Last Updated on October 7, 2019 by Candy Wafford

A diverse city with a happening food scene, rumor has it Montreal has more restaurants per capita than New York City. With so many options how do you know what you should eat in Montreal? Take a Secret Food Tour in Montreal and you will get the chance to try the delicious foods this city is known for.

Secret Foods Tour in Montreal

Food tours are hands down one of my favorite things to do in a city I can’t think of a better way to get to know a city. You get a city tour and food all in one! When booking a food tour in Montreal you will find several companies and most offer the option to book a tour in Old Montreal or one in the Mile End Neighborhood. Since I was staying in Old Montreal and opted for the Mile End Tour.

Do you have food allergies or preferences? Many tours can accommodate food restrictions as well as requests for vegetarian or vegan food.

Montreal’s Mile End Neighborhood

Our tour started at 11 AM and we met in the Mile End neighborhood at the church of Eglise Saint-Enfant-Jesus du Mile End. Montreal’s Mile End neighborhood is a hip, multi-cultural area. I loved the mix of restaurants, shops, and homes in the area. You can see that this is an area that people live in.

Our guide, Karine, told us that one of the goals of the tour was to show the real-life of Montrealers. Where they eat and shop. Another goal of the tour, and one of my favorite things about a food tour, is to experiment and try different flavors. I always go into a food tour with an open mind and intentions of trying everything.

The Montreal Mile End Food Tour

Our group was made up of a diverse and interesting group of people visiting Montreal. Meeting and getting to know others is one of the many things I enjoy about a food tour. Our guide Karine is a born and bred Montrealer and her knowledge and love of the city was obvious. We couldn’t have asked for a better guide to share the food of Montreal with.

The tour includes stops at six local restaurants. All of the stops were very close so there wasn’t a lot of time spent walking. Which means more time for eating!

Montreal Secret Food Tour – The Food

Stop 1 – Boulangerie Guillaume

Making the first stop on a food tour a bakery is genius! Boulangerie Guillaume is a traditional French-style bakery so our tasting here had to be a traditional French treat.

Katrine handed each of us a wedge of Alsatian tart. Alsatian tart has a base of focaccia bread then topped with bacon, onions, and cheese and is divine. Katrine had a mushroom version available for sampling as well. The bread is so tender and the toppings combine to make a wonderful bite and a great start to our food tour in Montreal.

Stop 2 – Fairmount Bagel

As I was researching things to do in Montreal I discovered that the city is known for its bagels. Jewish immigrants brought bagels to Montreal and you’ll find Montreal-style bagels are thinner, sweeter, and more tender than a New York-style bagel. You can see the bagels being hand-rolled, then boiled in water sweetened with honey, and finally being cooked in a wood-fired oven.

Fairmount Bagel just celebrated 100 years in business and a stop here is a quintessential experience in Montreal.

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Did you know that Montreal is known for its bagels? Montreal bagels are cooked in honey water giving them a sweet flavor. They aren’t boiled like a New York bagel and therefore more tender. The last step is a bake in a wood fired oven til they are toasty. There are two bakeries known for their bagels and locals are fiercely loyal to their fave. I tried both St. Viateur and Fairmoint Bagels and have to say both were delicious! The St. Viateur bagel was warm and soft and the Fairmount bagel was super toasty. What food have you had when traveling that surprised you? . . #montreal #montrealfood #montrealbagels #stviateurbagel #fairmountbagel #bagels #willtravelforfood #foodtraveller #foodtravel #foodtravelstories #canadatravel #femmetravel #femmetraveler #letsexplore #instatravel #mileendmontreal #mileend #mytravel #kentuckyblogger #lexingtonblogger #kyblogger #travelblogger

A post shared by Candy Wafford✈️Travel Blogger (@whereivebeentravel) on Sep 14, 2019 at 8:47am PDT

Stop 3 – Drogheria Fine

Each tour with Secret Food Tours includes at least one secret location. On our tour, it was Drogheria Fine, a walkup counter that serves nothing but gnocchi. And if you only serve one thing, it better be damn good.

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The owner of Drogheria Fine started his business after friends persuaded him to share his sauce with the world. Montrealers walk up to the window, pay $5 and are given pillows of soft gnocchi piled into a Chinese takeout container and topped with delicious red sauce made next door. This is comfort food at its best and a unique Montreal experience that shouldn’t be missed.

Stop 4 – It’s a Secret!

There are three foods Montreal is known for and the Secret Food Tour will introduce you to all three on the Mile End Tour. The first must-try food in Montreal is bagels which we enjoyed earlier in the tour at Fairmount Bagels. The second and third famous foods in Montreal are poutine and smoked meat.

We had both poutine and smoked meat at our fourth stop, a secret stop on our tour. This was our first sit down stop on the tour and it was nice to get off of our feet for a few minutes and enjoy some poutine. Karine explained that poutine, pronounced poo-steen by Montrealers, is comfort food at its very best.

Original poutine is a pile of fresh french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. If you haven’t had poutine before you may be thinking this sounds delicious or a bit weird. But this is perfect bar food! And the cheese curds are the real star of this dish in my opinion. We saw poutine on almost every menu and about a hundred variations.

Our poutine was served with a side of smoked meat. Smoked meat is another classic Montreal food that was introduced by the Jewish community. The smoked meat was served on the side on our tour to give us the chance to taste the two dishes separately. We could then add the smoked meat, which tasted a lot like pastrami, to our poutine.

Stop 5 – It’s a Secret!

Karine told us it was time for something sweet. Stop 5 was a restaurant that is part of a chain of restaurants in Quebec. I had to stop myself from ordering fifteen things from the ice cream menu and the dessert display case. Our tasting here was a French crepe topped with Nutella, strawberries, and bananas.

The crepe was delicious but somewhat boring. Karine told us that Juliette & Chocolat restaurants were located throughout Quebec and were very popular. But I would have preferred a visit to a restaurant that was not a chain. Again, a Nutella filled crepe is a thing of beauty, but we passed so many interesting looking restaurants on our tour that I think would have provided a more unique experience.

Stop 6 – Siboire

Our last stop was at Siboire. Siboire is a local brewpub and is in a bright open space on Rue Saint Laurent. Those in the group that purchased the optional drinks package were able to select a beer from the selection of local brews.

Our tasting here was vegetarian nachos. This was a generic dish and a bit disappointing. However, I think the tasting at Siboire is usually a charcuterie plate which I would have preferred.

This is the first food tour I’ve taken where alcoholic beverages had to be purchased separately. Every other food tour I’ve done in the US, Canada, and Europe have included at least one beverage, and often more in the cost of the food tour. We opted not to buy the beverage package and I’m glad we didn’t as it only included a beer at Siboire.

Final Thoughts

We spent quite a bit of time at Siboire chatting with our fellow food tourists. As we said our goodbyes, our bellies full, we felt that we had a better understanding of Montreal and its food. When visiting Monreal I would recommend taking a food tour with Secret Food Tours in Montreal.

Comments & Suggestions

• Bring some water. You’ll want something to drink at the first few stops.
• The majority of the tour is outside so dress for the weather. Tours are held rain or shine, so an umbrella is handy.
• Wear comfortable walking shoes. However, the distance covered on the Mile End Food Tour in Montreal was probably less than a mile.
• This food tour and every other one I’ve been on is sensitive to vegetarian preferences. But vegans may have a harder time. Indicate any food allergies or preferences when booking the tour.
• Katrine provided a list of her personal recommendations for restaurants and other things to do. This is a nice touch, especially if you are taking the tour at the beginning of your trip.
• Tours can be booked at Secret Food Tours Montreal.

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