Living In Montreal » Eating

Unusual Restaurants

Fab — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 02:13:40 +0000

Once in a while, we all like to experience something different. Here are listed a few restaurant places in Montreal that are known to be everything but the usual. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you know other places. Thanks.

The Spirit Lounge

This vegetarian restaurant has delicious, interesting, and memorable food. I still remember that mushroom soup… mmmm yum. But what I remember most of all is the ambiance, decor, and energy of this place. It’s located in a shady part of town, with a front door that is sort of hidden, like you have to have insider information on how to get inside the place. The bizarre decor starts on the outside, and continues throughout. The entryway / waiting area has a bed in it, and you wonder if you’ve accidently wandered into some madman’s basement. Then when you get into the main restaurant area, it’s actually confirmed that the person who decorated this restaurant must be somewhat touched. Religious symbolism abounds, richly colored curtains hanging every which way. All kinds of things to look at and ponder. The food is really delicious! It’s one menu, there are really no choices to make, the cook / owner / server gives you what he’s made for that day. An also, you are asked to finish your dish otherwise you cannot have dessert.

O Noir

For people who like creative ideas, this is a funny one. With the restaurant in complete darkness, you have the pleasure of enjoying a meal and company with friends or family in a new way. Most of the waiters and waitresses are blind, and therefore quite happy to share their experience with seeing people. You choose your menu in the dimly lit lounge area, and then you are led to your table by your server. No one can see you kiss your husband or spill food down your chin. And the anonymity allows people to just break out into off-pitched singing whenever they feel like it. It’s lots of fun! The food is sort of hit or miss. Average, not spectacular. But it’s well worth a visit for the experience!

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Burger Places

Fab — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:18:47 +0000

Are you a burger lover?
Well Montreal has quite a few burger joints for you to try.

Here is where to find them and also a little poll…

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Le Coin G – 8297 St Dominique – Montréal, QC H2P 2L2

La Paryse – 302 rue Ontario Est – Montréal, QC H2X 1H6

L’Exception – 1200 rue Saint-Hubert – Montréal, QC H2L 3Y7

Les Folies – 701 avenue du Mont-Royal Est – Montréal, QC H2J 1W7

Copoli – 5181 boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest – Montréal, QC H4A 1Z3

L’Anecdote – 801 rue Rachel Est – Montréal, QC H2J 2H7

Le Vieux Dublin – 1219A rue University – Montréal, QC H3B 3A7

Mondo Fritz – 3899 Boulevard Saint-Laurent – Montréal, QC H2W

Mr. Steer – 1198, rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest – Montreal, QC H3B1K1

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Dim Sum Places

Fab — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:18:09 +0000

For a lunch or a brunch, Chinese dim sum are a super option. Dim sum are little portion dishes made of meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits etc… there are a lot of different kind of dim sums. Usually there are served in the morning and tea is always the drink on the side. In Montreal, the best dim sum places are located right in the Chinatown area. Be aware, Saturday and Sunday morning, the places listed after are usually quite packed. For a no wait time, it’s better to go experience dim sum during the week.

Dim sum spots

Tong Por, 43 rue de la Gauchetière

La Maison Kam Fung, 1111 rue Saint-Urbain

Rubis Rouge (Red Ruby), 1008 rue Clark

Furama, 1115 rue Clark

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Brunching Spots

Fab — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:05:11 +0000

Anyone who is a fan of the nightlife will tell you that on the weekends, breakfast is the easiest meal to skip. After a late night out, not many people are up at the normal times where breakfast is being served in restaurants. Montreal is a city with a very active club culture and bar scene, and in recognition of this fact, many restaurants have decided to specialize in that combination of lunch and breakfast known as brunch. Brunching has become quite popular in Montreal over the past few years, as partiers and students alike use this combination meal to fuel their weekend endeavors.

