Montreal Food Tour!

I’ve had the idea for this post for a couple months now, since I did the Barbados Food Tour post. It’s about time I did one of those for Montreal! Now I know I’ve barely touched the surface of all of the great food places in Montreal but I’ve still established a couple favourites that align with others so they can’t be too bad.

The first couple times I went to visit Montreal, before moving there, I used to make a joke that all I did while there was eat. It was basically filled with planning where to eat and how to pass the time in between meals. Nothing has changed. I was recently back in Montreal, not to find new places but to just reassure myself that everywhere I love is just as good as I remember since moving to London, and I was right.

So I think it only makes sense to go through these places in the order I would eat them, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Breakfast

For breakfast I used to have a whole lot of places I loved but one by one they got kicked off the favourites list for various reasons, only leaving two. First let’s talk about Reuben’s.

 

This is the place to go to get that all American, straight forward breakfast. It’s also the place to go to get smoked meat. I’m not a fan of smoked meat so to a lot of people I’m just wasting a resource by not ordering it but I think it also says a lot if I can go to a restaurant that is known for something and other things on the menu are still really good. The service is good and I know what to expect when I order (because I order the same thing every time).

My next pick for breakfast is a favourite of a lot of people in Montreal and a magnet for those that go to visit. Of course it’s L’Avenue! (Pictures below are from multiple visits :))

 

Oh my goodness I love the food at this place! Everything is always good and I’ve never taken someone here that didn’t like it. Yes the wait in line outside can be a bit long, especially during the winter, but it’s worth it in my opinion. The service is good and if you go enough times close together they even remember your order 🙂 I can honestly say that I’ve tried multiple things on the menu before declaring my favourite but they were all made exquisitely. This is somewhere where once you’re inside you can’t go wrong with ordering anything off the menu.

Lunch

I’m not very picky about lunch. Usually if I go to any of my faves for breakfast I’ll be skipping lunch completely on the account of being too full. There is however once place that I love to go for lunch. Nudo.

Somehow I’ve gone this long without taking any pictures of this food, i don’t even know how that’s possible, so I’m relying on my sister and brother-in-law on this one.

This is a place where you can get a meal and a show. I’ve heard this be described as a diamond in the rough since it’s downtown location is in a food court, somewhere you would expect to find such a good meal. You make your order and while waiting you can watch your noodles be pulled right in front of you.

 

 

This is a relatively light lunch in that since its mostly liquid, once you’ve gone to the bathroom you’re ready to eat again! I usually get #3, the BBQ pork, sometimes with extra noodles if I’m super hungry. The taste is amazing and its the perfect portion size, you can finish it without feeling uncomfortably full. The price is also great if that is a factor to consider.

Dinner

Dinner isn’t something I’d say I love off the top of my head but I’ve learned that I actually do love dinner. One of my favourite places for dinner is Qing Hua for dumplings. This isn’t somewhere you would think of going when visiting Montreal but, again, everyone I’ve taken there has loved it.

They’ve done some amazing upgrades to the place since I first went but the quality of the food has stayed the same, awesome! It can get crowded at peak dinner time but once that rush has died down and it’s a bit quieter you can take your time and take in everything, including watching the dumplings being made in the back. You can get your choice of dumplings either steamed or fried and you get about 15 in a portion. You can also split your choices in half, to get two types of dumplings, or you can go for the chef’s choice and be surprised. There are some vegetarian options available and there is a wide variety of combinations to go with chicken, lamb, beef, and pork options.

All in all the food is great and I’ve never had a bad batch of dumplings. (Try the peanut butter dumplings for an appetizer and save your dish with the peanut butter sauce for your main dumplings.)

Another great place for dinner (or lunch if you want) is Fisshu for all you can eat sushi!

I warn you now that it is very easy to order too much food. Pay attention to the number of pieces in each item you order! This place is great. The food comes out quickly and its awesome sushi. It’s a bring your own wine place so its also a great place to bring friends and have a relaxing night. It isn’t usually a very packed place so it’s still a nice place to have a conversation.

Some honourable mentions, are some places I’ve only been to maybe once and are good but not really places I dream about when I’m craving food.

Moxie’s is somewhere that has a great atmosphere and vibe about it. I was mostly spoiled when I went with coworkers and we ordered ahead so I can’t speak on the length of time it takes to get your food but I will say that with a large group, over 10, they remembered everyone’s order and specifications on their orders.

 

The food is tasty and the servers were attentive to everything we wanted. I’d love to go back and try some other things on the menu.

Another great one I unfortunately have no pictures of ( I blame being too hungry) but I’ve thought about this food over and over again since having it. We ended up going to Escondite simply because the other place we wanted to go to wasn’t available. On a complete whim we looked up good Mexican food and this popped up with some great reviews. This is kind of like a tapas place where you can share food with who you’re with. They have of course tacos but I found their menu unlike any typical Mexican restaurant. The pieces are small enough that you can try a lot of the different options which from the few that I tried are amazing. The drinks are strong and the service is great!

I’ll undoubtedly be back to Montreal so if you have any suggestions for great food places please let me know and I’ll check them out!