Montreal is a melting pot of cultures and as such has a lot of ethnic offerings from across the globe when it comes to food. You can even find groceries and spices in many of the standard grocery store chains from across the world catering to Middle Eastern, Asian, Indian, and European cultures. While this makes for a lot of selection, there are some offerings, which we listed in our Montreal Foodie Guide, that are unique to Quebec that you simply must try.
As native Montrealers we’ve listed some of our favorites here for anyone that is thinking of visiting that may want to try some of the local delicacies and that Montreal has to offer.
Specialty dish unique to Quebec
Smoked Meat Sandwich
A delicacy, this mile high sandwich of smoked brisket is served on rye bread with mustard and can be found across the island at many venues. Some say this is like a corned beef or pastrami sandwich but I’ve tried them all and can tell you it is better!
One of the classic places downtown is the Schwartz’s Deli where you’ll often find a line of tourists (and locals) outside waiting to get one of these sandwiches to experience a Montreal tradition. (However, on a recent visit in October 2021, we found that it wasn’t as good as it used to be.) Available across the island, the ‘best smoked meat’ 
is a discussion you may want to avoid as it is almost like a religious or political discussion that can make or break friendships.
Tip: You can buy smoked meat at Lester’s Deli at the airport in vacuumed packed pouches to bring home after having passed custom when entering the U.S.
BBQ Chicken
You may not think that BBQ chicken is unique, but the BBQ chicken we grew up with is so much different from what we’ve come to find around the US and we miss it.
The trick, we are told, is the maple wood open flame used to broil these rotisserie chickens as they are cooked to perfection retaining all the juices under a crispy skin. I think the real uniqueness is however the BBQ sauce which we have not found elsewhere. Very different from what most consider BBQ sauce that is sticky or sweet and added to baste chickens or ribs, this sauce is specifically for dipping chicken and is more like a flavored brown gravy made from the chicken drippings.
Our favorite places are from our childhood neighborhood and include the Chalet BBQ or Cote St Luc BBQ. There is always the popular St-Hubert version found at a growing number of franchise locations. Care should again be taken; Montrealer’s can get very feisty about what is the best chicken!
Poutine
This dish invented in Quebec is a very simple plate of crispy French fries topped with raw curd cheese. A piping hot brown gravy is added on top to make the cheese melt giving it a stringy texture. This is a typical greasy food type of snack that was popularized at roadside potato shacks. It is thought to have been invented in the 1950’s with several places claiming to be the original inventors.
You can typically find poutine at hot-dog places across Quebec with our favorite being Lafleur, but it’s hard to go wrong with a poutine in Quebec. There are various poutine guides, which you can also check out if you want to make a go of comparing the offerings. You can also buy the prepackaged sauce and the raw cheese curds at most grocery stores.
Bagels
What makes Montreal bagels unique? It’s the wood burning oven, no it’s the water, or the cold water, or… you’ll get a lot of different answers but having grown up with these we can tell you that they are still our favorite. Smaller than the New York bagels, and somewhat chewier, the best way to savor these is when they come out of the oven right on that long wooden stick the baker uses to put them in and out of the hot fire pit. See it in action when you go pick up your bagels in the town of Mount Royal where you’ll find arguably the two most popular bagel joints named St. Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. Once again, avoid getting into a fight by not proclaiming one better than the other.
Tip: See our friend Guy at the bagel place at Dorval airport and ask him for a half dozen or a dozen St. Viateur bagels on your way back to the US and he’ll pack them for you for your trip home. This is in the secure area (after you’ve cleared customs and immigration so nothing to declare and just take them on the plane (as a favor to your fellow passengers please ask to put these in a plastic bag so as not to have the smell of warm bagels making the other passengers jealous).
Tourtière
This is a seasonal meat pie dish with a unique flavor; there are as many variations as there are rural communities in Quebec. Some of the most notable are the Saguenay Lac-St-Jean version that has some potatoes in it and is usually made with wild caught game including caribou. Other versions include the one from Acadie, which would be made with pork, beef and hare or rabbit and chicken. More typical in Montreal you’ll find a mix of minced pork in these pies with onions and a mix of cloves and spices. This dish is usually served with ketchup, the best being a homemade variety. While you can find these in restaurants around the Christmas season, you can also find them in most grocery stores, fresh markets, and bakeries to bring home either raw or pre-cooked. Tourtière seasoning is typically available in the grocery stores if you want to attempt your own concoction.
Cabane à sucre (Sugar shack)
A typical springtime feast, especially around Easter, this is a celebration of when the maple sap has started to run and can be cultivated into that liquid gold Quebecers call maple syrup.
There are numerous farms and hotels that open their kitchens to invite people to this seasonal feast, and groups ranging from couples to large families to office parties often rent these out to partake in this sweet feast. Typically, everything (I mean everything) is soaked in maple syrup! This is a brunch or breakfast, even diner, consisting of more or less: eggs (often poached in maple syrup), toast and pancakes (covered in maple butter and syrup), maple-glazed ham, oreilles de crisse (deep-fried pork rinds), beans (cooked in maple syrup), among other things. If you’re still down a little sugar, there is usually maple sugar pie for dessert. Do try this out, if even once, it’s a very typical and traditional Quebec custom and experience not to be missed.
Typical Maple Products
So popular and valuable are these maple-based products, on a bad season the farms are often sold out of their stock with pre-orders for export, the airport, and tourist venues. We had to once go to the airport ourselves to buy maple products as they were sold out across the local stores in our neighborhoods. Last year, bandits tried to make off with 18M$ in maple syrup. Fortunately they were caught and our maple stocks are safe (and better protected this year I am sure).
Some of our favorites are:
- Maple taffy (tire d’érable), which is maple syrup cooked to a thick taffy-like consistency and then poured onto snow and picked up with a popsicle stick when it hardens. A real Montreal winter experience.
- Maple syrup (available in dark, medium, and golden) depending on when in the season it is cultivated (usually lighter at the beginning) with the lighter versions being better for pancakes and darker for cooking.
- Maple butter is used as a spread for toast or pancakes.
- Maple candies are like a sugar candy. They are soft and chewy at first and as they age get crumblier and finally dry and hard, so make sure you are getting this years’ batch.
- Maple cones, one of our favorites is a mini ice cream cone filled with thick maple taffy and then topped off with maple candy to lock it all in. How bad can it be?
The possibilities are endless and you’ll find everything from maple pies, maple muffins, to maple-glazed meats. Quebecers love maple syrup and we find that this love has stayed in our roots.
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