Brunch spots

It’s no surprise that good brunch restaurants tend to cluster either near residential areas or student populations. One of the most popular, and strangest brunch restaurants is Cosmo’s in Notre-Dame-De-Grace. This tiny lunch counter is one of the most colorful spots in the city to enjoy weekend brunch. In the summer, their seating expands to the sidewalk patio, and the ‘Cosmo’s Creation’ mega-omelet/sandwhich is highly recommended. It’s so popular that the city offered the owner a significant amount of money to re-locate to the Old Port district to better serve tourists, but he declined and continues to run his business out of the same location where it has resided for decades.

Place Milton, located on Milton street in the Plateau neighborhood is very popular with McGill University students, given its proximity to both St. Laurent boulevard and the student housing ghetto. This restaurant is packed to the gills on weekends, and its not uncommon to have to wait outside in the street before you can go in and sample their popular egg and other brunch dishes.

For a touch of Montreal tradition in with your brunch, check out Deli Joe on St. Dominique street in the northeast quadrant of the city. Located in Little Italy, Deli Joe is known for their smoked meat eggs Benedict, which combines the famous Montreal smoked meat with a creamy sauce.

Chez Cora is a well present chain all around Montreal.

Cafe Orange is another known good brunch place if you are living around westmount / notre-dame-de-grace.

Buffet brunch

If you are really feeling the hunger pangs and can’t limit yourself to just one plate, then a buffet might be your best option. There are two large brunch buffets worth mentioning in the city. The first is La Stanza, located in St. Laurent on Cote Vertu. In addition to the standard buffet, this large establishment has 3 chefs standing by ready to make you the omelet, crepe or other brunch creation of your dreams from the wide array of fresh ingredients laid out in front of you. Another good bet for those with a huge brunch appetite is the Buffet Vichy chain, who’s Lasalle location on Newman is closest to downtown.

Chinese brunch

Another great way to brunch is to go around Chinatown for some great dim-sum spots.

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Grocery Shopping

Fab — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:58:08 +0000

While Montreal is filled with interesting and fun restaurants, most people don’t eat out every night, and many love to cook for themselves. The city has the usual supermarkets and grocery stores that you might find in other parts of Canada, but there are also some uniquely Quebecois aspects to food shopping in Montreal. Let’s take a look at both cases.

What is a depanneur?

One of the commonly used terms that seems to most often confuse visitors to Montreal is “depanneur“. Quite simply, a depanneur is another word for corner store, or convenience store. In Montreal, some of the larger depanneur chains are Boni-Choix and Couche-Tard, (which roughly translates into ‘open late). Called ‘deps’ for short, depanneurs are usually open late, and some are 24 hours. Depanneur can also be privately owned or attached to gas stations. Many of the 24 hour depanneurs are associated with a gas chain.

At a dep you typically won’t find any fresh produce or meats, but you can usually select from a wide range of beverages, beer and wine (until 11 pm), canned goods, crackers, cookies and other snack food. Some depanneurs will have frozen foods mixed in with their ice cream and popsicles. Few people do any serious grocery shopping at a depanneur, but they can be very useful if you get the late night munchies or just want to pick up a few things for a party.

Montreal grocery stores

Montreal is home to a few local grocery store chains. Esposito started in the Notre-Dame-De-Grace neighborhood and branched out to include 2 other locations around the island. In fact, the original Esposito is still standing and was the first building in NDG to have automatic-opening doors. Unfortunately, the glory of this location has faded over the years and it now has a rundown feel.

Metro is another, larger chain based in Montreal. The second largest grocer in Quebec, Metro had the good fortune to purchase almost half of Steinberg’s store locations when that giant chain fell into insolvency in the early 90’s. This has positioned them well in the market. Metro also runs Super C, a discount grocer that makes up a smaller portion of the over 570 Metros in Quebec and Ontario.

A few of the familiar national supermarket chains have enjoyed great success in Montreal, such as Loblaws, who have a smaller presence under that name but enjoy much greater market penetration with the Provigo line of stores. Loblaws purchased Provigo in 1998 and used then as their toehold in Quebec. Together with Maxi, Provigo and Loblaws are the largest food distributor in Canada, just edging out Metro. Other players have entered the Montreal scene as well, such as bulk-food seller Costco.

