Café Champions: Italian-Style Sandwiches and Coffee at the Foot of Mont Saint-Hilaire

Building the ideal sandwich, one that satisfies a very specific craving and brings together everyone’s favourite ingredients, takes something close to a miracle. Yet at this Otterburn Park café, you can build the sandwich of your dreams and drink some very good coffee too. Beyond good food, Café Champions is a meeting point for lovers of running, cycling and good things, much like its owner. The Richelieu Valley is a top destination for many athletes, but here, people mostly pedal to eat better.

Gabriel Belzile grew up between Outremont, Mile End and Little Italy, chatting with the baristas at Italian cafés. A longtime regular at Café Club Social, he was looking for that same gathering spirit when he settled in Montérégie. “What I really miss outside the city is that sense of community,” explains the former excellent Tastet writer. So he decided to create that meeting place himself, a project he runs with the help of his close friend Malik Mahmoud, now the café’s manager.

At Café Champions, Sandwich Mathematics

A few years ago, Gabriel wrote a piece titled “Sandwich Mathematics.” Today, he can finally put the theory he developed into practice. On a small slip of paper, each customer ticks off their ingredients to create a sandwich that suits them. Several breads, like the focaccia and baguettine from Le Pain dans les Voiles, serve as the base, and the rest lends itself to just about any craving.

Most of the charcuterie (mortadella, prosciutto, cooked ham, etc.) is imported from Italy, and a brisket, a nod to Montreal smoked meat, rounds out the offering, courtesy of Jude from Boucherie Capitol. You can also take your pick from a range of sauces, from spicy bomba to honey mustard to pesto. Add marinated eggplant or the cheese options, and the possibilities grow exponentially (Gabriel puts the number of combinations at more than 15,000!).

For the undecided, the house offers two set options: the classic breakfast sandwich on brioche, served all day, and the champion’s sandwich, a special that changes with inspiration. Don’t expect a turn toward health food, though. “I ride my bike so I can eat without limits,” jokes Gabriel.

The Italian spirit carries through to the espresso and its variations, made with Musetti beans, while a Traffic Coffee blend with notes of molasses and dark chocolate goes into the filter coffee and cold brew. Malik put together a tea program with Camellia Sinensis, and the famous croissants from Bar à Croissant, in Beloeil, fill the shelves.

The Ideal Circumstances

The space, found off-market, sat along the route Gabriel had been riding for years on his long bike rides out of Montreal. Surrounded by trees, it borders a busy bike path with a view of the mountain. The building’s owners, Marie-Pierre and Étienne, had even dreamed of seeing a cycling café there and pitched in during the renovations. Atelier Lux Design created the concept, with touches of bronze and terracotta, where Gabriel slipped in a church pew found on Marketplace, stripped and repainted.

The storefront lettering was done by Prototype, and the frog in the logo is the work of Manu Josk. “Why a frog? Why not? A frog would be fast on a bike!” says Gabriel.

The back of the café houses a shop where athletes can pick up sports nutrition products and merch, like cycling jerseys bearing the café’s name. There are also four Zwift smart stationary bikes that customers can hop on, sandwich in hand, to pedal in front of a hockey game or a movie.

A Social Club, Cycling Edition

Other items will eventually join the menu, but the sandwich will remain the champion of the place. Gabriel signed a ten-year lease and fully intends to make the café a place where the whole community can connect. “It’s my life project. My partner Stef and I live here now. I’m here to stay,” he says. And the name ends with an s for good reason: at his café, “we’re all champions.”

Written by Jean-Philippe Tastet
Photography by Scott Usheroff

Updated on October 23, 2026

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