Montreal is often pitched to U.S. travelers as a budget-friendly alternative to Paris: plenty of French cuisine and culture, a cosmopolitan feel, a charming historic district. But as Josh and I discovered on our weeklong trip to Canada's second-biggest city, Montreal isn't a European knockoff—it has a Quebecois appeal all its own. From poutine to pastries, here are my favorite things I ate in Montreal.
1. Classique poutine at Restaurant Chez Claudette
Before this trip, poutine was a "meh" kind of food for me—I could take it or leave it. Maybe I hadn't been exposed to good poutine, because thanks to the classique poutine at Restaurant Chez Claudette I finally understand why it's a beloved Quebec specialty. Chez Claudette is the sort of unpretentious local diner where the dish was invented in the 1950s, and although their menu includes dozens of variations, I think you can't beat the classic. The fries were crisp enough to hold up to the gravy, the cheese curds were squeaky-fresh, and there was exactly enough sauce, which had a hearty, rich depth of flavor. It was comfort food in its finest form.
2. All Dressed Ruffles
All dressed chips were invented in Canada, and although you can find them in the U.S. they're not as ubiquitous. I was missing out: the package describes All Dressed Ruffles as "sweet AND salty AND savoury all in ONE bag" and even that capitalization fails to capture how good these are. The flavor is a mix of ketchup, barbecue sauce, sour cream and onion, and salt and vinegar, a.k.a. all the chip flavors combined into one seasoning. It sounds like it would be weird or muddled, but it really works—I even grabbed a few bags to bring home in my carry-on.
3. Sandwich goat cheese from Fromagerie Ruban Bleu
One of my all-time favorite cheeses is Cypress Grove's Humboldt Fog, a soft-ripened, ashed goat cheese. Sandwich, a similar ashed goat cheese made by Fromagerie Ruban Bleu, might be even better: the texture was somehow fluffy and creamy, with a delicate, pristine flavor. I think that Sandwich was wonderful in part because it was cared for so carefully at La Fromagerie Hamel, a Montreal chain of cheese shops—they have their own aging cave in-store and cheeses are cut and wrapped to order. That attention to detail really does make a difference, and now I want to get my hands on a similarly tended-to piece of Humboldt Fog.
4. Dinner at Gibbys
My parents dined at Gibbys on their honeymoon, and I don't think it's changed since 1983. The restaurant is housed in a 18th century stable that's been repurposed as a elegant steakhouse, and the hospitality is from another era. You get bread and pickles before your meal, croutons spooned onto your salad tableside, and chocolates with the Gibbys logo delivered with your check. Everything we ordered was delicious—twice-baked Monte Carlo potatoes, beef wellington, a whiskey-glazed filet mignon kebab, a chocolate mousse cake—but the overall hospitality experience was what made it so special.
5. Fougasse aux olives at Boulangerie Caviste
Several of the bakeries we visited in Montreal offered fougasse, a flatbread from Provence that's shaped like a head of wheat and made with savory ingredients like olives, cheese, garlic, or anchovies. The fougasse aux olives from Boulangerie Caviste was densely packed with green olives—I think it was 50% bread, 50% olive—and even though it was enormous I enjoyed it so much that I ate the whole thing over the course of an afternoon. The bread was wonderfully chewy and the olives added a perfect punch of salt and brininess.
6. Pear-chocolate pastry at L'amour du Pain
We tried several pastries from L'amour du Pain over the course of our trip—their Vieux-Montreal location was only a few blocks from our Airbnb. Everything we ordered was fabulous, but the pear-chocolate pastry stood out for how well the slightly caramelized pears paired with the flaky pastry and the shavings of chocolate. I'm not even a pear person, and I savored every bite.
7. Tofu bun bowl at Le Petit Sao
The fresh, complex Vietnamese cuisine at Le Petit Sao was a perfect counterpoint to buttery pastries and meat-heavy dishes. My tofu bun bowl incorporated a marvelous variety of flavors and textures, including chilled rice noodles, seared tofu, fresh mint and cucumber, salad greens, pickled cabbage and carrot, a smattering of peanuts and crispy shallots, and a umami-packed fish sauce-based dressing. Each bite had a different assortment of ingredients, so each forkful was uniquely delightful.
8. Poppy seed kokosh from Boulangerie Cheskie
We took the the Museum of Jewish Montreal's Beyond the Bagel food tour to learn about Montreal's Jewish community and cuisine, and each stop was informative and tasty (I wrote about the tour in-depth at Still Proofing, my Jewish-focused blog). Since Josh and I were the only people on the tour we were sent home with a bunch of leftovers, and I got to feast on the poppy seed kokosh from Boulangerie Cheskie for days. Poppy seed kokosh is a Hungarian-Jewish pastry made by rolling a large sheet of pastry with a gooey poppy seed filling. Although it was quite sweet, there was also a bitterness from the poppy seeds, and the texture was kind of like eating cookie dough.
9. Wilensky Special at Wilensky's Light Lunch
Another memorable stop on the Beyond the Bagel food tour was Wilensky's Light Lunch, a kosher-style lunch counter that's barely changed since the 1930s. The brief menu's staple item is the Wilensky Special, a grilled kaiser roll with all-beef salami, all-beef bologna, and mustard. Maybe it's the beef cold cuts, maybe it's the decades of seasoning on the sandwich press, maybe it's the mustard, but it was the most satisfying sandwich I've eaten in a long time.
10. Afternoon tea at Paparmane Tea Room
Josh's parents kindly treated us to a nice meal during our vacation, and I'm glad that we opted for afternoon tea at the Paparmane Tea Room on the final evening. The decor is modern and whimsical—think magenta-pink walls and fake birds perched in the chandelier—and the food is exquisite, with bold flavors, a beautiful presentation, and a thoughtful vegetarian menu. I especially enjoyed the brioche roll filled with curried chickpea salad; the grilled cheese made with walnut-pistachio bread, aged cheddar, onions, and olives; and the raspberry and wintergreen macaron.