While not quite as overwhelming as their American counterparts, these major supermarkets in Montreal will be more than adequate when it comes to filling whatever grocery list you might need to fill. If you can’t find what you are looking for at a supermarket, feel free to visit the open markets at Jean Talon and Atwater to track down some of the more seasonal or exotic ingredients that you need.

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Sugar Shacks Restaurants

Fab — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:20:14 +0000

Here a list of possible sugar shacks (cabanes à sucre) located around Montreal. They are a large number of places and we certainly don’t list all of them. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to see one added.

This article lists restaurants that serve a sugar shack menu, click on the following link for more information on what is a typical sugary menu : the sugar shack menu.

Sugar Shacks List

Sucrerie de la Montagne
Where: 300, rang Saint-Georges – Rigaud, QC J0P1P0
http://www.sucreriedelamontagne.com

La P’tite cabane d’la côte
Where: 5885, route Arthur-Sauvé – Mirabel, QC J7N2W4
http://www.petite-cabane.com

Les Vergers & Erablière Denis Charbonneau
Where: 575, Rang de la Montagne – Mont-Saint-Grégoire, QC J0J1K0
http://www.vergersdc.qc.ca

Chalet des Erables
Where: 384, Montée Gagnon (Route 335) – Sainte Anne-des-Plaines, QC J0N1H0
http://www.chaletdeserables.com

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Sugar Shacks Meals

High End Known Restaurants

Fab — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:39:41 +0000

Delicious delights

Montreal is a city that is known for its fine dining. The European flavor of the island finds its way into many spectacular restaurants which dot the city. Here are a few of the top spots to partake in exquisite culinary adventures.

Queue de Cheval

Montreal’s most expensive, and most famous steakhouse, Queue de Cheval (the horse’s tail) is located on Rene-Levesque across from the Bell Center. Dividing into a few different levels, with the more intimate lower level also housing a large, open-concept kitchen, the portions at Queue de Cheval are as sizeable as the prices. A good place to splurge on an unforgettable meal.

Bonaparte

As suggested by the name, French cuisine dominates the menu at this popular restaurant in the Old Port neighborhood. A six-course tasting menu that includes such exotic fare as maple glazed duck is de rigueur for those looking to please their taste buds. The food is of the highest quality, and the setting is perfect for both a first date or group gathering.

Cavalli

If Italian is more your style, why not try out Cavalli, located downtown. Great for people watching on Peel street, as well as for enjoying an extensive wine list and expertly prepared Italian dishes.

Kaizen

The ultimate in Japanese dining in Montreal, Kaizen is a small sushi restaurant in Westmount that serves their food in the traditional Japanese style. Red curtains adorn the walls and authentic food and staffers make the experience well worth the high menu prices.

Moishe’s

If you are looking for an old-world steakhouse experience, then Moishe’s, located on St. Laurent boulevard in the Plateau, is the place to go. In a classy, wood paneled setting that wouldn’t look out of place in a movie about 1920’s Chicago gangsters, the attentive staff at Moishe’s serve some of the best beef in the entire city. It’s like stepping into a time warp where service and quality once again rule the day.

Gibby’s

Gibby’s is a rare combination of steak house with a larger, European-style menu of extras that includes such items as gazpacho soup and seafood options. Found in the Old Port, it is very pricey but also very popular, and it is difficult to get a reservation during peak hours.

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Montreal Famous Foods

Benjamin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:21:00 +0000

Some cities are synonymous with a certain kind of food. Philadelphia has their cheese steaks and St. Louis has their ribs, for example. Most of the time, these foods represent the traditional cooking traditions of the people who originally settled or immigrated into the area. Sometimes they are instead the product of recent happy accidents which experienced a surge of popularity and put themselves on the map. Montreal, with its influx of residents from many different cultures all around the world, in combination with French Canadian cultural heritage is a definite mixture of the two.

