Montreal, Quebec

[porcupine]

Canada is again open to US travellers. @Steve R., think you'll be coming to Montréal? 

General advice: do some research before trying to cross the border.  Current requirements are vaccination, negative COVID test result within preceding 72 hours. Upload info in advance to the ArriveCAN app and have all your paperwork ready as you approach the border (and have actual paperwork in addition to your devices).  If you have a NEXUS card, getting across the border will be a snap.  Québéc will be requiring vaccination passports starting September 1st. 

Most of my favorite restaurants survived the pandemic, and (surprisingly) new ones have opened.  During the summer, at least, people here love to dine outside, and many place already had terrasse dining areas. The city has closed some streets to motor vehicles, so there's even more outdoor dining options, and they're more pleasant. The few restos where we've eaten indoors are spacing tables further apart, have removed half the bar chairs, etc. 

Les masques sont obligatoires, bien sûr, and every store has a bottle of hand sanitizer at the entrance, and the staff watch people entering to be sure it's used.  Small stores limit the number of customers entering.  Overall mask discipline is better here than in the greater DC area, but social distancing is not. (To be fair, MTL is a very crowded city.)

If anyone is planning on travelling to MTL soon and wants specific advice, tag me in a reply and I'll be happy to help.

[Steve R.]

We'll be there sooner or later, but we keep re-thinking our traveling plans (or lack thereof).  We're (again) somewhat reluctant to make any, given the yo-yo'ing restrictions and the possible need for us to get a booster vaccine in Oct or Nov.   It may well wait again until April or May... or we might just show up in Oct.   I'll bet we can find a last minute apartment to rent.  

[Steve R.]

Feeling optimistic, we booked an apartment for May.  Hopefully....

[JimCo]

On 8/23/2021 at 9:54 AM, porcupine said:

If anyone is planning on travelling to MTL soon and wants specific advice, tag me in a reply and I'll be happy to help.

My wife and I are headed up to Montreal for a few days between Christmas and New Year's. We're staying in Old Montreal but are hoping to explore a lot of the city. I'd love any recommendations. Thank you!

[porcupine]

On 11/29/2021 at 12:42 PM, JimCo said:

My wife and I are headed up to Montreal for a few days between Christmas and New Year's. We're staying in Old Montreal but are hoping to explore a lot of the city. I'd love any recommendations. Thank you!

Hi, Jim - not knowing anything about your preferences, I'm not sure what to recommend.  Below is a link to my personal google map "Montréal Eating and Drinking". Please understand that this is NOT a list of recommended places; rather, it's a list of place that I have been to (dark colors) or still want to try (light colors).

A few ideas, though...  I don't go to Old Montréal very often. I like some of the art galleries there, and a few small shops, but there are a ton of trinkety tourist shops there. But the architecture there is neat. Marché Bonsecours is neat for lower-end boutiques and crafts (caveat, I haven't been there in, like, 10 years).  Olive and Gourmando is great for breakfast/brunch/lunch, but everybody knows about it and it's always mobbed.

Speaking of mobbed, start researching restos now and make your reservations soon. And get on wait lists, because if you can be flexible, usually something will turn up.  My current favorite restos in no particular order: Hélicoptère, Maison Publique, Damas, Le Butterblume, Montréal Plaza, La Maison de Mademoiselle Dumpling.  Current favorite coffee: Noble Cafe, Pourquoi Pas?, Cafe 8 oz, Caffe in Gamba. Current favorite boulangeries/patisseries: Boulangerie Le Toledo, Le Fromentier, Patisserie Rhubarb.

There are all sorts of little places to discover in the Plateau if you like neighborhood boutiques. Check out Avenue Duluth, ave Laurier est (in the neighborhood of the same name); ave Laurier ouest is more for high-end clothing, home design, kitchen supplies, that sort of thing. Rue St. Denis has some good home furnishings stores between (roughly) rue Sherbrooke and ave Laurier. Likewise boulevard St Laurent. And if just poking around is your thing, spend some time in Mile End and Little Italy.

