OT: Recommendations for Montreal

[Spinner]

My wife and I are planning our first trip to Montreal in September. Old Montreal is on our radar, however we are open to input regarding other areas. As an aside, my wife is fluent in French.

What accommodation, restaurant, bar, market, bike shop, museum, retail store or other destination is among your favorites?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Cheers.

[Brian Cdn]

My hometown...

Previous thread here. Most, I imagine is still current.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=146748&highlight=Montreal

Salut !

[rePhil]

The Marinoni factory is a short drive in Lachinae. I was fortunate to get a great tour.

I know the sightseeing is great but if the weathers is bad there is always the underground city

[PoppaWheelie]

Holy Moly...there's a lot. I'm from Ottawa but long ago moved to SF. My wife and spent a week in Montreal last summer and had a blast. The Canadian dollar made it possible for us to eat like kings and queens...and there are a TON of excellent places to spend your food dollars. The Montreal food scene has really exploded lately...branching way out from the old French standards. It's an oldie, but we had one of our best meals as Chasse et Peche in Old Montreal. Then lots of amazing other eats in the more far-flung neighborhoods. We spent the entire week on foot and metro, which was a really refreshing change.

[ultraman6970]

Chinese food in montreal is excellent!

[schwa86]

Just went with my college age son, who is kind of a foodie and has good friends there. Took advantage of great exchange rate.

We stayed at Hotel 10, very convenient to both Plateau area mentioned throughout the thread, and old city. Smaller boutique style, good breakfast, very nice staff.

We got a spa package for afternoon at spa Scandinave, extremely nice baths/saunas, 2 1 hour massages. Very relaxing.

Best meal was bouillon bilk quite near hotel. We got tasting menu -- fantastic.

Really cool bar on Saint Laurent -- big in Japan bar. It's sort of hard to find - see reviews on web. Must like Japanese whisky and sake based drinks though.

[Dired]

Chasse et Peche in Old Montreal

^ +1 Great place, through last visited about 7 years ago.

[witcombusa]

Gibby's in old Montreal is my favorite restaurant
http://www.gibbys.com/montreal.php

and if you might enjoy a beer...
http://montrealcraftbeertours.com/

[mgm777]

One of the best vacations my wife and I have experienced...went to Montreal for 4 days, then took the train to Quebec City, stayed at the historic Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. Just toured the city, saw the sights, enjoyed the culture and tasted fabulous cuisine. Highly recommend.

[guido]

We had a great meal here:

http://www.lentrecotestjean.com/

The perfect bistro experience.

[cdn_bacon]

Please please please please eat at my all time favorite restaurant.

L'academie (http://www.lacademie.ca/)

these are executive chef culinary students. there is an SAQ (liquor store) downstairs from the one on St. Denis. you can purchase your wine there and bring it to the restaurant. ( no corking fee) I guarantee a good meal.

[waypastfast]

And a ride or walk along the Lachine Canal!

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/qc/canallachine/index.aspx

[echelon_john]

I'll vouch for L'Academie. Good food and vibrant scene.

Also, and I posted this in the other thread: we always stay at Hotel de L'Institut; it's run as part of the provincial hospitality school. ~30 rooms, student-run, terrific breakfast included. It's right on St Denis on top of the Sherbrooke Metro, with parking underneath. We like it because the rooms are very nice, the service is always excellent, the location is REALLY central (and NOT in the old port, which is a plus IMO) and the price is very reasonable.

Other favorites include:
L'Express (as mentioned above)
Inspecteur L'Epingle (great neighborhood bar)
Au Pied de Cochon (crazy rich, over the top food)
The MBAM has a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition that just opened, as well as an excellent Pompeii exhibition that's been going on for a bit.

Also have to mention: If you're looking for a poutine experience that's not 100% traditional but is absolutely crazy good, try Ma Poule Mouilée—run by a Portuguese family; they make terrific rotisserie chicken which you can get with salad, sides, etc but the real star is poutine with chicken & chorizo. Guaranteed party in your mouth.


Please please please please eat at my all time favorite restaurant.

L'academie (http://www.lacademie.ca/)

these are executive chef culinary students. there is an SAQ (liquor store) downstairs from the one on St. Denis. you can purchase your wine there and bring it to the restaurant. ( no corking fee) I guarantee a good meal.

[torquer]

Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal is running on Sunday, Sept. 11 this year.
Start/finish is at the base of Mont Royal park.
This 5-room B&B (a much too modest description) is a five minute stroll away:
http://www.casabianca.ca/
Not Old Montreal, but adjacent neighborhood is nicely diverse, and Montreal is easy to get around in via Bixi.
Reserve early, since they fill up with racing fans for that weekend.

