A Winter Holiday in Montréal
Over the past several years, I’ve had superstitions around visiting Québec, as I’ve come to associate it with a string of romantic bad luck. It was the last trip my ex-husband and I took before we separated; it was the trip I was planning with an ex as we split up; even had an ex who lives in Montreal, and we’d talked about our exploring the city together. So when it came time to deciding where I wanted to spend my winter holidays and work remotely for the first weeks of 2023, I thought it high time that Québec and I buried the ol’ hatchet. That a solo trip, free of any romantic entanglements, was in order to cleanse myself of these fraught associations. More importantly, I wanted to continue the model of travel I’d started in Atlantic Canada in early 2022—getting an apartment to live and work from and be able to really spend time exploring (and let’s be honest, eating my way through) the city.
The Journey
While the drive from Toronto to Montréal is only about 5.5 hours, there are plenty of things that can go awry on a winter getaway. Case in point: I had planned to leave on Friday (December 23), but as Murphy’s law would have it, a massive winter storm was due to hit that day. I dithered about what I wanted to do, considering whether to leave extra early on Friday morning, but in the end, I felt the safest thing would be to head up the day before. I booked a pet-friendly hotel downtown (Hôtel Saint-Laurent) for the next night and rather frantically packed up and prepped my condo for our extended hiatus. Annoyingly, because I left early, several packages for Gizmo, including his new parka and his heart medication, hadn’t arrived yet—they were delivered shortly after I left, naturally.
Nevertheless, with my car loaded up with an assortment of luggage, kitchen supplies, dumbbells, my computer monitor, and of course, Giz’s memory-foam dog bed, we headed on our way. It was an easy, comfortable drive, with the weather mercifully holding out, and I arrived in Montréal around 7 pm. While there were a few foibles at the hotel, including the $60 pet fee (normally they’re around $25) and my bathroom toilet overflowing which involved our changing rooms, we soon settled in and watched the blizzarding begin. I was eminently grateful for my decision to head out before the storm.
The next day, we headed over to the AirBNB I’d booked for the next month, a charming one-bedroom apartment in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough of Montréal. I wanted to stay on the Plateau, as it is apparently eminently walkable and where all the cool kids are, or is centrally-located enough to be able to access the various cool, fun things on offer in the city. I found the AirBnB to be well-appointed and spacious, with plenty of room for working out or choreographing my next dance piece. I was also pleasantly surprised to find it has an electronic piano, so I could ring in the holidays with some Christmas carols. A big selling point was also its proximity to Parc La Fontaine, just a block and a half away. As I had the week off from work between Christmas and New Year’s, I looked forward to settling in, exploring the surrounding neighbourhoods, and indulging in a decadent slate of gastronomical goodness.
my Montréal home away from home for the next month
Gastronomical Highlights
Ibericos
For what was originally supposed to be my very first night in town (which I foiled by coming in a day early), I wanted to have dinner at a place relatively close to my apartment, so I could walk over. Ibericos is a cozy little restaurant serving Spanish tapas, which I always have a soft spot for. I sat at a very well-heated spot at the bar (there was a heating element right at my feet) and ordered some croquettes (Iberian ham and bechamel, as well as spinach and blue cheese), along with a tapas dish of seasonal mushrooms in a salsa verde with a poached egg. Accompanying my fairly light meal were glasses of rosé and a Spanish white wine recommended by my friendly server. The ham croquettes were definitely my favourite, as the spinach and blue cheese felt a bit drier, and the mushroom tapas dish was filling and flavourful. All in all, a lovely way to kick off my gastronomical adventures in Montréal.
Pincette Bar à Homard
Christmas Eve dinner called for relax but festive fare, and I thought this lobster bar, Pincette, would be just the ticket. Earlier in the evening, I wandered around the Grand Marché de Noël in the Quartier des Spectacles and figured I’d walk down to Old Montréal. It ultimately was a bit farther of a trek in the cold and snow than I probably needed to make, so I was eager to warm up with a bowl of clam chowder to start with. It was tasty though fairly minimalist (not a lot of chunks of seafood or vegetables as I feel is typical of chowder). Rather than wrestle with tools, I opted for pre-extracted lobster in some homemade lobster ravioli with ricotta in a bisque and tarragon butter, which was very good. The surprising winner of the meal though was the chocolate cake with ice cream. Turned out to be an almost molten chocolate cake situation and was absolutely superb.
