how to be a traveler

travel. eat. drink. explore. write. repeat.

8 foods you should say, “bonjour” to in montreal

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How To Be A Traveler

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  1. Poutine – fries with gravy and cheese curds. Need I say more? I don’t normally like soggy fries but somehow, this just works. Must be all the cheese. This dish originates from Quebec. Being that Montreal is IN Quebec, you won’t find a shortage of poutine places. I would think that it’s like finding a pizza place in NYC – it’s only a matter of finding the perfect one

    Poutineville 1
    Poutine from Poutineville in Plateau Mont Royal
  2. Smoked meat – similar to New York pastrami. This is also where the recipe for Montreal steak seasoning comes from

    Smoking Meat 11
    Smoked meat sammie with some smoked meat poutine from Smoking Meat in Ville Marie
  3. Montreal-style bagels – according to Wikipedia, as compared to NYC bagels, it’s a “smaller, thinner, sweeter and denser, with a larger hole, and is always baked in a wood-fired over. It contains malt, egg, and no salt, and is boiled in honey-sweetened water before being baked”.
    St. Viateur Bagels 13
    St Viateur is probably the most popular for Montreal-style bagels. They have a few locations but you should go to this one.

  4. Kinka Izakaya – okay so this one isn’t technically a food, but it’s a restaurant. Another thing I always like to try in different cities is their sushi. I found this restaurant via Yelp and it just happened to be a 5-minute walk from our hotel. The food was great and we ended up doing a sake bomb. Ahh..brings me back to my youth.
    Beef Tataki
    Cheesy, broiled oysters
    Fresh Sashimi
  5. Tim Horton’s – not specific to Montreal but you’re in Canada, so why not?

    Tim Horton's 3
    We prefer fattier breakfast foods with meat and cheese
  6. Starbucks – I always like to see what gift card designs they have that are specific to that city, and what drinks they have. In this case, it was a honeycomb lavender latte, which I wish they had in NYC.
  7. McDonald’s – nothing too different, except for the poutine, which is why we didn’t end up getting it since we’d rather have restaurant-style poutine. I’d imagine it would just be McDonald’s fries with some sort of mediocre gravy and some cheese, which is why we opted out. Still fun to look at the menu though!Caricature:McDonald's:Notre Dame Cathedral:Chinatown 6
  8. Shawarma – added this one last because it’s a bonus one. Not specific to Montreal, but I had no idea that the shawarma here was so good (and cheap!)
    Shawarmaz 3
    Gotta love some meat on a spit

    Shawarmaz 6
    Platter for $12, which is enough for 2 people @ Shawarmaz
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About the author

hi! my name is melanie! i started this blog back in 2014. how to be a traveler is a collection of my travel experiences. my motto is, ‘travel, eat, drink, explore, write, repeat.‘ this blog is a tool to help me remember all the places i’ve seen, but it’s also a tool to help you plan out the places you will discover. and so that you won’t make the same mistakes i made. think of me as your very own travel guinea pig. so hopefully, you can find at least one useful tip while reading my blog. i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoy writing it for you.