If you like farmer's markets, check out Marché Atwater and Marché Jean-Talon. If you want to load up on Québec foods to take home, look for a shop on the fringes of Jean-Talon called Marché des Saveurs du Québec.  You can bring cheese back to the US if it isn't raw milk aged less than 60 days (I think). There are beaucoup de small producers of cheese in Québec, worth seeking out if you love cheese, because you won't find them in the US. There are several good fromageries listed on my map.

If you're going to use the metro (subway and bus), buy a week-long pass, but be aware that it's good for a calendar week: 12:01 am Monday to 12:00 am Sunday (or something like that).  So if you buy a pass on, say Saturday, you'll waste a lot of money. It's a pain because it causes everyone to queue up on Monday mornings... but there's a kiosk or two at most stations. 

Getting around town via subway is easy, but it doesn't go everywhere. Some of the buses are convenient, but many only run every half-hour. Don't count on being able to get a cab or Uber too quickly. There is a car-sharing service (Communauto) but they don't have many vehicles in the fleet, so you can't count on getting one.  If you want that, though, sign up now, because it takes like a week for them to approve you.

Are you flying?  If so, you can take an express bus (#747) from the airport. I'm not sure what stop would be closest to Old Montréal but you can find that on the internet.

If there's anything specific you want to know about please ask!  I hope this is of some help to you.

Montréal Eating and Drinking

[JimCo]

21 hours ago, porcupine said:

Hi, Jim - not knowing anything about your preferences, I'm not sure what to recommend.  Below is a link to my personal google map "Montréal Eating and Drinking". Please understand that this is NOT a list of recommended places; rather, it's a list of place that I have been to (dark colors) or still want to try (light colors).

Wow, this is incredible. Thanks so much! Judging from your earlier posts, I think we have a lot in common with our taste in restaurants. Here in DC, we love Tail Up Goat, Revelers Hour, Kinship and Little Serow. Our best experiences have tended to be when we just sit at the bar for a few hours and have a good time with the food, drinks and staff. Can't wait to check out some of your highlights.

[porcupine]

47 minutes ago, JimCo said:

Wow, this is incredible. Thanks so much! Judging from your earlier posts, I think we have a lot in common with our taste in restaurants. Here in DC, we love Tail Up Goat, Revelers Hour, Kinship and Little Serow. Our best experiences have tended to be when we just sit at the bar for a few hours and have a good time with the food, drinks and staff. Can't wait to check out some of your highlights.

I forgot to mention Alma, a wine bar in Outremont. If you're into wine, it's worth a try.  It sounds like we do have similar tastes in restaurants.

[JimCo]

1 hour ago, porcupine said:

I forgot to mention Alma, a wine bar in Outremont. If you're into wine, it's worth a try.  It sounds like we do have similar tastes in restaurants.

Thanks! Already made a reservation at Montreal Plaza. It looks fantastic! We're facing some limitations because we're there on a Monday 'til Thursday, and a lot of places look to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Plus, Joe Beef and their affiliates are closed for a few weeks after Christmas. But we'll have a fun time exploring.

[Steve R.]

Ok, so this is not specifically a food request, but it might just be in a couple of DR.com members' wheelhouse.  We're going to be in Montreal starting May 1 for a month and, given the amount we intend to eat and drink, we need to know if there's a good place to play tennis.  I'd like to pick up some 4.5 or high 4.0 doubles games and my wife would like to take a lesson or hit with other 3.0-3.5 women players.  Har-tru courts very preferable as my knees don't like hard courts any longer.

Aside from hoping to have lunch or dinner with porcupine & mr.porcupine during the month, we're pretty much otherwise set.  However, I'd love to know how JimCo did on his trip so, if he's around and feels like posting...

[Steve R.]

