10 Best Restaurants in Montreal, Quebec
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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.
Moishe's
Toqué!
Frequently named one of Montréal's best restaurants and Canada's third best by canadas100best.com, a meal at Toqué! is not so much about sustenance but rather experience. Toqué is slang for "a little stubborn," as in the chef's insistence on using fresh, local ingredients; consequently, the menu changes daily in accordance with market offerings but foie gras, duck, and wild venison are on constant rotation. Some patrons wouldn't consider ordering anything but the seven-course, C$182 dinner tasting menu.
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Brasserie T
Café Ferreira
The open-concept kitchen is renowned for its for "haute" Portuguese cuisine, including roasted salted cod, seafood bouillabaisse, and a whole array of appetizers like giant shrimp and grilled octopus or the roasted sardine fillets. Wine connoisseurs are attracted to the impressive list of Portuguese wines.
Chez Victoire
A beacon of the French cultural diaspora in Montréal, Chez Victoire is the epitome of Plateau-Mont-Royal’s joie de vivre and warmth. Fittingly, the creative menu features French-inspired seasonal market cuisine. Take a seat at the long bar and order the homemade charcuterie platter or opt for a booth to share the classic tomato and mozzarella di bufala salad, the roasted bone marrow, or the famous smoked-meat burger. The wine list focuses on sustainably sourced organic vintages.
Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec
Long held in disdain by Montréal food critics, the restaurant at the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ) has upped its epicurean game. These days the restaurant’s top-notch cuisine pays homage to Québec’s terroir with enticingly presented dishes served in a contemporary yet elegant setting (think white table cloths, cloche plate covers, and impeccable service). There is an à la carte menu, in addition to a table d’hôte on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and a tasting menu with a wine pairing option on Thursday to Saturday. Vegans will appreciate the new six-course plant-based menu, offered from Tuesday to Saturday evening for C$65 per person.
La Chronique
Although La Chronique is indeed an elegant place with white walls and high ceilings flooded with light, people don't come here for the setting; they come for the excellent food. Without fuss or fanfare, La Chronique has remained one of the best French restaurants in town since it opened in 1995. The cuisine seamlessly blends lightened French fare with seasonal and local ingredients. If you are a foie gras fan, the seared version served with seasonal fruit is easily the best in town. This is an excellent place to splurge on the prix-fixe; five-course tasting menu at dinner for C$125.
Le Mousso
Regularly lauded on Canadian best-of dining lists, Le Mousso is run by chef Antonin Mousseau-Rivard, who dreams up beautifully plated, northern European-inspired dishes that are as much works of art as they are imaginative combinations of flavor and texture for the taste buds. Using mostly local and seasonal ingredients, the seven-course tasting menu might feature dishes such as bortsch décomposé (beet soup), grilled scallops lightly smoked with fir and served on coals with wild plum butter, or tataki Wagyu beef accompanied by cream, New Brunswick caviar, and nasturtium leaves. Dessert might be a fanciful whirl of chocolate with cucumber or squash with honey and rapeseed oil.
Les 400 Coups
This low-key destination is the perfect spot for an intimate yet elevated meal, where diners can safely anticipate irreproachable dishes (including the $125, five-course tasting menu with wine pairing) and a finely curated wine list. The decor is grandiose and includes a very large mural taking up one long wall, a vintage tin ceiling, and floor-to-ceiling doors and windows. The creative market-based menu changes frequently and focuses on the use of local products. Staples include suckling pig, arctic char, and chanterelle mushrooms with kale and bleu d’Élizabeth cheese.