About Montréal

Montréal is the most bilingual city in North America. Gone are the days of the 70s, when the french and english lived separate lives. Montréalers today have embraced the best of both cultures and the vast majority of its inhabitants speak both languages fluently so don't hesitate to address people in whichever language you're comfortable in.

Restaurants

• Ouzeri (trendy Greek tapas)
  • 4690 Rue St. Denis, Montreal, 514-845-1336
  • Recommend the fried octopus and the lamb with feta cheese.

• Cluny Art-bar (lunch and early evening only), 257 Rue Prince (near old town), 514-866-1213
  • www.cluny.info
• Restaurant Pintxo 514-844-0222
  • Spanish Tapas, menu online - $30 fixed course meal.
  • highly recommended by our group high altitude doctor
  • near Roy & Laval
• Aux Vivres, 4631 Boul. St Laurent, 514-842-3479
  • hippie vegetarian food. St Laurent near villeneuve. Good.
• Sala Rosa (Spanish Cultural center) - 4848 St. Laurent, 514.844.4227 
  Offers good meals (try the tapas - goat's cheese in honey and the vegetarian antipasto plate) which they can sell to you without taxes because they're a cultural center. Also flamenco shows.
  • http://www.casadelpopolo.com/salaresto/about.htm
• Cafe Santropol (lunch)
  • http://www.santropol.com/
  • the biggest sandwiches you'll ever see ($8) - haven't changed for 15 years.
• Om Retaurant (Tibetan Food), 4382 St. Laurent, 287-3553
• Au Pied De Cochon, 536 AVENUE DULUTH EST, MONTRÉAL, QC H2L 1A9, Canada
  • back to the country cuisine at a metrosexual price. Many people love the pig's feet and proclaim it as one of Montreal's best restaurants. We agree it is one of the best known, but there are other better choices (e.g. Montee de Lait).
• L'Express (Paris style bistro on St Denis)
  • very popular/busy. Good steak tartare.
• Culinary Institute of Montreal 
  Hotel de l'Institut du tourisme et de l'hotellerie du Québec, 3535 Saint-Denis Street, Montréal, 514-282-5161 
  There are two restaurants
  • regular school - serves two means a day, Tue-Fri only, at noon and 5pm. Cooked by the younger students.
  • fancier - cooked by the final year students, serves means anytime, typically $25-37. TAble d'hote only. One vegetarian option.
• Le P'tit Plateau
  • great food, bad service. Small bring your own wine place. About $35/plate.
• Le Club Chasse et Peche
  • haven't tied this one yet, presumably a carnivore's delight: http://www.leclubchasseetpeche.com/

Restaurants - Mile End Neighborhood

• Lemeac www.restaurantlemeac.com 514-270-0999
  • a good French resto on Laurier
  • review: http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/2003/041003/resto.html
  • after 10pm they serve their table d'hote for $22 - a good deal for what you get. Try the salmon tartare and the goat cheese salad. yum.

• Le Figaro, 5200 rue Hutchison corner Fairmont
  • french bistro. salads and sandwiches ($8-10) and a table d'hote ($14). Open very late.

• L'Assommoir Bernard Inc, 112 RUE BERNARD O., MONTRÉAL, (514) 272-0777
  • good saviche (marinated raw fish) and big plates of meat.
• Chez Leveque on Laurier, a French bistro: http://www.montrealfood.com/restos/chezleveque.html,
• La Chronique, 99 Laurier O., 514-271-3095 www.lachronique.ca
  • French style resto with an amazing cheese plate. Great food, but it's easy to find equally exciting food elsewhere more affordably than their $80(!) table d'hote.
• Restaurant Tonnerre De Brest, 1134 AVENUE VAN HORNE, (514) 278-6061
  • • french bistro, $15-30
• Bistro Justine, 1268 Van Horne Ave. (near Champagneur Ave.), (514) 277-2728
  • • outremont's bargain secret French bistro. Highly recommended.
• La Hacienda- For a Californian this would be considered ok mexican food, for Montreal its good.
  • 1148 avenue Van Horne, Outremont, QC H2V 1J8, Canada‎ - (514) 270-3043
• Restaurant Christophe, (BYOB), Van Horne $40/entree
  • • Good, traditional french food
    • http://www.restaurantchristophe.com/christophe-html/accueil.html
• Senzala, 177 rue Bernard O, 514.274.1464 - The brazillian restaurant on Bernard - haven't tryied it yet.
• (SUSHI) Restaurant Coba, 1124 avenue Laurier Ouest (514) 908-1889
  • (nov 2008) Has a sushi takeout special from 5-7pm... 1.50 each nigiri, 2.50 per roll, $5 per fancy roll (about half off their normal prices). Haven't tried it yet, but its rumoured to be good sushi.
• South-east Asian Food (we haven't found a really good place yet... but here are some acceptable ones)
  • Chez Van (Laurier and du Parc)
    • inexpensive ($7/plate) bring your own wine restaurant with reasonable (but not outstanding) Vietnamese food.

• Other restaurants on Rue Bernard:
  • Google Local

Breakfast

• La Petite Ardoise, on Laurier X-Esplanade
  • good breakfast/brunch until 4pm
• Dusty's - Classic greasy spoon (du Parc and Mt. Royal)

Restaurants - Lunch near McGill

• McGill Food Services (Generally low quality food and overpriced)
• Google Local: Google Local
• Cafe Lola Rosa, 545 RUE MILTON, 287-9337
  • good vegetarian food, the closest restaurant to Rutherford bldg
• Amelio's Pizza, 201 RUE MILTON, 845-8396
• Asha Indian, 3490 AVENUE DU PARC, 844-3178
  • nothing special, but close.
• Architecture Cafe
• Thompson House
• Sandwich place on McGill College str.

