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byblos: persian breakfast

breakfast, brunch, sobhaneh: the first meal of the day. also known as the most important meal of the day, nutritional experts say that skipping it can have adverse effects on concentration, metabolism, and weight. true or not, i spent a good chunk of my teenage years skipping it. nowadays, breakfast is actually my last meal after work and before sleeping. it is also the first meal i shared with b., so it now holds a special place in my heart.

brunch was my first experience with iranian food. it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when i think of food from this area of the globe, but after trying the breakfast at byblos, it is all i think of. sobhaneh, as the first meal of the day is called in iran, is served until 2pm on weekdays and 4pm on weekends.

i have a tendency to do some research before trying new restaurants. this way, i have an idea of what to order and what to steer clear of. so after a little googling (yes, i use it as a verb), i knew exactly what i wanted when i sat down in the room with large windows that flooded it with natural light. i opted to go with one of the combos that give you a basket of sweet breads (as in pains sucrés as opposed to the thymus or pancreas of a young animal), jams, and a choice of omelette or halym (a cream of wheat dish).

i chose the feta omelette, easily the most popular selection at byblos. unlike a western omelette, this version was more like creamed eggs with feta thoroughly mixed in and topped with dill. it is softer than scrambled eggs and you taste the cheese in every bite. it was so good that i couldn’t get enough of it. it was like a little taste of heaven, albeit a heavy one as feta isn’t exactly the lightest of cheeses, if there even is such a thing. once you try eggs this way, you might never want to have them any other way.

you might think that you’ll need to order more food when the place arrives at your table, but i was pleasantly satisfied at the end of the meal even though i was starving when i was seated. the key is to scoop up the eggs with the pita and sweet bread. the waitress also brought three different homemade jams to our table, each with a distinctive flavour. i can’t remember what each one was, but i think there was one that was made with rhubarb and it tasted like coca-cola. this was the most interesting and by far my favourite one.

i don’t eat here often as it is a little out of the way for me, but i do think fondly of byblos every time breakfast is mentioned.

byblos le petit café
1499, ave laurier est
montréal, québec
H2J 1H8
T: 514.523.9396

payment: cash, debit, credit cards

hours:
tue to sun 9h-23h

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