
I went to Montreal for the first time about 3 years ago and fell in love. It’s a great city with a chill vibe and great food. Oddly enough despite two trip to Montreal I’ve never blogged about my eating escapades. Go figure.
The trouble with Montreal is finding enough time to eat all the things I want to eat. There are old favourites to revisit (bagels, poutine, smoked meat) and always new places that have been added to the list. So the key to planning here is to stick pretty diligently to what I want to eat and not to be swayed by impromptu meals here or there. This time around I had a set plan and pretty much followed it to a tee.
One thing about Montreal restaurants, why do so few of you have websites? I ruled out a few restaurants because I couldn’t look at the menu and or get a good feel for prices. Sure, reviews helped but I like my info up front. Le sigh.
Here we go…
The Sparrow
5322 Boulevard Saint Laurent
Montreal, QC H2T 1S5, Canada
(514) 690-3964
This place came recommended by many as a great brunch spot. Because our hotel was booked solid we couldn’t check in early so we took the opportunity for a very early (10am) brunch. We were seated right away which was great. I had the English Breakfast which came with bacon, sausage, black pudding, an egg, roasted tomato, toast and this potato hash thingy. SO GOOD. The toast was possibly the best toast pretty much ever. The bacon was great. Sausage was fab. My mom had the French toast and it was EASILY one of the best french toasts ever. Prices were also reasonable, between $10-17ish for a good sized meal. I would revisit for sure.
Cocoa Locale
4807 Avenue du Parc
Montreal, QC H2V 4E7, Canada
(514) 271-7162
While I often complain that cupcakes are overdone as a trend (soon I’ll be decrying the delicious macaron), I can’t help but have one when the craving strikes. I visited Cocoa Locale on my first trip to Montreal and loved the cupcakes. I think I had a chocolate one, possibly a chai cupcake and the lemon coconut. Yes, I had three cupcakes… over the course of a day. I didn’t plan on visiting Cocoa Locale on this trip but I passed by it en route to somewhere else so I HAD to stop. This time I had the lemon coconut cupcake which was still amazing and I tried the spiced brownie. In this case spice was ginger and cayenne (I think, might have been paprika). The brownie tasted fine but I’m more partially to a dense hunk of brownie and this one was more cake-y. I’ll stick to the all cupcake errythang next time.
Romados
115 Rue Rachel Est
Montreal, Quebec H2W 1C8, Canada
(514) 849-1803
As much as I like nice sit-down dinner sometimes I just want a quick and cheap takeout meal. Apparently Montreal has a lot of Portuguese chicken spots so I thought I’d check one out. Romados kept on coming up so I figured that would be it. When we got there the place was packed which made me feel good. While a crowd doesn’t always indicate quality it was nice to see that this place was busier than the other chicken spots we’d passed. The menu is pretty simple. A few grilled meat options that can be combo-ed. I opted for the 1/4 chicken dinner that comes with fries and salad. I should actually say I ordered the fries that come with chicken and salad… SO MANY FRIES. The fries were just okay. Not bad but I’ve had better. The chicken and accompanying sauce were spot on. The chicken was cooked perfectly and the sauce was well-spiced. Definitely some of my fave Portuguese chicken, period. I also opted to pick up dessert which consisted of natas (custard tarts) and a cherry-almond tart. The natas was just OK. I’ve had better in Toronto. The cherry-almond tart was pretty good though. For the record, you can have your meal to stay but there aren’t that many seats and I feel like you’d end up smelling of chicken.
St Viateur Bagels
1127 Avenue du Mont Royal Est
Montréal, QC
(514) 528-6361
Montreal is known for bagels. The Montreal bagel is generally sweeter, smaller and with a bigger hole than the bagels you’re used to seeing. While I love me some Montreal bagels I wouldn’t give up the more “traditional” bagel. The two big bagel spots in Montreal are St. Viateur and Fairmount. We hit up St. Viateur (the cafe on Mont Royal, the other locations are just to pick up bagels) for brunch and I had a bagel with lox. Bagels with lox is pretty much one of my fave foods ever. For some reason I like lox on Montreal bagels better than with a regular bagel… not sure why, maybe the sweetness.
