Fine dining in Montreal is rarely a formal affair. The best splurge restaurants are surprisingly casual, open only for dinner and late into the night.
Montreal skyline from Quartier des Spectacles
The menu at these places changes often. So, you may not get the same items that others have raved about. Nevertheless, some signature items have become a mainstay and for good reason.
Of interest to the food tourist are the French-Canadian restaurants. Sure, Montreal has stellar fine dining establishments offering French, Italian, Syrian, Japanese, etc. cuisines. But those are also found elsewhere in the world. If you visit, go for those unique to the city or region. In Montreal, it’s modern French-Canadian.
Where to get the best double-cooked bread in Montreal
Montreal bagels are perhaps the most famous home-grown food from the city. Only poutine is more well-known but that’s shared with the rest of the region and not invented in Montreal.
Making bagels at St-Viateur Bagel
The two oldest and most popular places to try are St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. They define the standard for Montreal bagels. But are these the best in the city? Fortunately, there aren’t many bagel specialists in Montreal. If you have a few days to spare, you can hit up all of them to find out who makes the best. Or you can just read on.
Local specialties of the gastronomic capital of Canada
There are actually two gastronomic capitals of Canada: Montreal and Toronto. Montreal excels in focus while Toronto excels in variety. Both are accessible to the general public, catering to all budgets from fast food to fine dining. The difference is that Montreal had a few hundred years headstart in developing a culinary identity.
Montreal skyline from Avenue Overdale
Today, it’s renowned for bagels, poutine, smoked meat, and more. You’ll notice that most of them are snacks and junk foods. Here’s a quick rundown of the iconic and lesser-known foods of Montreal.
Aux Anciens Canadiens is one of the few restaurants in Quebec City where one can try traditional cuisine. The reason for this paucity is that it’s peasant food. Old Quebec food is heavy and doesn’t have broad appeal. Like fèves au lard (baked beans with maple syrup) or tourtière (minced meat pie). Enterprising restaurateurs who can re-invent the cuisine will surely be fêted.
But it’s not going to happen at Aux Anciens Canadiens. They value authenticity and it’s the reason people tourists visit. To add to their street cred, they claim to occupy the oldest house in Quebec City.
Poutine is the undisputed number one iconic food of Canada. The second is…um maple syrup? And that wraps up the list of famous Canadian foods.
So, if you are foodie, you have to go to Quebec, the birthplace of poutine. Montreal and Quebec City are strong contenders but food snobs like to point out that the best poutines are outside Montreal. I don’t know if that is true but I do know that Quebec City has Chez Ashton, a fast food chain with great classic poutines. More on that later. Moreover, Quebec City is fairly compact, so it’s an easy place to try different poutines.
Quebec City
What makes a great poutine?
There are just three components in a classic poutine. It’s hard to mess them up but also difficult to excel at them all.
Fries Medium cut. Crisp on the outside. Double- or even triple-frying is optional.
Gravy Dark brown, semi-thin, and salty with a deep meaty flavour. The gravy can be based on chicken, beef, or both. Vegan options have also appeared but the classic is heavy on beef.
Cheese This is the most difficult component to source but the easiest to prepare. The “cheese” is actually cheese curd, not actual cheese. They are a byproduct of cheese production and are like white, bite-sized cushions. It’s hard to find them outside of Quebec and Ontario.
The cheese curds must make a squeaking noise when you chew on them. Obviously, they must remain intact in order to squeak. That’s why they are added to the poutine at the last moment. The chef should ensure that the gravy and fries are not too hot to melt the curds. Any poutine that uses mozzarella, cheddar, or Cheez Whiz is sacrilegious. Heavily-melted cheese is also a sign of an inauthentic poutine.
Variations abound, from Galvaude (chicken and peas) to bacon. Restaurants with the best traditional poutine may not have the best all-loaded ones. For a fair comparison, only traditional poutine was ordered for this taste test.
