The Montrealmoon of Gluttony

Mr. Zombie  and I had been looking forward to our minimoon for months now. Not only was it a well-deserved vacation after a stressful few months, but the minimoon also meant consuming copious amounts of wonderful Quebec food that we only get half-ass versions of in Ontario. Given the amount of food babies we both conceived during this six-day trip to Montreal, we officially dubbed this minimoon “The Montrealmoon of Gluttony”.

The Bed&Breakfast we stayed at, Le Petit Prince really delivered when it came to breakfast. Every morning between 8 and 10AM, Pam (the most awesome B&B host ever!) made us a hearty and healthy breakfast to start our day. On some days, we ate downstairs in the dining area, but for most mornings we had it sent up to our room so we could have breakfast in bed. Breakfast usually consisted of one freshly baked pastry (ie. muffins, scones and mini-croissants) appetizer, an epic main course (ie. French Toast, waffles, omelettes and quite possibly the best homefries I’ve ever had) and a huge serving of fruit. For drinks, we had freshly squeezed orange juice and a choice of either coffee or tea. While Mr. Zombie savoured his coffee, I opted for pomegranate and echinacea tea, which tasted wonderful.

When we were full of yummy breakfast, Mr. Zombie and I headed out to explore the city through its art, architecture and most importantly, it’s food. Montreal is home to some of the most delicious comfort food! Let me show you:

Quebec Cheese. OK, so, we ended up not taking photos of us actually getting Quebec cheese from the Jean Talon Market. We were too busy trying to keep control and not spend all our honeymoon money on fromage. The woman at the Cheese Shoppe gave us tons of yummy samples. We came out of the store with our top two favourite cheese to take home. It’s now sitting in our fridge, uneaten. It pains me to be sick and not be able to eat it right now.

Cafe Myriade Coffee and Tea. A friend of ours insisted that we try to find this place since it was owned by a good friend of his. It turned out that this little coffee shop was only a couple of blocks away from our B&B. They’ve got tons of wonderful tea, my favourite of which is the “Flu Fighter” which really got me through those couple of crappy sore throat mornings. What’s the best drink to get here? Try either the hot chocolate or the Cafe Mocha. It’s made with real melted dark chocolate! I now know what they mean when they compare chocolate to sex. This chocolate was wonderful!

Mini Cannoli. Pam suggested to pick these pastries up from this little Italian bakery just south of the Jean Talon Market. These mini cannolis were just the perfect size and sweetness! We bought a few more, plus a variety of Italian pastries.

Montreal bagels. There were two bagel shops just a couple of blocks away from each other that were competing for the title of the Best Bagel Shop in Montreal.

St. Viateur Bagel had the most awesome all-dressed bagels I’ve ever had. They were light, they were fluffy… and they taste like onions. Mmm. Onions. This was Mr. Zombie’s hands down favourite.

I was on the fence on this one. Fairmount Bagel had an awesome texture to their bagels. It was a little bit heavier, but still really good. We took a half dozen bagels from each bagel shop home.

Montreal Smoked Meat. Schwartz’s on Rue St. Laurent is a must-see in Montreal. It’s a smoked meat deli restaurant that is so good, there’s constantly a lineup out the door for them. We were lucky to arrive there during their downtime (which was still quite crowded, but there was barely a lineup this time around). Mr. Zombie and I each ordered a small plate of smoked meat. It came with some bread and a bottle of mustard.

Mr. Zombie turned into… well… a zombie after eating at Schwartz’s. His food coma didn’t go away until the next morning.

Bar B Barn Ribs. Mr. Zombie was very excited to eat here. His dad used to take him to this old rib restaurant when he was little. He described the ribs to be like something you’d see from the Flinstones. He did not exaggerate. I thought I was going to pass out when the waitress plopped the full rack of ribs in front of me.

And finally… the Number 1 must-eat in Montreal:

Poutine. *drool*. You would think that the concept of fries, gravy and cheese curds is too simple to perfect, but no one has ever done a better job on making poutine than the French Canadians. It was a good thing that La Banquise, THE 24-hour Poutine place in Montreal was a bit of a trek away from our B&B, otherwise we would have had this twice a day, every day (we only went a total of two times during the trip).

The faces of pure, artery-clogging bliss.