A C Zoom

List of all my favorite restaurants and food markets in Montreal. Some of these are described in more detail in the links. Photos are available in the Montreal Photo Gallery.

A map showing locations of all these restaurants is in the Montreal Restaurants Map posting.

Schwartz's Jewish Deli

Schwartz's Deli 3895 St-Laurent Blvd, 514-842-4813.
Food: Value:
Excellent smoked meat sandwiches -- spicy, tender, succulent meat that falls apart easily with the touch of a fork... accompanied with a black cherry soda or hot tea, it is truly an unique experience. Take a seat at the bar-stool at the deli counter, and enjoy the food amidst the hustle and bustle. More on Schwartz's

Le Petit Alep

191 Jean-Talon East, 514-270-9361.
Food: Value:
Syrian/Armenian food. Great food and excellent ambiance - the best dish is Ciche Kebab Terbialy which is filet-mignon with a special spicy sauce. Open Tuesday through Saturday. Can get crowded during lunch. Their weekday lunch specials are also excellent. Wine and Coffee available. More on Le Petit Alep

Marché Jean-Talon

7070 Henri-Julien St., south of Jean-Talon St., near the metro stop for Jean-Talon.
Food: Value:
Jean-Talon Market bustles with activity in summer certainly and winter too. It is truly a fantastic market - all fresh vegetables, fruits you need, as well as bakeries, food stalls (bison sausage anyone), maybe the best calamari you can have in a paper bag (at Aqua Mare). And cheese too - inside the market, as well as at La Fromagerie Hamel close by at 202 Jean-Talon St. East. On your first day at Montreal, get down here, get yourself a supply of fruits, continue to replenish every few days. And then to eat you have crepes, fish, pastries, cheeses, and so on. Just outside the market is Marché des saveurs du Québec selling local products, at 280 Place du marché du nord, on a side street.

Money, Accommodations, Getting Around - Montréal

Short takes and tips for travelers to Montreal.

Tourist Offices The main tourist office is located near Peel and Ste-Catherine at 1001, rue du square Dorchester - this is a good place to begin your trip, get the free tourist guides and Centre-Ville (downtown) maps.. The official city web site is at Ville de Montréal and it has a Discovering Montreal section with excellent maps.

Getting in the mood Not that anyone should need any help getting in the Montreal mood - but here's Arianne Moffatt's song Montreal - it is in French - Je rentre à Montréal ... Je reviens à Montréal ... I understand it says I return to Montreal ... I'm coming back to Montreal ... great music even if the words are all foreign!

More tips for travelers to Montreal in the following sub-sections of this chapter.

If you are sure of the days you are going to stay in Montréal and are ok with non-refundable advance payments and are booking a week or more in advance (so as to get in multiple offers), try Priceline -- amazing deals are possible -- pay 40-60% of the prices normally charged at the hotel web sites, in some cases. A good discussion board for Priceline is BiddingForTravel.com. If Priceline does not work out, Hotwire hotels section is also worth a check. Note that both Hotwire and Priceline do not display hotel name until after you pay for it, and only a single double-bed is guaranteed though you can request options and sometimes the hotel will honor them.

For those visiting for a week or more, a great option is to rent a room or an apartment. This is a great way to live like the locals and explore neighborhoods. This is fraught with some risk in that the people renting may not be totally dependable - you may find that the person is not around at the agreed upon time, or if your plans change, then a new time cannot be agreed upon, or that the place may not be as promised. But the advantages are many, and this also is invariably less expensive than a hotel. There are large number of choices that can be browsed online - the two good sites are kijiji.ca short term rentals and craigslist vacation rentals. The number of choices is large if you are traveling without a car, but if car parking is necessary, look for places outside the downtown area where street parking is easier. Alternatively, you can leave your car in a parking lot but that can cost $25 or more during peak holiday times in the downtown areas.

Montréal is a completely safe city to visit. Downtown is incredibly safe at all times, only danger on streets late at night is drunk American students screaming on the streets or puking in the corner! It is a large city, therefore there are somewhat significant numbers of pan-handlers that one may encounter. Finally, when exploring the city, there may also be an encounter with a narrow-minded Quebec or French supporter -- I have been shouted at for not knowing French by a bum out in Ahuntsic borough. And then had a interesting encounter with a well-dressed woman in the nice area near Parc and Laurier who took my help in loading her car with her unwieldy package of food and wine but insisted on speaking French in a condescending manner even when I said I don't speak French, and never saying thanks. I happen to be brown-skinned and that probably was what led to an incident in the metro late at night where one guy shouted obscenities in English inter-mixed with the word "immigrant" - I never felt in danger, and ignoring such people always works.

These are rare incidents, and I am only listing them here to point out that Montréal is a large city and they have a few whose insecurities may lead them to cause some discomfort to travelers or new-comers who look different or speak a different language. But to repeat, this is a very safe city for tourists, and while downtown is incredibly safe, outer boroughs are also safe and worth exploring.

Getting Around: Montreal has an excellent métro (subway) and bus system. Buy the strip of 6 tickets which is the best choice for most tourists taking around 3 trips per day, but don't need to use it for multiple days. For three consecutive days, the 3-day tourist pass is good deal. For tourists visiting for a week and starting on Monday, buy the CAM hebdo - a weekly commuter pass. Subway to bus transfer or vice-versa is free to continue a journey, remember to take the transfer ticket from the automatic machines just after entering the turnstile in the metro, or get it from the bus driver on a bus. More details on the Metro at the STM Metro and Bus official web site.

Parking is a major hassle on the streets downtown, and parking lots are very expensive. Moreover, driving downtown is just no fun, especially along Ste-Catherine (always avoid), or the lower part of St-Laurent. Avoid driving as much as possible. For any street parking, be sure to learn enough French - names of the days of a week at least - to navigate the multiple signs that apply to street parking.

