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Hélico: Hochelaga’s favourite café

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This charming restaurant is a member of the Aliments du Québec au Menu program! This means that they have chosen to highlight the wonderful products of Quebec and its producers in their menu – something we find admirable! Aliments du Québec au Menu is a recognition program for restaurants that value Quebec products in their cuisine.

Hélico is a charming little café that opened its doors on May 7, 2018 in the neighbourhood of Hochelaga. The address is absolutely worth the detour to savour small delights of all kinds! We consider it one of the best cafés in Montreal where you can also eat well!

“David Ollu, chef and owner of this great addition to the neighborhood, is young and dynamic! He previously worked at the must-visit restaurant Bouillon Bilk and decided to open his first venture in Hochelaga. After scouting a few districts, he found this spot: ‘I fell in love with it! The neighborhood’s potential and the fact that the type of offering I wanted to bring was missing here really spoke to me.”

The space is designed to please everyone. Hélico’s renovations were carried out by Les Deux Marteaux, with Mise à Jour Studio as the designer. Inside, a few benches offer cozy seating, and there are about twenty seats on the terrace. The space is bright, charming, and welcoming.

“Hélico is the diminutive of ‘helicopter,’ the name of the seasonal fine dining restaurant that opened in June 2018. It’s an emblematic name for me; starting from Bouillon Bilk, I left a place I loved very much to grow and establish myself elsewhere, just like the seeds of a maple tree that take flight. If we push a little further, we sort of twirl, just like creativity, to create our own project.”

Hélico is not just any café-pastry shop, however! People come here to enjoy a good coffee, but mostly to savour delicious homemade pastries—all homemade at their bakery, Aube—which are highlighted here.

 

Hélico offers exceptional small artisanal delights: excellent croissants, chocolate chip cookies, one of the best brownies in Montreal, kouign-amann, brioches, cannelés, and much more. Everything is entirely homemade, and handmade fresh in the morning. The result is decadent: everything, absolutely everything here is delicious.

If the sweet offerings make an impression, the savoury ones are just as satisfying. Hélico offers a short menu of simple, tasty, and fresh dishes! David is the one behind the delicious small plates we enjoy here. The dishes follow seasonal ingredients and market produce: you’ll find one of the best breakfast sandwiches in town, a few refreshing salads, cold soups, and other very good dishes.

As for coffee — to match the quality of the food — the team partnered with Jungle, who provides great support in curating a third-wave style coffee program.

Hélico is a breath of fresh air in the Hochelaga neighbourhood and a little haven of delights worth discovering. Definitely a favourite and a must-try spot!


Photography by Alison Slattery





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