Girl Meets City: Montreal, Canada
So, now that I’ve gotten over the shock & awe of the election I thought it might be timely to go ahead and write-up my Girl Meets City: Montreal…. just in case some of y’all are serious about that move to Canada.
It was only by luck that I got to go, a gift in the form of a plane ticket voucher. But that’s how most things happen in my life, by the sheer magic of luck. Given that I likely won’t get to Europe anytime soon it was my suggestion to go to Montreal.
And it was truly a magical place.
Something I feel like I should note- I didn’t realize just how old Montreal is, the city will be celebrating it’s 375 year in 2017. It’s incredible. I’m not sure why it never occured to me how old the city is.
Anyways- we would land on a Thursday evening and check into an Airbnb. If you ever go to Montreal I highly recommend using Airbnb. There’s plenty of great spots and reasonable prices. Our host was amazing, and I have a link to her profile here.
After a short rest the very first stop was at St. Viateur Bagel. It’s not terribly hard to find, and turned out to be an easy walk from the Airbnb in Le Plateau Mont-Royal (although since we weren’t sure the bus was utilized). The people there were super nice AND turns out- had driven through my hometown of Macon on their way to Florida once. I’m telling y’all there’s always a Macon connection wherever I go. And once they found out it was our first time in the city they refused to let us pay for our bagels.
Which brings me to something else of note: there’s a bit of a bagel rivalry going on in the world between Montreal and New York City. In Montreal they utilize a method of making them with honey. I truly never knew bagels could be so good- and I’ve had some NYC bagels. As of right now I gotta risk making some New Yorkers mad and say Montreal has the edge.
But that wasn’t the only stop of the night. I found this GEM of a place called Juliette & Chocolat. It wasn’t just that I was starving, it was that they have everything. They can do chocolate tastings that mimic a wine tasting. They have crepes- savory and sweet. Every. Thing.
It was so good we went back later. AND THE DESSERT- y’all…. I’m kind of over the phrase “I can’t even” but this leaves me at a sheer loss of words.
So, anyways. The next morning was spent trying to figure out the bus line and transit options and how best to walk around. I honestly think I would have been better off doing it alone because sometimes you add too many cooks to the kitchen and in hindsight it was super easy, if I didn’t have to explain myself at first about why I was choosing certain ways of going places. Also, I think whenever I go somewhere new it’s easy to get turned around until you’ve gotten a little bit lost a couple of times. But breakfast was still really good.
One thing I did learn is that it’s super easy to bike everywhere. Really, even in spots where it seems the area might not be bike friendly- it was. And all classes of people take the bus.
This was also the day to be a tourist. The people at the tourism department for Montreal are amazing. It’s so easy to travel here even if you don’t speak French, although being able to is certainly helpful, as so much of the city speaks French as well as English.
After breakfast there would be a tour of Old Montreal, including Basilique Notre-Dame Montreal. The beauty of the basilica is incredible- and something else that’s cool is that the outline of the original building is outlined in pavers in the street. Like many older building, this wasn’t the original.
Again, breathtaking. And it was really cool to get to learn about the history of the city- and just how many women were involved in its founding and survival.
It would be after our tour of Olde Montreal that we would find our way back to one of the Cafe Olmpico locations for some- maybe you guessed it- coffee and pastries.
The pastries were fritelles and bombolories and I’m not 100% sure what they were except that they were delicious. Yummmmmmmmm.
But just like many of my trips that center largely around food- that was not the lunch break. Oh no. Lunch ended up being tea & dumplings at this Chinese tea room that I stumbled across and insisted on stopping in.
They had signs up stating “no photography” so I was nervous to try and take any photos, but I did get a couple.
These dumplings by far were one of the food highlights of my trip- and this spot is within easy walking distance of Notre-Dame. It was only after doing some Google research that I figured out the name is Ming Tao Xuan. And while I’ve never been to China, as far as I could tell this was a very authentic experience. The variety of teas was astounding- as well as the thorough explanations of their health benefits. This was when I realized that Montreal is truly a city where you can take in multiple kinds of cultures. Not just European.
Next it was hitting the subway to get to Marche Jean Talon. All of the tourist guides say to go here and today was the tourist day so we went. There really i a lot of take in here- all kinds of produce and little shops outside of the markets. It’s just this massive farmers market with everything you can think of, although I didn’t grab a lot because I wasn’t super clear on what could come back to America.
Then…. back to the room to crash for as long as possible before dinner.
This night’s dinner was quite possibly my favorite. Le Comptoir was not my choice, but I’m so so so glad we went. It was right up my alley.
Dinner started with a charcuterie board; then the Veal loin tataki, sage puree, honey mushroom, pickled radish, fried sweetbreads, & marsala reduction; then the Lobster tart, slow cooked onion, roasted tomato, tarragon, crème fraîche, & arugula; and then TWO desserts! The Lemon ivories chocolate ganache, black olive puree, pine nuts & almond nougatine, orange and basil; then the andao chocolate terrine, strawberries, fried quinoa, chiboust cream, long pepper & marigold.
Dinner was… heaven. It was simply amazing. I love having unexpected ingredients like black olive puree and marigold and such all come together for a lovely meal. I can think back on it all and feel a smile coming across my face.