L’Auberge Saint-Gabriel
This marks the first year that I’d be spending Christmas on my own, and so I figured what better company could I have than some delicious French food. Not everywhere is actually open on Christmas Day, and so prior to my trip out, I’d done some digging and came across various lists of good Christmas dinners in Montréal. L’Auberge Saint-Gabriel was a consistent restaurant on most lists. It’s a historic spot, built in 1688 by a French soldier, and the first inn in North America to receive a liquor license, and was once the site of an old fur trading post. They looked to be booked up so I put myself on the wait list and made a reservation at another restaurant just in case. They eventually called and offered me a spot at 5 pm, so I figured I’d keep both reservations and have a decadent evening!
I arrived in a swirl of snow and, as they’d just opened, to an empty restaurant. They offered me a seat at a table or bar, and I opted for the bar (which I later regretted, as I think sitting in the main restaurant would’ve felt more festive). As it was Christmas, they had a 3-course menu to choose from. Unsurprisingly, I started with foie gras au torchon with poached pear and almonds. While good, I felt I’d had more flavourful foie gras. My main though, veal osso buco, with creamy polenta, and roasted root vegetables, was excellent. The meat was exceptionally tender, and the polenta paired well with it. To end things off, I had a chocolate-vanilla Yule log with caramel ice cream. A lovely meal marred only by the inherent awkwardness of eating alone at an essentially empty bar.
L’Avenue
This restaurant on Mont-Royal Avenue was a short walk from my apartment and was well-reviewed as a popular brunch spot, so I was eager to pop over and give it a try. Its popularity was very evident, as every time I walked by it, it had a fairly long line out the door. One snowy morning, I steeled myself for a wait and joined the line of parka-clad brunch hopefuls. It was definitely a longer wait outside in the cold and snow than I was hoping for, at least 30 minutes, made a bit more aggravating by the fact that they didn’t provide any sense of a wait time or even offer to take down your name so you could wander off and come back.
Nevertheless, I was relieved to eventually feel my extremities again and settle in to my vinyl seat in this quirky, mural-ful diner. I ordered a large hot chocolate, which they definitely delivered on, as it was essentially a bowl of hot chocolate. I ordered Saint Ambroise eggs Benedict with mushrooms, arugula, caramelized onions and Saint-Ambroise beer cheese, topped with a Madagascar green pepper-hollandaise sauce, on an English muffin. Thankfully, my wintery wait was well-worth it, and as it was divinely good (I believe I uttered “oh my god” out loud upon first bite). The beer cheese + hollandaise combination was just sinful—rich and creamy and flavourful. If I can bear the wait again, I will definitely be back.
Olive & Gourmando
Early in 2022, as we made our way out to Atlantic Canada, we stopped in at Olive & Gourmando. An artisanal bakery in Old Montréal, known for their breads and pastries, it was a spot worth re-visiting. There’s almost always a crowd of eager patrons waiting at the door, so I was glad to snag a chair to bide my 20ish minute wait with a crossword. When I finally was seated at a bar seat, I ordered myself a cup of hot chocolate and their breakfast brioche: a cinnamon brioche served warm with apple compote, salted caramel, labneh, toasted pecans, and maple syrup. Labneh, a soft Middle Eastern cheese made from strained yogurt, was an interesting addition—tangy and creamy, it was a lovely counterpoint to the sweetness of the apples and syrup and the crispness of the nuts. It was exceptional!
La Grocerie
In my wanderings down Laurier Avenue, passing numerous bakeries and restaurants, I came across La Grocerie. It was a lively place and a fairly spacious restaurant, with two rooms of tables. I took a padded bench seat in the back to give myself a full view of the space. As it was New Year’s Eve eve, it felt appropriately festive and decadent to get a mimosa with my pain perdu (French toast), adorned with lemon mascarpone, raspberries, blueberries, pistachios, and honey. My poor server was apparently the only person on shift, so it was a bit of a wait for things like my drink and such, but I was in no hurry. The pain perdu was delicious—crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.