Bars and pub food

• Reservoir
  • duluth just east of St. Laurent.
  • roof-top patio, good microbrew beer, good food.
• Dieu de Ciel
  • Hands down the best brewpub I've found in montreal.
  • Lauier at Clark
• Bierre and Company
  • St. Laurent and Prince Arthur (this location closed... try Cafe Republic a couple doors down.)
  • 4350 ST. Denis, 844-0394
• Else's
  • a neighborhood pub with character. Serves tapas.
  • 156 Roy (halfway b/t st-denis and st-laurent), 286-6689

Live Music

• Le Divan Orange
  • good showbar with a big stage at the back. Typically grungy roots music.
  • wheelchair access: one step
• Cafe Popolo
  • St Laurent near Villeneuve
• Il Motore
• Sala Rosa
• Bily Kun Bar
  • http://www.bilykun.com/
  • live music everyday except monday/saturday.

Places to Stay

• see http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/B2C/06/accommodations.asp
• Physics Department Apartment 
  This is a private appt rented by our department for our guests only.
  • Restaurants nearby: Google Local

Bed and Breakfasts

• City chic B&B (Matt's favorite)
  • http://www.citychic.com/
  • 64 Nelson Avenue, Outremont, Montréal, PQ H2V 3Z7
  • Tel. 514-279-8373, email: helene@citychic.com
  • located just beside the mountain on Nelson street, in the trendy Plateau-Mile End neighborhood.
  • $90-150/night
• University B&B
  • http://www.universitybedandbreakfast.ca
  • 621 Prince Arthur West, No:5, Montreal QC H2X 1T9
  • Phone: +1-514-842-6396, Toll-free: +1-866-842-6396
  • about $69-109 CAD, includes B-fast, and about 1 block from the physics department in the "McGill ghetto". Rather arcane cancellation policies.

• Au Maison du Jardin B&B
  • 3744 St-André, Montréal (Québec) H2L 3V7, Tél.: (514) 598-8862
  • http://kryog.phpnet.org/mjardin/
• Bed & Breakfast De Chez Nous
  • 3717 Rue Sainte Famille, Montreal, Quebec H2X 2L7, (514) 845-7711
• Casa Bianca‎
  • 4351 Avenue de l'Esplanade, Montreal, QC H2W 1T2, (514) 312-3837
• Hotel & Bed and Breakfast Romain Montagne
  • 4351 rue Saint-Urbain, Montreal, QC H2W 1V7, (514) 843-6882
• The Beige Appartment: http://www.au4700rivard.com/beigeapart.html

Hotels

• Appartements Trylon Fully furnished studio appartments, renting by the day within a few blocks or McGill. Rates are typically ~$60/night.
• Holiday Inn, Montreal Mid-town
  • A few blocks from McGill: 420 Sherbrooke W., Montreal, QC H3A1B4, (514) 842-6111
• Four Points Sheraton
  • 475 Sherbrooke Street WestMontreal, QC H3A 2L9, Canada, (514) 842-3961
  • This is within a couple blocks of the physics department, and is the standard place we put up visitors. Ask for the McGill rate.

Google local results for hotels near McGill: 
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Montreal and McGill In The Press

• (Nov 2009) Lonely Planet thinks Montreal is one of the best places on the planet to party. Article on reuters
• (Sept 2009) New York Times article glorifying the Plateau Neighborhood adjacent to McGill
• (Nov 2007) Times Higher Education ranks McGill University the cream of Canadian schools, the best public university in North America, and 12th internationally among the world's top 200 universities (according to the prestigious THES/QS global survey). Montreal Gazette article, Globe and Mail article
• (Nov 2007) McGill ranked number 1 university in Canada for post-doctoral and medical studies CNW release
• (Oct 2006) McGill's international reputation as Canada's flagship university is reaffirmed again in Britain by the Times Higher Education Supplement's World University Rankings - placing McGill number 1 in Canada and 21st in the world. http://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/news/?ItemID=22166(http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/)
• (March 2006) Gourmet Magazine's dedicated their entire March issue to a City guide of Montreal's flourishing and original restaurant scene. It is only the 6th time Gourmet has done so (Paris, Rome, San Francisco, New York and London are the only other cities that have been covered). Montrealer's were a little shy about being called "North America's Most European City", but we're sure it is meant as a compliment when coming from the US-based Gourmet magazine. Here's a Review of the review. Ask to borrow Matt's copy if you are visiting.
• (Apr 2005) "The American music media are proclaiming Montreal the new musical hotspot. Spin magazine sparked the hype when it published its February `Next Big Thing' issue" http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/livewire/archived/canadian_rockers_shrug_at_hype/
• (Nov 2005) In the Maclean's Magazine review of universities in Canada, McGill and UofT tie for best academic/research university (not surprising!).http://www.macleans.ca/universities/article.jsp?content=20051104_162820_5764
• (Sept. 2005) Playboy Magazine names McGill as one of the Top 10 Party Schools in North America. McGill is the only Canadian university to be assigned this dubious honour. We like to think that it is a comment about Quebec's "Joie de Vivre".http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20050930/mcgill_party_050930/20050930?hub=Canada
• The New York Times reports (May 2005) http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60914FD395D0C778EDDAC0894DD404482 "Those nice people up North are taking over the universe. Yes, Canada, by at least one measure, is No.1 in astronomy. According to a recent analysis by the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia, which monitors scientific publications, Canadian astronomers deliver the most scientific bang for the buck. Their..."