Montreal Guide: The Food Tour

Montreal Guide 

Montreal is such a foodie city. Listed some of my absolute MUSTS below! 

Breakfast/Brunch

Arthur’s Nosh Bar - MUST. Best breakfast/brunch I’ve ever had. Make sure to get the McArthur sandwich and the blueberry cream cheese pancakes. 

Schwart’z Deli - The world’s best smoked meat sandwich. Also, the poutine is beyond delish. Go early because the line gets extremely long. 

Olive et Gourmando - Go for the most INSANE pastries I’ve ever had! Also, the space is beyond charming. 

Dinner

Le Bremner - Delicious seafood. Casual, cool vibe. They serve pancakes for dessert, need I say more? It’s located in old Montreal, so definitely go before dinner and walk around. 

Joe Beef - Don’t even know where to start when it comes to this restaurant. Just trust me, it lives up to the hype. Every ingredient is sources from the best and prepared expertly. 

Tuck Shop - Small neighborhood restaurant with a simple seasonal menu in a comfortable atmosphere. Make sure to make a reservation in advance, as seating is limited. 

What to do:

Bota Bota Spa - Bota Bota is an historic river ferry turned upscale floating spa. They have diverse treatments, yoga, and a restaurant. My hunny and I got a couples massage, and it was fabulous! 

Plateau Mont-Royal - Walk around or up the plateau. Beautiful hikes, and you can also see the the view of all of Montreal. 

Wander through the streets of Old Montreal - You feel like you’re in Europe. The area looks onto the Saint Lawrence river. There are a handful of museums and historic buildings to go into. 

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Go now to see the Theierry Mugler exhibit! It’s fabulous.

Where to Shop:

I know this is hard to believe, but I did absolutely no shopping in Montreal, so I have nothing to share on this topic. I’ll be going back in a month, so I’ll definitely check out the streets, and of course the famous department store Holt Renfrew. 

What to Know:

The Montreal Bagel - 10 times better than a NYC bagel. I was shocked, but it was true. The Montreal bagels are wood-fired bagels of Jewish origin. They are smaller than New York bagels, much less doughy, and have a hint of sweetness. St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel are the two big bakeries. Take back a dozen and freeze them.

A “Dep” is a convenience store - You’ll hear this word frequently in casual conversation. In Montreal lingo, “dep” is short for the French word dépanneur, which refers to a corner or convenience store. 

Montreal is a bilingual city - The city is officially French and holds the distinction of being the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world—second only to Paris. At the same time, Montreal is also the most bilingual city in Canada, with almost 60% of its residents able to speak both English and French. When visiting, then, there’s no need to worry about whether or not you’ll be able to communicate with servers and locals. You might want to master some basic vocabulary, especially for greeting and thanking, as a matter of politeness.

Avanti - Everyone goes to this salon Avanti for hair and makeup. It kind looks scary from the outside, but not to worry it’s big and sprawling when you walk in!