Traditional Foods

There are a few popular foods that are unique to Montreal and Quebec, yet still maintain a link to the past. The most obvious of these is maple syrup, which is made by tapping the sap from maple trees and then boiling it until it has reached a thick, sweet consistency. Maple syrup is consumed as a condiment on everything from bacon to pancakes, and candy, taffy and butter are also popular variations on this food. Baked beans are also a traditional Montreal staple, and can be eaten at breakfast, lunch or diner, usually with either a healthy dollop of maple syrup or pork fat.

Shepherd’s pie, or ‘pate Chinois’ rounds out the list of traditional Montreal foods. Despite the name, this combination of meat covered in potatoes and peas has been around since the early days of colonization.

Foods That Came To Us

Interestingly, two of Montreal’s most recognizable culinary contributions were not homegrown. Bagels were brought to North America by Eastern European immigrants who arrived on our shores in the late 1800’s. Montreal has long been home to a sizeable Jewish population, and their traditional bagels quickly became an important food staple in the diet of Montrealers – so much so that the city became famous for the quality and ubiquity of its bagels.

Smoked meat has a similar history. This deliciously fatty beef is also a contribution from the Hebrew community in Montreal, and restaurants like Schwartz’s and the now-departed Ben’s have made this meat their own. The Montreal style of cooking and serving smoked meat has become notorious around the world.

Foods That Came Out Of Nowhere

Finally, perhaps the most bizarre Montreal-specific food is poutine. This decadent combination of french fries, thick gravy and curd cheese has puzzled food historians for years as to its exact origin, with a few books even been written about the subject. Over the past 20 years, poutine has morphed from its simple beginnings into a veritable universe of different versions, with meat sauces, expensive cheeses and of course smoked meat all finding their way onto the plate of poutine-craving Montrealers.

Montreal Foods Of The Future?

Given that Montreal has a tradition of adopting and popularizing the culinary traditions of its immigrant population, one has to wonder which food will be the next to be stamped with the Montreal seal of approval and then sent out into the world at large. The two strongest contenders would have to be either Lebanese food, which is extremely popular as both a quick snack and a full meal, or Greek Souvlaki. Time will tell if enough momentum will gather behind either to stitch them into the city’s permanent menu.

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Montreal’s Poutine Dish

Benjamin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:10:54 +0000

Poutine. The very word can evoke sighs of imagined gastronomic delight or gags of disgust. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, there can be no denying that poutine, perhaps the only truly original dish to have emerged from the kitchens of Quebec is a polarizing culinary force. While some are entranced by its delicious, heavy flavor, others are repulsed by what at first glace seems like a coronary on a plate.
So what exactly is poutine? At it’s most basic and original, poutine is a plate or bowl of french fries, topped with curd cheese and covered with hot gravy. The gravy melts the cheese into a gooey, sticky mess that clings to the fries and the insides of your stomach, filling you up and possibly making your regret your binge a few hours later.

The Popularization Of The Poutine

Poutine has been a staple of the Quebecois diet for almost two decades, but the past ten years have seen a ‘commercialization’ of this ‘national dish’. At first it was picked up by fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Harvey’s, who tried to cash in on the popularity of the late night hangover remedy with younger set. This commoditized poutine lacked some of the character of the home-made version: the fries were thin, the cheese was generic and the gravy wasn’t all that distinguishable from a brown sauce. Over time, other chefs outside the fast-food industry started to add their own creative touches to poutine. Some of the most popular variations included the addition of meat, usually ground beef or smoked meat. Another common version of the dish substituted spaghetti sauce for gravy. An entire micro-industry sprang up around poutine in Quebec, with some restaurants specializing in how weird they could make the already somewhat bizarre food. Everything from hotdogs to coleslaw to a hundred different kinds of cheese have been mixed with fries and gravy and labeled ‘poutine’ on menus across the province. Some classier restaurants even tried to make the poutine upscale and charge an arm and a leg for exotic ingredients like truffles and special imported potatoes.

