Best Food in Montreal: 10 Dishes You Have to Try

Montreal food is a mix of French-Canadian tradition, Jewish delis, Italian, Portuguese, Lebanese, Haitian and Asian communities. These are the dishes that best tell the city’s story.

1. Montreal smoked meat: brisket cured with spices and smoked, sliced thick and piled on rye with mustard.
2. Montreal-style bagels: smaller, denser and sweeter than New York bagels, boiled in honey water and baked in a wood-fired oven.
3. Poutine: fries, squeaky cheese curds and hot gravy. Born in rural Quebec in the 1950s, now a national icon.
4. Tourtière: a spiced meat pie traditionally served during the holidays.
5. Pâté chinois: Quebec’s version of shepherd’s pie, with beef, corn and mashed potatoes.
6. Pouding chômeur: a simple cake baked in maple or brown sugar syrup, born during the Depression.
7. Maple taffy on snow (tire d’érable): hot maple syrup poured on snow and rolled on a stick, a sugar shack favourite in spring.
8. Steamed hot dogs (steamés): soft steamed buns with mustard, relish, onions and coleslaw.
9. Portuguese chicken: charcoal-grilled and spicy, served with fries and salad.
10. Sugar pie (tarte au sucre): an intensely sweet Quebec dessert.

Where to taste them

Delis and bagel bakeries cluster on Saint-Laurent and in Mile End, casse-croûtes serve poutine and steamés across the city, and Quebec comfort food shines at sugar shacks from March to April. Public markets like Jean-Talon and Atwater sell maple products and local cheeses year-round.

Plan your eating with our Montreal food guide and must-try restaurants.