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Old Montréal is home to some of the city's hippest and most charming bistros and fine-dining restaurants—all tucked into heritage buildings. Foodies eat wild game and fresh seafood while drinking imported wine. Many of the better restaurants have a reasonable table d'hôte at lunch. Daily changing menus written on chalkboards are a common sight, since market-fresh food is popular.
Influential types arrive at lunchtime en masse for a table at this bustling bakery and sandwich shop where vegetables are organically grown in a nearby garden. Crowd pleasers include the Cuban panini sandwich and the #24 salad with pickled daikon, peanuts, roasted marinated tofu, fresh herbs, and soba noodles. There is now a second location in the new Royalmount mall.
Inspired by Paris’s golden-age brasseries, Brasserie 701's spectacular setting features high ceilings, neoclassical architecture, giant arched windows, and lovely chandeliers. The menu incudes the usual suspects expected at a brasserie, from tartares to filet mignon, ratatouille, escargot, and foie gras.
As a gourmet grocery shop, take-out counter, and French bistro rolled into one, this splendid space was quickly adopted by local foodies. Instead of being dejected by the brunch queues on Saturday and Sunday, visitors should take advantage of that time to browse the restaurant’s inviting boutique for gourmet souvenirs to take home.
This family-run restaurant, in existence for three generations, offers more than 60 dishes on rotation on any given day, making this the place for dim sum feasts. Waiters clatter up and down the aisles pushing a parade of trolleys bearing such treats as firm dumplings stuffed with pork and stir-fried squid and shrimp. The best way to order? Halt a cart as it's going by and point to the dim sum dish you desire. You can order from a menu, too, but that's not nearly as much fun.
