Montreal is an island city divided into an ever-shifting number of boroughs
( arrondissements) - a fact that is all but irrelevant for most visitors
because, essentially, only two of them are must-visit destinations.
The first, the borough of Ville Marie, comprises the neighborhoods of
Old Montreal (typically #1 destination for
tourists),
Downtown Montreal (typically #2) and a host
of somewhat lesser-known areas:
Cité Multimédia,
Chinatown,
Shaughnessy Village,
Quartier des Spectacles,
Quartier International and
Quartier Latin.
The second borough, Plateau Mont-Royal, although light on
attractions,
is a must-visit because, for one,
it represents more accurately how most Montrealers really live and, second,
because it contains a big proportion of the city's restaurants. Confusingly, the name
of the main neighborhood in this borough is
Le Plateau Mont-Royal,
most often abbreviated to
Le Plateau.
Besides this namesake, the borough includes the neighborhoods of
Mile End and
McGill Ghetto.
 A visiting Parisian recently made me laugh. Stretched on the grass next to the esplanade in the
Old Port,
she suddenly noticed Habitat 67's retro-futuristic assemblage across the Lachine Canal.
" Et ça" - she said peering confusedly at the distant building - " Ce sont des logements sociaux?" ("And that... that's a housing project?"). I laughed because although nothing could be further from the truth (the internationally acclaimed building houses well-to-do Montrealers - one could even say, the city's elite) many people somehow make a similar mistake. They are put off by the building's stern look, uninviting color and absurd shape, and so they wrongly assume something of the sort can only be used to house the underclass. I am here to clear up the confusion and defend the merits of Habitat 67...
Read the rest of: "The Habitat"»  I am not a wine connoisseur, and completely hopeless when it comes to Hungarian wines, so I am not going to give you any advice to guide you through the wine list at Aszú. Heck, I didn't even try any Hungarian wines there! My mission for the night was much simpler: to have a decent terrace meal in the
Old Port
and enjoy a nice conversation with my dining partner who happened to be another SiteBits contributor...
Read the rest of: "Dinner at Aszú"»  I remember the first time I walked by Nota Bene store on Avenue du Parc in November, 2004. A series of colorful German-made notebooks with aluminum edges were shown in the display window and I immediately thought “I am going to spend a lot of money here". And sure enough, over the following three years, I did...
Nota Bene sells an amazing array of imported designer stationery items – mostly of European and Japanese origin. If you're the type who prefers to think with a pen or a pencil in their hands, chances are you're going to love this store...
Read the rest of: "Nota Bene"»  Like every good European, I am fond of food and like it to be as fresh as possible. I've always looked for the best ingredients to make my cooking exceptional for my wife, friends and family, as that's whom I usually cook for. Getting my groceries fresh from the market or straight from the farmer has always been my goal, because everything tastes better from the people who take care of their produce and work hard to bring the raw ingredients to our fridges.
In Montreal I was overjoyed to find that there's more than one farmer's market open seven days a week. One of my favorites (not only for its nice building, which I really like) is the Atwater Market, situated very close to the Lachine Canal path, making it the perfect stop after a walk or a bike ride...
Read the rest of: "Marché Atwater"» Quick, where to go in Montreal on a Thursday night?
Think beer, pool, conversation and a little live music by a good local band on a miniscule stage – not to mention the spirited roar of Canadiens' fans.
Located right in the middle of
Plateau Mont Royal,
L'Inspecteur Épingle is a bar where a variety of characters congregate to drink affordably priced pints of beer. Patrons are often perched on bar stools or lounging at corner tables beneath plasma TV screens, either listening to or ignoring the game and raising their voices just above the clinking of glasses and background music...
Read the rest of: "L'Inspecteur Épingle: Raise Your Pint, Follow the Puck"»  I am amazed and grateful at the variety of cafés in Montreal. It is a city where people love to bring their office or school work to coffee shops, since most of them offer Wi-Fi. Hot beverages are essential during the colder months, but there is a difference between hitting the chain coffee shops and arriving by chance to a café in the middle of the very eclectic Blvd. St-Laurent..
Pi Café (Café π) is basically a mixture of coffee shop, workplace, gallery, chess venue and a place for tranquility. I've been there a few times, and it is a wonderful place to enjoy a café latte or tisane while you pull out your book, computer or schoolwork in a reasonably quiet environment.
..
Read the rest of: "Café π: Coffee, Tranquility and One Hip Bathroom"»
Somebody on the site mentioned that Le Grand Comptoir
is one of the few restaurants in Montreal with friendly,
non-pretentious “single person" table service and I would
agree with them. What I mean by that is that going there by yourself doesn't necessarily present you with the typical dining-alone nuisances, like having to sit at the counter and thus forgo being able to relax in a chair, or being subjected to attitude from the host(ess) and the server. (After all, you're taking up a whole table and you'll only leave one person's tip!)
Like I said, Le Grand Comptoir
is a fortunate exception to those experiences.
You can go there alone at almost any time of day
(except the lunch hour: too busy) and find more
than a handful of individual tables to choose from...
Read the rest of: "Alone at Le Grand Comptoir"»  How many more blockbusters would you be willing to drop 13 bucks for? Personally, I'm done with it.
However, I love cinema and will be the first one to admit that renting movies is not the same as going to a movie theater. A movie theater gives you the atmosphere, the sound and the focus. In the coziness of your seat, you are "inside" the story unveiling on the screen. For good movies
(and I mean guaranteed good movies), you have to go to one of Montreal's répertoire (or repertory) cinemas, the best of which is Cinema du Parc.
I assumed Cinema du Parc had closed its doors a while ago, which I thought was unfortunate because it had left fewer available alternatives to watch good cinema. However, it recently reopened with a vengeance...
Read the rest of: "Cinéma du Parc"»  |
