Hit St-Henri Gluten-Free Baker is Doing a Downtown Breakfast Pop-Up

Popular St-Henri neighbourhood café Kleine Shoppe is making a move on downtown Montreal, with a breakfast pop-up starting today (January 29), in the Place Ville-Marie tunnels.

Owner Katie Morton tells Eater that she’s bringing her business to the Poké Bar space in the tunnels on weekday mornings. With the poke restaurant not open until 11 a.m. (and Hawaiian raw fish bowls not being a popular breakfast food) she’s seized the opportunity to test the waters downtown. And with the Place Ville-Marie food court closed for renovations, there’s even more potential for plentiful customers.

Morton says she’ll do her beloved avocado toast, overnight oats, a range of other gluten- and egg-free dishes, and will supply all of the regular baked goods from her Notre-Dame West café, including the hit crumble. She’ll also do a daily smoothie, and while there won’t be any coffee, Tunnel Espresso is immediately across from the location.

Katie Morton

Kleine Shoppe opened in St-Henri in 2017 as a part café with baked goods, and part breakfast and lunch nook with toast, tacos, and other savoury dishes — Morton says she opened up because she wasn’t satisfied with many of the gluten-free options available elsewhere. Morton is the sole owner, with design help from Cristofaro Design.

“I hated everywhere else, everywhere else had sugar and all this starchy stuff, and everyone thinks gluten free is healthier but when you buy it in a store it’s actually full of crap — I wanted to do natural with whole ingredients.”

Morton was diagnosed with Celiac disease at age 18, and while she doesn’t have any restaurant experience, a biking accident left her unable to do much but bake — and bake she did, building up proficient skills, and becoming a Sud-Ouest hot spot, including for those who don’t need to keep up wheat-free diets.

Katie Morton

“Even gluten eaters come in, they’re all like “we eat gluten”, then they tried and loved it.”

The pop-up will run for at least six weeks — and possibly longer.

STATUS — Kleine Shoppe’s breakfast pop-up is open from today (Monday January 29) from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the Poké Bar space in the Place Ville-Marie tunnels (beneath 733 Cathcart).

• Montreal’s Top Options for Gluten-Free Eaters [EMTL]