East-West street addresses in Montreal will have an East (Est) or West (Ouest) designation. The street that separates East from West is boulevard St-Laurent, also known as the Main. This is very important because looking for 4400 Jean-Talon without knowing if that means East or West of St-Laurent would mean a lot of time spent in searching to find the right place!

ATM: For withdrawing money, ATM is best, withdraw the largest amount you can, and need, to offset impact of the ATM fee. Limits are usually $500 or $1000 and this depends both on the bank owning the ATM machine as well as the bank where the account is kept. For lowest fees, use the numerous Desjardins ATM kiosks seen all over the city - this is a cooperative financial group, similar to US Credit Unions. Bank of America ATM holders - use the ScotiaBank ATM machines -- there is no fee involved. One thing to keep in mind - if your ATM pin code is over 4 digits, it may be rejected -- in which case, try only the first four digits of your PIN code, that usually works.
In any case, the spread between the buy and sell prices for CDN$ is pretty narrow - so even in the worst case you lose just 2-3 cents per dollar, so exchange cash (comparison shop before settling on a place), or use a credit card (all of which now charge 2-4% as fees), if that is more convenient than using ATM cards.

Food Rating: Value Rating:

2077 Ste-Catherine W, 514-937-0156. On Ste-Catherine, just west of Rue du Fort.

This Turkish restaurant has a unique window display of the cooks making lavash - basically huge chappatis/tortillas.

The appetizers - Mezze platters - are good enough for a meal, many choices to pick from, and come with a freshly made lavash bread. The appetizers include Baba Ghannouj - charbroiled eggplant puree with pomegranate paste and roasted vegetables, Hummus - chickpeas puree with tahini, lemon, garlic, olive oil, Muhammara d'Alep - pomegranate paste with mixture of walnuts, pine nuts, pepper.

The borek - Turkish feuillette - is excellent. These are flaky phyllo dough pastries filled with feta and spinach or beef and potatoes along with a splash of hot spice - really good. The spinach and feta borek is a great accompaniment to main dishes like Manti, or to a sampling of the mezzes. With a main dish, you can request an half-order of borek so you have chance of finishing it all.

Manti is listed in the specials section - small meat filled dumplings in a thin yogurt sauce with mint, and melted pepper butter paste on the top. Looks nice, and tastes great.

Gozleme - two lavash breads with feta and spinach sounded good - but this was a bit too dry and lean - not enough feta or spinach in it. This would work well when taken along with the appetizers. The borek is much better in that it is more balanced in having sufficient quantity of fillings and is not dry like the gozleme.

Food Rating: Value Rating:

191 Jean-Talon Street East in Montreal - walk West towards St-Laurent from the Jean-Talon metro station. Phone: +1-514-270-9361.
Open Tue-Sat for lunch and dinner.

Great food and excellent ambiance in the converted garage that houses this cafe.

Syrian/Armenian food.
Filet-mignon with a special spicy sauce - Chiche Kebab Terbialy. Absolutely the best, this is always a safe choice.
Pureed eggplant, tahini, garlic, lemon - Métabal.
Chicken in tahini - Poulet Trator.

For pictures, including a picture of the menu, visit the travel gallery Le Petit Alep in the Montreal album section.

The terbialy sauce is a nice, medium-to-hot spicy sauce,
and it makes the difference, best on the beef kababs (medium-rare), but also available with shrimp.

And then there are the weekday daily lunch specials with great soups -- just remember to get there during lunch Tuesday through Friday.
Kebbe Labanie (Kibbe Lebanese) - large meatballs in yogurt, garlic, mint sauce.
As they describe it: "boulettes de bœuf, blé concassé, noix, souce yogourt, ail, menthe".
Filet de sole Amandine
Soupe Harira - tomatoes, beef, fennel, cardamom - nice spicy soup.

Their fries, if you choose to order french fries, are amazing too - nice crunch on the outside, and soft on the inside. It is served with mayo which I presume is how they eat this in Montreal but ketchup is available too, just have to ask for it.

Ayran is my drink of choice, buttermilk with salt - "yogourt, eau, sel". I am not a coffee drinker, most everyone here seems to order the coffee, so that is probably very good too.

Google Earth users may be interested in the KML File for these locations.
Microsoft Live Search Maps is also a good way to view the KML file data.

Food Rating: Value Rating:
Schwartz's Deli 3895 St-Laurent Blvd. Tel: +1-514-842-4813
Hours: Sunday-Thursday 9am-12:30am, Friday 9am-1:30am, Saturday 9am-2:30am

The number one restaurant in Montreal, as far as I'm concerned, is Schwartz's Jewish Deli on Boul St-Laurent! As I write this paragraph sitting in Boston, I am reminded of the taste of those excellent smoked meat sandwiches -- tender, succulent meat that falls apart easily with the touch of a fork, the exquisite mild pepper spices... accompanied with a black cherry soda or hot tea, it is truly an unique experience! Take a seat at the bar-stool at the deli counter, and enjoy the food amidst the hustle and bustle. The interior of Schwartz's is kind-of run-down, but that, with the extremely busy waiters, and the tables where you will find yourself doubled up with strangers because space is so tight, is what creates the unique atmosphere of enjoying smoked meat at Schwartz's.

The protocol: order a medium, black cherry, pickle, and french fries. My order is a medium, hot tea - black, and a pickle. The medium is a medium-fat sandwich. Lean is available, but what is the point? Fatty is available, but if you eat here 3-4 times a week, that would be foolhardy. They also have plates, with bread served on the side, but the sandwich is better with the meat warming up the bread, which tastes nicer.