Explorations
Parc La Fontaine
One of the main reasons I chose my AirBnB was its close proximity to Parc La Fontaine. I’d had such a good time skating in the park earlier in the year, that I thought it would be fantastic to be able to pop down the block for a bit of skating on the regular. Of course, being a natural skating rink, that plan is contingent on the weather co-operating and providing conditions conducive for skating, which so far it has not. While I’m hilariously hoping for cold weather in January, it’s entirely possible I may not get to skate at all on this trip. However, it is still wonderful to have such an expansive park so close by in which to take Giz on his daily walks or, if I ever get my butt back in gear, go running. It has been fairly quiet, with relatively few folks on the trails, making for some peaceful, scenic walks around the lake.
Mont Royal
The serenity of Parc La Fontaine stands in stark contrast to my initial experience of Parc du Mont-Royal. Rising up in the centre of the city and known to locals as “the mountain”, it offers around 200 hectares of parkland, which includes a multitude of trails, hills for sledding, and a skating rink. Dating back to 1876, it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also had a hand in New York’s Central Park. Owing to its size and centrality, this is a very popular place to be, which was very evident when I parked in a lot crammed to the brim with cars and teeming with people. To save his energy, I packed up Giz in his backpack to transport him through the parking lot and into the park a ways. The park was bustling with folk, cross-country skiers, sledders, and amblers wandering the trails. The snow on the paths was very packed down, making them quite slick, which became a bit problematic for Giz. We shuffled along slowly, making way for the droves of families. I presumed it was this busy as it was one of the last nice days of the year. I was happy to get a general taste of the park, and I hope to get back and explore some of the “back” trails that are more off the main paths.
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts)
I figured I’d cap off the year by getting in my fill of fine art at the superb and expansive Musée des Beaux-Arts on New Year’s Eve eve. I was also happy to learn that the museum was free to visit between Christmas and New Year’s. This was an art museum I'd visited almost 8 years previously on my first trip to Québec. They have an excellent collection of both European and Canadian art, and despite being fairly busy, it was lovely to pop in headphones, listen to music, and drift through the halls, taking in the vast array of styles on offer—from religious paintings from the 1400s to modern abstract sculptures. I was particularly enchanted by one of the exhibitions by Shary Boyle called “Outside the Palace of Me”, reflecting on “contemporary constructions of the self through the language of costume, character, set design, and stage effects”. It had such a whimsical eccentricity to it, as if I’d stepped into a circus.
Plateau-Mont Royal and Laurier Neighbourhoods
Much of my holiday week was spent just roaming the streets in the nearby neighbourhoods, trying to get the lay of the land and a sense for their character. Montréal apartments, I’ve discovered, often have a quite distinctive style when compared to Toronto—typically 2- to 3-story walk-ups with often dramatic exterior staircases in all shapes and sizes. The fact that these staircases are exposed to the elements seems rather treacherous, as I can only imagine emerging sleepily one morning to soon find myself in an unceremonious heap several stories below. Despite the storm, I loved walking around in the snowfall; the dampening of sound that seems to accompany it calms the city bustle.
I’ve primarily walked around Mont-Royal Avenue, one of the main arteries of my neighbourhood, retrieving groceries, stopping in at the famed St-Viateur bagel shop (though I can’t say I’m terribly enamoured with Montréal-style bagels), and stocking up on cheese at La Fromagerie Hamel and Bleu et Persillé. It’s a dangerous thing for me to be in striking distance of (two!) top-notch fromageries, as I have on several occasions come home laden with a fragrant bouquet of cheese options. I was also pleased to find a boulangerie just 80 m from my doorstep, Boulangerie Mr Pinchot, and have broken out my sad French skills to order many a croissant, pain au chocolat, and baguette. It’s a lively street with a host of restaurants and cafés, stores, and bookshops (which seem to be more plentiful here than they are in Toronto).
I also stumbled across the Laurier-Est neighbourhood, next to the Parc Sir Wilfred-Laurier. It was a quiet walk along the rain-soaked streets, dotted with restaurants and charming little shops like Buk & Nola, selling housewares and jewellery, as well as Pâtisserie Rhubarbe, a bakery where I grabbed a deliciously flavourful hot chocolate.