Atwater Market
138 Avenue Atwater
Montreal, QC H3J 2J4, Canada
(514) 937-7754
Montreal has a few big outdoor markets but the two most popular are Atwater and Jean-Talon. I’ve been to Jean-Talon twice and figured I’d visit Atwater this time around. I should have taken pictures because some of the produce setups were lovely. Atwater consists of an indoor market with a variety of purveyors including everything from meats to cheeses to the lotto. Around the outside of the building are local produce vendors. It was kind of neat to see where Quebec produce comes from. I saw quite a few things from Ile d’Orleans and interestingly enough a lot of stuff from Ontario. The market is significantly smaller and less interesting than Jean-Talon so I’d probably skip it next time.
Au Pied de Cochon
536 ave Duluth est
Montréal, QC H2L 1A9, Canada
(514) 281-1114
So out of all my Montreal eats, this was the one I was most excited for. I first heard about PDC in Gourmet magazine a few years back and have been hearing about it nonstop ever since. Reservations are a must. I even accepted a reservation to sit at the bar and I’m not a huge fan of bar seating. I poured over the menu for days trying to determine what to eat. Do I go for the duck in the can? Should I try the foie gras poutine? Maybe I should try something porcine? Oh the struggle! The choice of what my mom would eat was also weighing on me. She’s not into foie and doesn’t like anything too extreme. I figured she’d be safe with the ribs or steak frites until I did some digging and discovered that the ribs was one giant rib (and not beef I think) and the steak and frites was bison. My suggestions was for her to order apps.
When it came down to ordering I ordered the Foie Gras Cromesquis, Codfish Fritters and the Foie Gras Poutine. My mom opted for the steak and frites. The cromesquis is a hunk of foie gras that’s covered in dough and fried. You are supposed to let it cool and then pop it into your mouth. The foie gushes out. It was pretty neat but you really couldn’t eat more than the two provided. The codfish fritters were okay. A bit on the salty side and the tasted like what my mom makes so that was a bit disappointing. Then it was on to the foie gras poutine. I was excited for this one. Alas it was just okay. I’m not a foie connoisseur but I found the foie on the almost dry/tough side. The poutine itself was really rich and tasted okay but was not mind-blowing. I really kind of just felt like I was eating liver on top of fries and gravy. Le sigh. My mom didn’t enjoy the steak and frites. It came to the table looking a disheveled mess and was on the salty side. Again, le sigh.
The highlight of the meal however was the pina colada! It comes with a pineapple freezie in the middle that you have to stir in. Super neat and really yummy. Would I visit APC again? Probably not unless I was with a group that wanted to check it out. Otherwise I’d rather just spend my pesos on some bagels.
Fairmount Bagels
74 Avenue Fairmount Ouest
Montréal, QC H2T 2M2, Canada
(514) 272-0667
Of course I had to hit up Fairmount Bagels! They don’t have a cafe, just a bagel-buying storefront. Which bagel team am I on? I honestly like Fairmount and St. Viateur equally. I bought a half dozen of each to take back with me.
La Banquise
994 Rue Rachel Est
Montréal, QC H2J2J3, Canada
(514) 525-2415
Whenever people start talking about Montreal poutine this place comes up. This was my second trip there. The first time I ordered the regular poutine but this time I upped the ante and got the bacon poutine. YUM. The cheese curds were fresh, the gravy was flavourful and the fries were the perfect consistency (I don’t like super crisp fries with my poutine). My only issue was that the bacon could have been higher quality but alas this is a cheap 24hr place so my expectations weren’t that high.
Schwartz’s
3895 Boulevard Saint Laurent
Montreal, QC H2W 1Y2, Canada
(514) 842-4813
If you eat meat you can’t go to Montreal without hitting up Schwartz’s for a smoked meat sandwich. Schwartz’s always has a crazy line out front but now they’ve opened up a takeout shop next door so you can bypass the lines if you don’t want to eat in. While I’ve really enjoyed their sandwiches in the past, this time it did not measure up. The meat was pretty dry and actually broke into “crumbs” while I was eating it. I didn’t even ask for lean! Maybe it was an off day but I really do love Schwartz’s. I’m hoping that it isn’t becoming a victim of its own success.
Jean-Talon Market
7070 Avenue Henri Julien
Montreal, Quebec H2S3A3, Canada
(514) 277-1588
The last stop of this trip was to Jean-Talon market. It’s a great place just to stroll through and see what’s in season and explore the little shops on the periphery. I bought some delicious Quebec strawberries but the highlight of the trip was my ice cream from Havres des Glaces. I had the Gingembre (ginger bread) and the Maple Creme Brulee. Um, SO GOOD. There were delicious bits of the caramelized sugar from creme brulee in the ice cream. A winner for sure.