The next morning opened with meeting Stephanie from the tourism borough for breakfast. We would walk around Parc La Fontaine before breakfast- and it’s just stunning. I would have never known how many parks are within this city. Someone described Montreal to us as being like a cross of the urban Toronto and nature-centered British Columbia. Then… that is when I learned if you order the BIG order of coffee, it comes in a bowl. But I went the cafe route this time and got a “regular” size.
And the bike lanes! One thing that really stood out to me about Montreal was how well the bikes lanes are incorporated into the city. And that they are building more. There are even places where bike lanes have their own separate lanes- a concrete barrier would separate where the cars drive and then two-way traffic of bike lanes have their own part. It’s amazing. I would LOVE to see more of that in the state. To be honest, I can see why people might threaten to move here. But not because of politics, because it’s just such a nice place to be.
So another reason to move: poutine. I finally had some. I have friends from the Chicago and Detroit areas who talk about it, but here I learned that poutine originated in Montreal- and in Montreal it stays. Because of the cheese curds that are only made in this particular region of the world.
La Banquise is like the Waffle House of Montreal, and while the natives up there didn’t get the reference was DOES translate is late-night-carb-filled-drunk food. This. Is. It. Got the traditional version with gravy and cheese curds. The typical description of fries covered in curds and gravy just doesn’t do it justice. And it got even better on the bus heading to the next destination. And just like all the ways you can get your hash browns scattered and covered, there’s many many ways to order your poutine.
What happened next was kind of a blur, I’m not exactly sure why we walked around so much but we did. Then a bus. Then I think another bus? Anyways we ended up in line at the very famous Schwartzs deli meats. I really didn’t see the big deal about some world-class smoked meat sandwich until I tried it.
It was actually really good, and while we didn’t stand in line to sit down but instead got it to-go…. it was really, really, really good. The mustard had just the right touch and I don’t even LIKE mustard under normal circumstances.
Then another rest. Because when you’re walking 20,000 steps in a day you need to rest up. Oh yeah, I definitely walked that much more than one day. This evening was the Jardins de Lumerie at the Botanical Gardens.
The Chinese Lanterns were…. I’m just running out of words for how lovely everything was. I need a thesarus. Everyone should go and see these- I do believe they have them each year.
The next morning I thought it was a good idea to grab breakfast at a spot around the corner, and it turns out it’s rather iconic. Beauty’s Luncheonette was founded in 1942:
“Our story begins in 1942 in the heart of Montreal’s Jewish garment district. Newlyweds Hymie & Freda Sckolnick purchased Bancroft Snack Bar on the corner of Mont Royal West & St. Urbain. They began serving Freda’s quick and delicious lunches during the week. The locals loved it so much that they started to bring their families on the weekend. And the Montreal brunch was born.
Everyone in the neighborhood called the luncheonette “Beauty’s”, after Hymie’s bowling nickname. Freda created the Beauty’s Special & the Mish-Mash, and the famous Beautys brunches were drawing crowds from all over the city. Hymie kept the waiting customers happy with his trademark warmth and humor.
Seventy years later Beautys is still serving fresh, homemade food on the same corner. Ninety year old Hymie & his son Larry, along with his children, are proud to welcome customers from all over the world,” from their website.
Here, here I ordered the full-sized coffee.
I also got soft serve ice cream as a breakfast side, because I could. Because it was listed as an actual breakfast item!
After breakfast it was a quick saunter up to the lookout of Mont Royal.
Ha! Just kidding. I took an Uber up- but still had to walk from where we were dropped off to the chalet.
“Inaugurated in 1876, the Mount Royal Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the highly skilled designer behind New York’s Central Park. It is an ideal site for admiring a wide variety of plants and birds or for enjoying outdoor activities. Les amis de la montagne offer a variety of services and activities that provide wonderful opportunities to discover the beauty and wealth of resources that the park has to offer, including the new permanent exhibition at the Maison Smith and interactive terminals and map,” from the Tourisme-Monreal website.
The view is… again, I’m needing a thesaurus. Exceptional. Breathtaking. Beautiful.
Then it was a walk down down down….. down the mountain. Until I was crabby and tired and struggled to find the bus. Until we did and then went to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
There was a lot of incredible art here, to say the least. But what I really loved was learning more about Robert Mapplethorpe– because since my mom & my grandmother are artists I had a vague impression of him already.
And then there was lunch at L’Atelier D’Argentine in the Vieux-Port neighborhood of Montreal. I’ve never had Argentinian food before, and this is just one more example of how the cuisine in Montreal really does span so many different countries.
Then it was back “home” to rest up for what so many had told us would be the pinnacle of our trip: dinner at Au Pied de Cochon.
So….. I literally could have eaten nothing but their bread & butter and been perfectly happy. It was that damn good. Then there was the pate with pickles. And all the foie gras. We got the poutine with foie gras, and then also some kind of foie gras with what I think was maple syrup. I can’t read French so going back and looking at the menu does zero to help me. But it was all very, very good. I even got a shot of them grating cheese from the cheese wheel at someone’s table. Pretty cool stuff.
As nice and as fancy as this place was, you could go in there dressed rather casually. It’s just about really good food.
The next day was all about picking up last-minute souvenirs, mailing postcards, and getting to the airport on time.
Montreal- you floored me. It was just perfect for the very first usage of my passport, and I could not be more grateful. Everything was more than lovely, and I cannot wait to visit again. Everyone was so friendly, and even when they knew I couldn’t speak the language they appreciated even a small effort. I am so blessed!!
Love to all y’all,
Molly
