Restaurant Guide
Vieux Montréal
| Rue St Jacques, between McGill and St Laurent |
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| Bio Train, 410 St Jacques. Diner. Less than $10. |
| Le Gourmet Presses, 406 St Jacques. Cafe bio. Gourmet sandwiches. $10. |
| Le Clafouti, 402 St Jacques. Sandwiches, cafe. $10. |
| Ora, 400 St Jacques. French. $30. |
| Van Houte, 251 St Jacques. Chain cafe. $10. |
| La Brioche St Jacques, 236 St Jacques. Sandwiches, cafe. $10. |
| Eggspectation, 215 St Jacques. Breakfast, burgers. $15–20. (Opens weekdays 6am, weekends 7am.) Mini review: very standard big breakfasts with lots of fruit, burgers, salads, desserts etc. It’s a chain that stretches at least as far as Ottawa. There’s nothing whatsoever wrong with Eggspectation, it’s just not very exciting. Really convenient location though. |
| Romagna Cafe, 60 St Jacques. Breakfast, sandwich, Pizza, Italian. $15. |
| Rue Notre Dame, between McGill and St Laurent |
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| Sushi Shop, 430 Notre Dame. Sushi. $15. |
| Cafe 420, 420 Notre Dame. Sandwiches, cafe. Less than $10. |
| Bistro Cafe Van, 401 Notre Dame. Cafe, sandwiches. Less than $10. Mini review: Boring, with pallid croissants, limp sandwiches and appalling choice of tea. Some places aren’t worth going to twice. Save yourself the trouble and don’t go once. |
| Szechuan, 400 Notre Dame. Chinese, $20. |
| Cafe Depot, 350 Notre Dame. Chain cafe, coffee sandwiches. Less than $10. |
| Le Nantua, 275 Notre Dame. Seafood. $35. |
| Pasta a Piacere, 260 Notre Dame. Pasta/Pizza etc. $10–15. Mini-Review: Boring. Boring pasta, boring pizza, pleasant enough atmosphere but don’t bother. |
| Cafe Momus, 243 Notre Dame. Cafe, sandwiches, $10. WiFi. Mini review: This place is lovely. The sandwiches are unusual, freshly made and delicious, with a good range, some vegetarian. The cakes and cookies are home made and great. They have a great choice of teas (loose teas, served in a teaball in a big cup) coffees and cold drinks. The atmosphere is relaxed. They have some comfy chairs and some table seating. They have counter service and can get a little harried at busy times. Recommended. |
| Le Notre Dame Restaurant, 237 Notre Dame. Breakfast/fast food. Poutine, hot-dogs etc. Less than $10. |
| Da Franco, 233 Notre Dame. Italian. $15. (Weekday lunch menu around $10). |
| Cafe Aszu, 210 Notre Dame. |
| Cafe Saison, 207 Notre Dame. Breakfast (until 11) Sandwiches, light lunches. $10–15. Mini-review: Generally pleasant atmosphere and perfectly acceptable food, let down by abysmal service — very slow and entirely forgot our drinks. |
| Tatami, 140 Notre Dame. Sushi. $25. |
| Claude Postel, 75 Notre Dame. Cafe, chocolatier, patisserie. $15. |
| Pizzedelic, 39 Notre Dame. Chain pizza. Breakfast on weekends. $15. |
| La Sentence, 17 Notre Dame. Resto-Bistro. $20. |
| Baguette, 13 Notre Dame. Deli. Less than $10. |
| Food Court, 480 St Laurent, coin Notre Dame. Starbucks (bet you’ve seen one), Arahova Souvlaki (souvlaki, $10) and Mon Plaisir Smoked Meat, fast food. $10. As food courts go, this looks like a pretty good one. Arahova make notably good tzatziki. |
| McGill, between St Antoine & St Paul |
