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Montréal has one of Canada's most cosmopolitan restaurant scenes with trendy new eateries popping up regularly, their menus heavily influenced by flavors from around the globe, and often with an added touch of French flair.
Montréal's top dining destinations are plentiful, especially as young chefs move to hip destinations in Mile End and the Plateau areas to open new restaurants. Downtown, convenient to many hotels, finds most of its restaurants clustered between rues Guy and Peel and on the side streets that run between boulevard René-Lévesque and rue Sherbrooke. Rue St-Denis and boulevard St-Laurent, between rues Sherbrooke and Jean Talon, have long been, and continue to be, convenient and fashionable areas, with everything from sandwich shops to high-price gourmet shrines. Old Montréal, too, has a collection of well-regarded restaurants, most of them clustered on rue St-Paul, avenue McGill, and place Jacques-Cartier.
You can usually order à la carte, but make sure to look for the table d'hôte, a two- to four-course package deal. It's often more economical, offers interesting specials, and may also take less time to prepare. For a splurge, consider a menu dégustation, a five- to seven-course tasting menu that generally includes soup, salad, fish, sherbet (to cleanse the palate), a meat dish, dessert, and coffee or tea. A menu dégustation for two, along with a good bottle of wine, will cost around C$250.
Most restaurants will have an English menu or, at the very least, a bilingual menu—but some might only be in French. If you don't understand what a dish is, don't be too shy to ask; a good server will be happy to explain. If you feel brave enough to order in French, remember that in Montréal an entrée is an appetizer, and what Americans call an entrée is a plat principal, or main dish.
The dining room is small and not much to look at, but no matter—the food here is the main attraction, and locals come in droves for the homemade noodles and dumplings. If you time your visit right, you might see the staff through the huge kitchen window working on the dough. Noodles with spicy vegetables and pork are popular—either for one, or to share. Traditionalists take note: the General Tao chicken is one of the best in the city (you can also order it with tofu instead).
This new sophisticated Chinese eatery in Old Montréal is the city's second Uncle Lee location. This one, however, emphasizes “Kăo”, which means grill in Mandarin, but there is also a good selection of rice and noodle dishes. The 80-seat space is warm and welcoming, with high ceilings, hardwood floors, and lots of red and wood accents. A private room at the back can be reserved for between 12 and 36 people.
Groups of students and other budget-conscious connoisseurs of hearty chow crowd the tables at this hole-in-the-wall for traditional Chinese jiaozi, or soup dumplings, just like they make them in northeast China, with a price that's right: just C$14 to C$18 for 15 dumplings. Among the 40 or so varieties of dumplings here, there are also vegetarian versions, including tofu and vegetables, zucchini and vegan "salami," cabbage and Texas "sausage," and pumpkin. Service can be a bit slow, but it's worth the wait. Cash only. There is another location Downtown at 1675 boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest.
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.
