Alice & Theo started as a pandemic-era opening on Wellington Street in Verdun, launched by two families and named after their youngest children. What set it apart from the start was the kitchen pedigree: chef Oleg Reznikov cooked at Toqué! and led the restaurant at Hôtel Le St-James before turning to ice cream and pastry.

That fine-dining instinct shows in the cabinet, where vanilla and bitter chocolate sit alongside spiced rum, tarte tatin, and a vegan rose sorbet built on raspberry, lychee, and rosewater. The pastry side is just as much of a draw, particularly the cream puffs filled with rotating flavours like matcha and dark chocolate, plus honey cakes, cookies, and made-to-order showpieces like the St-Honoré.

Ingredients are sourced with intent, from Madagascar vanilla to matcha imported directly from Japan, and the operation has since grown to additional locations in Saint-Hubert and downtown Montreal, along with a food truck and catering arm.