European café feel: marble-topped tables, tiled floor and gorgeous scrollwork behind the counter. At the same time, there’s the core Myriade offering: espresso and batch-brew from Vancouver’s 49^th Parallel, a small selection of pastries and a Kees van der Westen espresso machine (in this case, a gorgeous Spirit).

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

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Club Monaco’s an upmarket clothing store inside the Dominion Square Building in the heart of downtown Montréal.  The Beaux Arts building, built between 1928-1930 and occupying a whole block along rue Saint-Catherine, is worth a look in of itself. These days the upper floors contain offices, while the ground floor and basement are given over to shops.

Long and thin, Club Monaco’s on the corner of Saint-Catherine and Metcalfe, its main door opening onto rue Saint-Catherine. Café Myriade’s towards the back of the store, where a staircase on the left, just before the back door, leads you to a cosy basement. Myriade is ahead/to your left, while Club Monaco continues on your right.

There’s not much to Café Myriade, although it drips elegance. The counter’s at the back, extending into the seating area to the left, which is arranged in a J-shape. Alternatively, if you want a table to yourself, a really cosy two-person table is behind you on your left, tucked away at the bottom of the stairs by the retail shelves. Meanwhile, to the right of the counter, next to the floor-to-ceiling glass partition separating Myriade from Club Monaco, is a small, two-person table.

The counter’s a compact affair, with the till dead ahead. To the right, the display case is usually packed with pastries (unless it’s the end of the day, when they’ve all been eaten), while to the left are the sleek lines of the Kees van der Westen Spirit. A worktop behind the counter holds a batch-brewer and two EK-43 grinders, one (with a doser) for espresso, the other for filter/retail bags.

The remaining seating starts against the front wall opposite the counter, a small, round table two-person table guarding the only power outlet. This is followed by a [-shaped padded sofa-bench, starting on the front wall before continuing across the left-hand wall and along the back wall. There are six of the small, round tables, one on each wing and four along the left-hand wall, plus four chairs.

When it comes to coffee, the main grinder has 49^th Parallel’s Old School blend, while if you ask, you can have the Epic (currently a single-origin Guatemalan) or decaf through the EK-43. There’s also a single-origin on batch-brew which changes daily (and sometimes during the day if it goes quickly enough).

I started with a shot of the Old School which, in the cup, looked really old school, but it wasn’t too old school in its tastes, a nice, well-balanced espresso with a hint of acidity, but avoiding the bitterness I was fearing from its appearance. I followed this up with a cortado (on the house) to see how it went in milk. Although I enjoyed it, I preferred it on its own. However, the milk was beautifully-steamed, holding the latte art all the way to the bottom of the glass.

December 2018: Café Myriade – Dominion Square was a runner-up for the 2018 Coffee Spot with the Best Basement Award.

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