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| Plaza McGill, 484 McGill. Deli, pizza, diner, breakfast. $15. Mini review: This place has plenty of room. They serve nice standard North American breakfasts. Their dinner menu is diner food, with some Greek options. The prices are extremely good value for most things. Great with kids, some vegetarian choices. I wouldn’t go out of my way for this, but if you’re on a budget this is pretty good, and definitely one of the better breakfast choices. |
| Presse Cafe Chain, cafe. Sandwiches. $10. |
| Louigi, 444 McGill. Pasta, pizza, Italian diner, breakfast. $10–20. |
| McGill Hot Dog, 433 McGill. Fast food. Less than $10. |
| Restaurant Vallier, 425 McGill. Bistro. $15–30. WiFi. Mini-review: The menu specialises in unusual takes on familiar food — duck shepherd’s pie, lamb burger etc. It’s all absolutely delicious. Fries are served in a metal cup to keep them warm. Great choice of very good salads, and other vegetarian options. Wonderful sounding desserts. Excellent choice of tea, wine, beer, cocktails and did I say tea? (Loose tea, served in a teapot with removable insert.) All this in a relaxed atmosphere with just the right degree of service, neither too attentive nor too slack. This is the kind of place that makes me glad I’ve got lots of friends to introduce it to. Highly recommended. |
| Holder, 407 McGill. Nouvelle cuisine. $35. |
| Nomad Station, 407 McGill. Cafe. WiFi. $15. |
| Rue St Pierre, from St Antoine to St Paul |
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| Titanic, 445 St Pierre. Sandwiches. $15. |
| Resto Bistro, 425 St Pierre. Vietnamese, diner. Pho, club sandwiches, etc. $10. (This place doesn’t seem to have a proper name. We suggest “Huh?”) |
| Rue St Francois-Xavier, from St Antoine to St Paul, plus one just round the corner on Saint Sacrament |
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| Restaurant Bonaparte, 447 St Francois-Xavier. French. $40+ Tasting menu $62. |
| Casa de Mateo, 440 St Francois-Xavier. Mexican. $30. |
| Luna d’Oro, 415 St Francois-Xavier. Cafe. $15. |
| Pastabilite, 214 St Sacrament. Pasta. $15 lunch, $20 evening. |
| St Laurent, from Notre Dame to St Antoine |
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| McDonalds, 510 St Laurent. Burgers. Less than $10. Bet you’ve seen one. |
| Via Bassano, 520 St Laurent. Italian cafe. Less than $10. |
| Mon Plaisir, 530 St Laurent. Deli, bistro. WiFi. $10–15. |
| St Paul, from McGill to St Francois-Xavier |
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| Stew Stop, 362 St Paul. Bio-organic, nouvelle cuisine. $20. |
| Olive Gourmando, 351 St Paul. Closed Sun-Mon. Sandwiches. Awesome. $15. |
| Marche de la Villette, 325 St Paul. French deli bistro. $15–20. |
| Les Pyrenees, 320 St Paul. Spanish. $20–30. |
| Restaurant Gandhi, 230 St Paul. Indian. $30. |
| Van Winkle’s Cafe, 221 St Paul. Sandwiches, cafe. $15. |
| Stash Cafe, 200 St Paul. Polish. Lunch $15, dinner $30+. |
Chinatown
Chinatown is right outside the Place D’Armes end of the Palais des Congres. It’s a very good place to eat as long as you like Asian food. It isn’t all Chinese, there’s also a lot of Vietnamese, a little Japanese, Mongolian, Korean and Uighyur. It tends to be very cheap — some lunches start at $3.25. The only problem with it is that there’s so much and it’s so hard to tell the good places from the indifferent places.
