WJ Tested: Discovering Montreal’s Foodie Delights with Ronald Poiré
WJ Tested: Discovering Montreal’s Foodie Delights with Ronald Poiré
Montreal is known for being Canada’s foodie capital, and those of you that follow WAVEJourney on a regular basis know that we (Viv and Jill) love to eat great food on our travels around the world. So when we were invited to visit the cosmopolitan city of Montreal in the province of Quebec (shame on us for not visiting before) we jumped all over the idea for a number of reasons – 5 of the food-related being:
- Poutine – Viv adores poutine. It is a comfort food mess of fries, gravy and cheese curds – add some smoked meat or duck confit to the dish and it’s positively gourmet!
- Bagels – Hands down we name Montreal bagels the best in the world! If you haven’t tried Montreal bagels you don’t know your bagels.
- Quebec Cheeses – Since our introduction into the world of Quebec cheeses in 2010, we have set a lofty goal to taste every single cheese in Quebec – maybe we need to move to the province!
- Public Markets – One of our favorite activities anywhere in the world is exploring local and regional food markets.
- Smoked Meat – We didn’t have time to dine at Schwartz’s Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen – therefore, we must return!
WJ Tested: Discovering Montreal’s Foodie Delights with Ronald Poiré
After enjoying a comfortable and peaceful night at our deluxe downtown hotel, Montreal Marriott Chateau Champlain, our morning in Montreal started with a private city tour with professional culinary guide Ronald Poiré – popularly referred to as “Montreal’s Food Guru”. We started off with Ronald taking us on a short, scenic drive through downtown and out to Atwater Market in the neighborhood of Saint-Henri, where we savored croissants and espresso at Premiere Moison Boulangerie (and where we also drooled over the gorgeous display of breads, pastries, tarts and cakes).
Atwater Market in Montreal, Quebec
Atwater Market consists of indoor and outdoor stalls and is off the typical tourist path, frequented mainly by locals. The indoor market area has dozens of shops and stalls split between two levels. Among the vast selection, visitors will find wonderful bakeries (Boulangerie Mouisson has 18 bakeries throughout the city), coffee roasters (Brûlerie aux Quatre-Vents is where you can enjoy an espresso and purchase fresh coffee beans), butcher shops (offering the best quality of Quebec organic meats and wild game), cheese shops (Fromagerie Atwater has an extensive supply of Quebec cheeses), everything from nuts to dried fruits and gourmet Quebec products (Le Vrac du Marché), and most importantly… gourmet chocolates (Chocolates Genevieve Grandbois – the owner and namesake studied the craft of fine chocolate making in Belgium).
Atwater Market in Montreal, Quebec
As we visited Montreal in the month of May (and the outdoor market at Atwater changes with each season) we enjoyed watching locals picking out their hanging flower baskets, potted plants and cut flowers. There were vast displays of beautiful fresh produce from Quebec farms – if only we were staying longer we certainly would have purchased the in-season fiddlehead ferns and fresh asparagus. Although we didn’t have time to stop here for lunch, we did witness the long lines of people waiting to buy lunch from the food carts of the Satay Brothers (popular Southeast Asian fast food) and Crêperie du Marché (serving sweet and savory buckwheat crêpes).
St. Viateur Bagel in Montreal, Quebec
Our next stop along the foodie trail with Ronald was to experience bagels… and in our opinion there’s nothing better than a fresh Montreal bagel! Ronald introduced us to two of Montreal’s most famous and popular bagel rivals – we first drove past Fairmount Bagel (at the Fairmount Street location since 1949) and then stopped in at St. Viateur Bagel Shop (opened in 1957 on St. Viateur Street) where we watched the bagel-making process from start to finish (rolled by hand) and then enjoyed a sample fresh out of the wood-fire oven.
Sesame Bagel from St. Viateur Bagel in Montreal
We learned there are only 8 ingredients in a Montreal-style bagel (flour, sugar, yeast, oil, honey, egg, malt and Montreal water) and the original styles are sesame, poppy and plain. As we didn’t get to try the Fairmount bagel, we can’t compare the two, but Montrealers are extremely opinionated on their favorite and devoutly loyal. We also discovered that the most popular ways to eat a chewy-on-the-inside, slightly crisp-on-the-outside, Montreal bagel are straight up, with cream cheese and/or smoked salmon – anyway you try them, they’re delicious!
Jean-Talon Market in Montreal, Quebec
After leaving Viateur Bagel, Ronald drove us to another market that is also very popular with the locals, Jean-Talon Market. Vendors at Jean-Talon were eager for patrons to sample their products and Ronald suggested we stop for lunch at Poissonnerie Shamrock where we chowed down on a very tasty lobster roll.
Lobster Roll at Poissonnerie Shamrock
Following our quick lunch stop, Ronald continued us along the Jean-Talon Market tour, pointing out some of his favorite stalls and shops, such as oils and spices (Olive & Épices offers workshops and tastings), fromageries (Qui lait Cru has a huge selection of cheeses), bakeries (La Fournée des Sucreries de l’Érable makes a delectable maple sugar pie), wine shops (organic ice apple cider was a big hit with us), coffee shop (Café In is a great place to people watch), cheese and maple syrup and much more (Le Marché des Saveurs du Québec has over 400 regional products). As we wandered the market and the shops along the adjoining side streets there were people sitting outside the cafes and on the sidewalk listening to free entertainment by local musicians – a very festive and convivial way to spend a lazy Sunday late-spring afternoon.
Enjoying a Lazy Sunday Afternoon at Cafe In, Jean-Talon Market in Montreal
Once we were finished making the rounds at Jean-Talon Market our time with Ronald had come to an end. We had greatly enjoyed spending time learning about the French-Canadian culinary culture and exploring just a fraction of all that Montreal has to offer foodies. And as far as the city’s claim to fame… happily, we came away with the same conclusion – Montreal IS Canada’s foodie capital!
If You Go:
- TourismMontreal
- Tourism Quebec
- Montreal Marriott Chateau Champlain
- Ronald Poiré Food Tours
- Atwater Market
- Premiere Moison Boulangerie
- Fromagerie Atwater
- Le Vrac du Marché
- Chocolates Genevieve Grandbois
- Satay Brothers
- Crêperie du Marché
- Fairmount Bagel
- St. Viateur Bagel
- Jean-Talon Market
- Poissonnerie Shamrock
- Olive & Épices
- La Fournée des Sucreries de l’Érable
- Le Marché des Saveurs du Québec
Next Stop? Dining at Hambar in Montreal
Note: WAVEJourney were guests of Tourism Montreal during this trip.
