When I was looking into flights to Morocco, I found out that I could make a stop in Montreal and seeing as how I had fallen in love with the city when I first visited many years ago, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to reacquaint myself with Montreal again.
Chez Claudette
Address: 351 Laurier Ave E
Phone: 514-279-5173
I arrived into Montreal by 1:00pm and was downtown about an hour after that. My first stop was Chez Claudette for some poutine. I had heard that Chez Claudette has a huge selection of poutine choices and I wasn’t disappointed. Beware that the menu is only available in French though. I opted for one that had sausage, onions, pepper and mushrooms (I thought I had better get some vegetables in!). It was every bit as delicious as I had expected, albeit a little saltier than I would have liked. But I guess if you have gravy, cheese and sausage together, you should expect that it would be salty.
Orange Julep
Address: 7700 Decarie Blvd
Phone: 514-738-7486
I took the subway to Namur Station and as soon as you exit, you will notice a huge orange ball in the sky. It took about 5 minutes to walk over to Orange Julep and at 4pm in the afternoon, the line was still out the door. It moved fast though and before I knew it, I had my first sip of this famous Orange Julep. Like many restaurants, the ingredients that they use to make this juice is super secretive and the lady in front of my in line was trying to find out more about the juice because she was afraid of being allergic to some of the ingredients but the staff were unable to help her and kept insisting that even they did not know what was in the juice.
None the less, it was delicious and tasted slightly different compared to Orange Julius, but it has the same kind of texture.
Felix & Norton
I had heard about these famous cookies from Felix & Norton, which are only widely available in Quebec. I didn’t actually plan on going to look for them, but I noticed a food truck selling them while I was walking around Old Montreal, so I decided to purchase a few to try. These soft cookies are so fresh and buttery that the bag I had them in was soaked through with grease. They have 6 flavours and I was told that Ménage à Troi was the most popular one. I only purchased cookies, but they also have ice cream sandwiches, and a desert poutine.
There are apparently 2 major fast food chains in Quebec that are famous for poutine. La Belle Province and Lafleur. A friend of mine who had grown up eating at both said that she didn’t have a preference so I decided to try the first one I ran into – La Belle.
I can’t say I loved it. The prices were high, but the portion size countered that, as I received a heaping portion of poutine. The gravy was very different from any that I had tasted before and I wasn’t a huge fan of it. The hot dogs weren’t particularly to my liking either, so I was a bit disappointed. For a fast food chain of this size, I was also surprised that they were cash only.
Aside from poutine, most people immediately associate Montreal with Smoked Meat and I decided to visit Schwartz and arrived there around 10:00am on a Sunday morning. Although there was no line just yet, the place was already packed with people. Their signature smoked meat sandwich did not disappoint and it was one of my favourite things that I ate that day. I noticed that many people around me had ordered pickles, but I was too full from the huge sandwich to try that. I walked by Schwartz again later in the afternoon and the lineup snaked around the block, so getting there early was a great decision. Beware that they are also cash only.
St. Viateur Bagels
Address: 263 Rue Saint Viateur O
Phone: 514-276-8044
St. Viateur Bagels was on my list of must visits and I made my way there as soon as I got up. Coincidentally they were celebrating their 60th anniversary and had blocked off the road in front of their shop for some festivities. As it was still quite early, there wasn’t much going on just yet, but they had set up some tables and benches for people to sit on. Otherwise, there really isn’t an area to sit down and enjoy your bagels. I ate one of my bagels immediately and it was quite good, but the other one I had saved for a few hours later and that one had hardened quite a bit, so these are definitely best when fresh.
Schwartz’s
Address: 3895 St Laurent Blvd
Phone: 514-842-4813
Aside from poutine, most people immediately associate Montreal with Smoked Meat and I decided to visit Schwartz and arrived there around 10:00am on a Sunday morning. Although there was no line just yet, the place was already packed with people. Their signature smoked meat sandwich did not disappoint and it was one of my favourite things that I ate that day. I noticed that many people around me had ordered pickles, but I was too full from the huge sandwich to try that. I walked by Schwartz again later in the afternoon and the lineup snaked around the block, so getting there early was a great decision. Beware that they are also cash only.
Bagels Etc was on a list of top breakfast places in Montreal. Since this was located a short distance from my accommodations, I decided to try it before heading to the airport. The menu was not large, but everything was related to bagels as the name would imply. The restaurant was actually quite small and only had about 10-15 tables, so on a busy morning, I would expect a line up.
Bagels Etc
Address: 4320 St Laurent Blvd
Phone: 514-845-9462
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