| St Urbain |
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| Noodle Factory, 1018 St Urbain. Chinese noodles. Less than $10. Cash only. 11am-10pm. |
| La Maison Kam Fung, 1101 St Urbain, in the Chinese mall. $10–15. This is the best dim sum in town, but they tend to be very busy indeed if you go at lunchtime. They also have exceptionally good evening meals, especially for large groups, including good vegetarian options. |
| Rue Clark |
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| New Dynasty, 1115 Clark. Chinese. $10–15. |
| Van Roy, 1095 Clark. Chinese. Less than $10. |
| Mon Nam, 1096 Clark. Chinese. Less than $10. |
| La Maison V.I.P., 1081 Clark. Chinese. 11.30am-04.00am. $10. |
| Ming Do, 1050 Clark. Dim sum, lunch, dinner. $10–20. |
| Ruby Rouge, 1008 Clark. Dim sum, dinner. $10–20. |
| St Laurent |
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| Pho Vietnam, 970 St Laurent. Vietnamese. $8–15. |
| Pho Bang New York, 1003 St Laurent. Vietnamese. $8–15. |
| Pho Cali, Vietnamese, $8–15. |
| Pho Bac, Vietnamese, $8–15. |
| Restaurant Hot Pot, 1017 St Laurent, Chinese hot pot speciality. $10–15 |
| Restaurant Hong Kong, 1019 St Laurent. Chinese, dim sum, dinner. $10–15. |
| Chez Bong, 1021A St Laurent. Korean. $10–15 |
| Earth Village, 1051 St Laurent. Chinese. $8–15. |
| Pho Saigon, 1053 St Laurent. Vietnamese. $8–15. |
| Cristal No 1, 1068 St Laurent. Vietnamese. $8–15. |
| Lieu O, 1071 St Laurent. Vietnamese with Karaoke. $10–20. |
| Fung Shing, 1102 St Laurent. Chinese. $10–15. |
| My Canh, 1086 St Laurent. Vietnamese. $8–15. Mini Review: You may have noticed that St Laurent is full of Vietnamese restaurants. They all look identical, have very similar menus and cost the same. The quality is all pretty much the same as well. There’s nothing wrong with any of them, but My Canh is unquestionably the best — freshest ingredients, best service, largest menu. Whether you want Pho or something else, this is the best. We especially recommend saving room for the deep fried ice cream. If you can’t get in, roll a dice for any of the others. |
| De La Gauchetiere |
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| Sai Gwan, 14 Gauchetiere. Cantonese/Szecheuan/Hong Kong. Less than $10. |
| Patisserie Chow. 16 Gauchetiere. Not a restaurant, but a little place selling Chinese hot savoury buns and sweet cakes. Delicious and very good prices. |
| Magic Idea. Bubble tea, tea, and Cantonese food, less than $10. |
| Mongolian Hot Pot, 50 Gauchetiere. Mongolian. $10–20. |
| Maxim, 51 Gauchetiere. Chinese. $10. |
| M.M. Legende, 68 Gauchetiere. Chinese. Less than $10. This place sells buns and cakes to take away, and serves Cantonese food (and, for some reason, toast and club sandwiches) in the back. It’s very cheap and a bit more like being in someone’s living room than a real restaurant. |
| Jade Garden, Chinese buffet. $10–15. |
| Jardin du Nord 80 Gauchetiere. Szechuan. $15. |
| Le Pavillion Nanpic, 75A Gauchetiere. Chinese. $10. |
| Shaba Shabu, 75 Gauchetiere. Japanese fondue. $15–20. |
| Guang Zhau, 84 Gauchetiere. Cantonese/Szechuan. $10–15. |
| Basilic, 83 Gauchetiere. Viet-Thai. $15. |
| Mon Shing, 90 Gauchetiere. Chinese. less than $10. |
| Beijing, 92 Gauchetiere. Chinese, $10–15. Mini review: totally awesome. Their cheap lunches are amazing, their dinners are delightful, this is the best Chinese food in Chinatown. But book, because they’re always packed even when there isn’t a con. Don’t even try for a weekend evening. |
| Patisserie Harmonie, 85 Gauchetiere. Another patisserie selling buns and cakes, good value for money, and very nearby. |
| St Dominique |
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| Tong Por, 43 St Dominique, coin Gauchetiere. Asian fusion. Less than $10. |