[suzuki]

Overcrowded? Of course. Overhyped? Perhaps. But we have been going to PDC since it opened and try to come back every time we return to Montreal (even with kids now). If their menu brings a grin to your face, gotta go. If you are visiting Old Montreal, Bonaparte is our choice for a more refined dining experience. And if you visit St. Joseph's Oratory, Duc de Lorraine is the place for desserts. Also, Jean Talon Market is totally worth the trip. We usually stop by Qui Lait Crut (for cheese), Premiere Moisson (for bread), Aqua Mare (for fried calamari and oysters), and Havres aux Glaces (for dessert). For fresh produce, take your pick. Oh, and how could I forget Tim Hortons for timatins and maple donuts. No matter the spot, speaking French really does give you a warmer reception. Cheers.

[summilux]

For a more informal bistro dinner, try La Prunelle. It's in the Plateau on Duluth, a cobble stoned street that is full or restaurants. La Prunelle is a BYOW place.

http://www.restaurantlaprunelle.com

[tourmalet]

Mont Tremblant is only a couple of hours away and has excellent road biking. Check out Le Petit Train du Nord bike path if you want a little wilderness away from the city. Bike rentals are available in the area in case you can't travel with yours.

[echelon_john]

Another vote--casual but good vibe & food.

Not too far from Ma Poule Mouilée that I mentioned above.

Also close to there is Khyber; pretty good Afghan food.

God, I love Montreal.

It's where we Vermonters go to eat something than Ye Olde Burger or Clame Chowdere



For a more informal bistro dinner, try La Prunelle. It's in the Plateau on Duluth, a cobble stoned street that is full or restaurants. La Prunelle is a BYOW place.

http://www.restaurantlaprunelle.com

[TunaAndBikes]

If you're there on the first friday of september, there's a thing called " Les premiers vendredis " and it's basically all the food trucks of Montreal that gang up in the olympic parc, it's great. Otherwise I would still recommend trying the food trucks here, they always serve great food.
Restaurants like Pied de Cochon and Europa have their own food trucks so it's a great opportunity to get ahold of the food there.
On the plateau/mile-end there's this place called Lawrence that I reallyreally love, one of my friends loves Hotel Hermann. One of the best in Montreal though (in the not ridiculous price range) is Bouillon Bilk, but i'Ve yet to try it myself. Definitely go to the Big in Japan bar for an evening drink afterwards, it's quite an experience.
Otherwise, near Marché Jean-Talon there's a ton of great italian places, the market is great too, i would strongly recommend visiting it. In the heart of little italy too, it's a nice vibe. Oh, and great fried chicken/southern food at triple crown dinette that's not too far from there.
Another market that's nice to go too is Atwater, then you can walk down the Lachine canal to go to Griffon's brewery/bar, i THINK they make visits too, that might be interesting!
If you're there later in the month and if you've got the time, hit up some apple orchards near Oka, there's a nice beach there and the views should be good.

Sorry if this seems a little bit hectic and all over the place, but whatever you do you're gonna have a great time eating and visiting the city for sure!
Enjoy Montreal!!! :beer:

If you want to have more specific recommendations to ask about or anything particular let me know, i'll be happy to try and help!

[deechee]

By the way, not sure if you're aware there's a strike going on (http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/old-port-weddings-threatened-by-federal-workers-labour-strike) by workers since May in the old port. Its been looking pretty sad the last few weeks I was riding by, but honestly, I live next to St-Denis and construction madness has destroyed the vibe of the street over the last year. Too many road closures, narrow lanes and a hideous "boardwalk" (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/st-denis-merchant-construction-1.3633757). Its pretty much the same stuff the city pulled with St-Laurent which lost a lot of merchants over the past few years.

Anyway, all that to say, there's a lot of recommendations here for things in the plateau and Duluth (uh, yeah, Duluth is one way backwards from St-Hubert to get to Pied du Cochon) but look things up ahead of time because construction is a MESS, including the 720 highway.

What are you looking for? Things to do together? Are you coming during one of the festivals?

I'll throw in something different (http://www.ragemontreal.com/en/)for you to try. And my favourite pastries in town, Rhubarb (http://patisserierhubarbe.com/), whom I think is better and less expensive than Christian Faure (http://maisonchristianfaure.ca/en/) (but if you're in the Old Port you might as well go.)

[Spinner]

What are you looking for? Things to do together? Are you coming during one of the festivals?



Yes, we want to do things together, including my 25-year-old son who will be joining us from Burlington, VT.

We enjoy walking, dining, art museums and visiting speciality stores.

Thanks to all for your input.

Montreal here we come.