True To Its Roots

Poutine is often confused with similar kinds of food found mostly in the northern United States. Fries with gravy has been keeping people from Wisconsin to Vermont warm as long as poutine has been around, but for some reason no one outside of Quebec thought to add pungent curd cheese to the mix. Cheese fries, or ‘disco’ fries have been around even longer, ranging from New York to California Tex-Mex variations, but the melted cheeses smothering greasy fries idea was never combined with steaming gravy. Nowadays, poutine has crossed international borders, putting in appearances on menus in Europe and across North America. But for the truly authentic experience, one must return to Quebec.

Where Can I Get Poutine In Montreal?

The short answer is ‘anywhere’. If you want to know where to get GOOD poutine in Montreal, then of course there are a few spots you should check out. For authentic, down home style poutine, Ma-Am-M Bolduc on Lorimier avenue is an excellent choice. You can go for the traditional, or opt for one of the savory variations including turkey, onion and bacon and even vegetarian poutine – for those rare health conscious individuals looking to tackle a thousand-calorie snack. In terms of a quick fix, hit up any of the Lafleur’s hot dog restaurants spread across the city. Their poutine represents the prototype of the Montreal fast food style, and you’ll probably have trouble moving for a little while after you have finished – which is really all you can ask for from a good poutine.

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Sugar Shacks Meals

Benjamin — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:00:12 +0000

Aside from poutine, Quebec’s most famous culinary export has to be maple syrup. Maple syrup is a dark, super sweet confection made by boiling the sap from a maple tree to a specific temperature for a specific amount of time. This delicious syrup has been a stable of the Quebecois diet for hundreds of years and each spring hundreds of sugar-loving sap alchemists disappear into shacks on their maple plantations to render the year’s crop of maple syrup. This article gives general idea of what is a sugar shack menu, click on the following link for places : listing of sugar shack restaurants.

The Sugar Shack Meal – A Tradition

Once the weather starts to warm up, and the sap in the trees starts to flow, Montrealers know it will soon be time to leave the city to head to their favorite sugar shack and gorge themselves silly on maple taffy. Also known as ‘sugar on snow’, the maple syrup is heated up to just the right temperature and then poured over freshly packed snow. After a few minutes the confection has solidified enough to be wound around wooden sticks or forks and eaten while it is still warm and encrusted with icey goodness.

Given that maple syrup is incredibly sweet, it’s not surprising that there is only so much that a person can eat at any given time. Even the most hardcore taffy fan has to pace themselves in order to get the most enjoyment out of their sugar shack experience and not go into sugar shock. Most of the time, the shack has much more to offer your palate than delicious maple syrup. To curtail the sensory overload that all that sugar brings to your taste buds, sour pickles and home made apple cider are on hand. If you want to soak up some of the lingering maple taste in your mouth, plain brown donuts are often the perfect solution. Another favorite on the sugar shack menu are ‘fèves au lard’, or brown baked beans, which give you a way to fill up your belly and give your pancreas a chance to heal. The experienced taffy aficionado will intersperse their sugar binges with breaks for any of these alternate foods in order to prolong their maple syrup pleasure as long as possible.

Where To Go To Find A Sugar Shack?

Generally speaking, the farther away you can get from the city, the better in terms of finding a sugar shack that won’t be too busy or crowded. There are two regions in Quebec which are about an hour’s drive from Montreal and which both have a healthy scattering of sugar shacks and maple tree plantations. The first is the Laurentians, the mountainous region to the northwest of the island. The area around St-Jerome and St-Jovite, two of the larger towns, is littered with ‘cabanes a sucre’. Another great place to visit on your hunt for taffy is the Eastern Townships. Towns like Lennoxville, North Hatley, Granby and Magog are located in prime maple tree growing country and there are close to 50 sugar shacks open to the public.

The best thing you can do, however, is to befriend someone who has a family maple plantation and who will bring you along to one of their family sugaring offs. These are truly some of the best, most authentic Quebecois experiences you can have while visiting the province, and you will leave with a sugar-induced smile stuck to your face for days afterwards.

Sugar shack restaurants

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Sugar Shacks Restaurants