Well, thanks to the non-response on my tennis enquiry, I’m now heavier by several pounds (kilos), specifics unknown, since we dont have a scale here.  For anyone considering coming to Montreal, please note that it is a very good food city.  Details of a month’s worth of dining (well, more like pigging out) & of sights to see, things to do, upon request.  Several very heavy meat centric meals at very well known places were great, some less so.  However, what we did find were several Paris-like chef driven prix fixe meals that rivaled any we’ve had elsewhere.  Both Tandem (a byob place where we took the 7 course menu and loved it) & Candide (where we sat at the open kitchen pass and took the wine paired dinner) are destination spots.  Silly to describe the dishes, especially since the menus change at least monthly & are fresh product centric.  And I’ll miss the places that would be in our regular rotation if they would just move to Brooklyn; places like Maison Publique & Gus.  Oh well.

Our thanks to porcupine, who went out of her way to give advice and recommendations to us over the past couple of years, most of which panned out well (okay, so we didnt like Helicoptere).  And it was great that we wound up there at the same time for several days so that we could meet in person & have 2 lunches together.  Hope to see you again in the future, in NYC, D.C or maybe back in Montreal.  Again, thanks.

[Ericandblueboy]

On 5/28/2022 at 1:58 PM, Steve R. said:

Details of a month’s worth of dining (well, more like pigging out) & of sights to see, things to do, upon request.  

I'm thinking about Montreal around Xmas.  Been there twice before but wanna go back because the food is so good.  My inclination is more of Au Pied de Cochon and Joe Beef.  What have you to recommend?  Looking for a la carte and not tasting menu, hearty and rustic rather than fine dining with particular emphasis on offal.  Cool sights also welcome.

[Steve R.]

Well, for what you want, you picked the 2 most solid examples.  Joe Beef is not as excessive as it was, but it's still the benchmark for very hearty stuff.   If you like natural wines, I'd also look at Joe Beef's next door sibling Le Vin Papillon.  L'Express is also good & we liked a place called Gus.  Menu changes daily, so you'd have to check what's cooking to see if you're interested.  Also Maison Premiere, which we liked a lot.  Daily blackboard menu, but always with some really interesting stuff going.

We spent a bit of time touring around Montreal's wall murals (graffiti).  Extensive & interesting.  If you're into hockey, the Bell Center arena has a tour.  The St. Joseph's Oratory & the Museum of Archeology are interesting and Notre Dame Cathedral has a laser show in the evenings that might be a thing to do (we liked it okay, but thought it kind of one note).  Lots of music in local cafes to check out.

[Ericandblueboy]

I had the 8 course tasting menu at Bouillon Bilk.  It was delicious and reasonably priced ($130 Canadian).  My only whine is that the portions were really really small.  Probably should've had some bread.  The tasting menu are items from the a la carte menu, you just get to sample more of them.

Joe Beef's Lobster Spaghetti ($75 Canadian) is awesome, not because of the lobster but the lobster flavor they extracted from the tomalley/shell into the pasta sauce.  I had a rabbit terrine as a starter that I thought was just okay.  As a single, the only time I can make a reservation is at 5 p.m.  

Au Pied de Cochon has unofficially been passed down to the next generation.  Martin Picard is almost never at the restaurant anymore.  The menu seems to have more of an Asian influence.  For example, a popular dish is foie gras nigiri - what appears to be slices of foie gras on top of sushi rice served on a spoon.  I did not really enjoy the things I ordered:  clams with pig intestines, foie gras on a pastry shell with blood pudding.  

L'Express is putting out classics.  I enjoyed my foie gras terrine and roasted quail but there's nothing inventive there.  

So every day I went to Chinatown to see  if I can score some Chinese brunch (dim sum or other small plates) or even a bowl of bun bo hue.  Nothing except one dim sum joint is open (Kim Fung opens at 8 am) and it wasn't particularly good.  I ended up at Maggie Oakes one day for salmon and bagel that was okay.