The best pastry shops in Montreal

Behind a modest storefront on Ontario Street East sits the most polished display case in the neighbourhood: Christian Campos's small cakes are lined up like jewellery under glass. Named pastry chef of the year in 2015 and 2016 by Quebec's Société des chefs, cuisiniers et pâtissiers, he built his craft at Pâtisserie de Gascogne, the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth and Maison Boulud at the Ritz-Carlton before opening his own shop on 6 May 2021 in Nouveau-Rosemont and moving it downtown in 2023. Choosing is the hard part: lemon-yuzu tart, his take on the Paris-Brest, pistachio-raspberry, or the Evocao chocolate with banana caramel and lime. Chocolate is worked in house, the croissants hold up, and the pared-back space leaves the case to do the talking. A technician's address, for anyone who likes elaborate French pastry.

Mélilot slipped onto Laurier Ouest as if it had always been there, which makes sense: the trio behind it — Aurélien Kerzerho (Maison Boulud, Rosélys), Vincent Gagnon-Boisvert (Leméac, Henrietta) and Clémence Corbière (Candide) — bring decades of Montreal restaurant experience. Originally from Brittany, Kerzerho works a precise, genuinely plant-driven pastry: his creations run through with floral and herbaceous notes, starting with sweet clover, the wild Quebec plant with an almond-vanilla scent that gives the shop its name and its signature tart. Éclairs, Paris-Brest, kouign-amann and cannelés come in individual or sharing formats for four to six. A few savoury options at lunch, careful espresso, and a well-angled terrace in summer. In 2025 the team opened Atelier Mélilot, an artisanal creamery on Querbes.

Open since 1995 on Laurier Avenue East, Fous Desserts is a European pastry and chocolate shop that turned toward Japan long before it was fashionable. Matcha, teas, peppers and spices work their way into the cakes, flans and ice creams — black sesame, hojicha — while the chocolate side, run by Carolle De Boisvilliers, lines up fruit bonbons, caramels and crunchy pralines. The teas served alongside are chosen and imported by Hiroko, who runs her own import house, Chanoya. The millefeuille, the chocolatine and the almond croissant remain the safe bets; the maple flan and the frangipane galette des rois mark the calendar. A dozen seats, decor that shows its age, and thirty years of consistency worth more than any decor.

Hof Sucrée is the sweet side of Hof Kelsten: master baker Jeffrey Finkelstein and his longtime collaborator, pastry chef Suyin Wong, opened it in spring 2024 on the ground floor of 400 Atlantic in Outremont. Sid Lee Architecture designed a softer, pinker room than the mothership — "I love what Jeff did at Hof Kelsten, I wanted the same thing, but in pink," as Suyin puts it. The viennoiserie is made on site: croissants, chocolate babka, zaatar torsade, a cheddar-and-pickle croissant, cookies and cakes that rotate week to week. The loaves and baguettes still come from the Saint-Laurent Boulevard bakery. At lunch there are soups, salads and sandwiches, including Hof Kelsten classics that resurface from time to time.

On Avenue de la Salle, a residential street where you would not expect a lineup, Hélico works as both a neighbourhood café and a proper pastry shop. The project brings together David Ollu and Youri Bussières Fournel, two alumni of Bouillon Bilk, with pastry chef Stéphanie Gagnon running the ovens. Everything is made by hand and baked the same morning: croissants, amandines, kouign-amann, brioches, chocolate chip cookies and a brownie regularly named among the city's best. The room is bright, the back terrace quiet, and the coffee list — including a matcha lemonade that has developed a following — holds the same standard. A regulars' address rather than a tourist one, and better for it.