The Best New Restaurants in Montreal [May 2024]
26 of the best new restaurants in Montreal, from fresh spring season openings to institutions in the making dating back to the winter.
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If the best new restaurants in Montreal this spring season are any indication, things on the city's dining scene are only getting hotter.
As we always keep this list fresh, with no opening more than six months old, even if we don't count the openings from November 2023—Le Godot, Chez Jean-Paul, Lou’s, Savsav, Regashi, and Nofish—we can still count this list at a whopping 26 spots.
From new names to established chefs, fine dining options to casual buvettes and hidden gems, the dining scene here is always in flux making it hard to know where to eat in Montreal. This is the list you can use to track where you should be eating at right now, taking stock of what’s worth eating and drinking in the city, and who’s bringing something new to Montreal’s collective table.
Not sure about our picks? Take a deeper dive into what they're cooking with our resident restaurant and bar critic Bottomless Pete.
Bangluck
Following up on the success of their Thai street food restaurant Thammada, Laotian Montrealer Chitakone Phommavongxay (Chita) and Thai Montrealer Siriluksamee Rangthong (Nim)'s Plateau noodle shop Bangluck seeks to enrich Thai culture in the city by doing a true ode to the traditional.
With reasonably priced bowls of noodles and soup in a casual, minimalist, sunlit wood interior, coupled with dishes like siu mai, fried wontons, or a bao bun filled with pork belly braised for a day in Thai palo sauce, nearly every ingredient at Bangluck is made in-house from fried garlic to chili jams. Using pork lard, crispy pork rinds, and garlic oil to give dishes that hidden umami touch, Chita and Nim stress an uncompromising to their food—a lot of work is going into this small spot.
Verdun Beef
It's not every day we're going to count a butchery as a new restaurant you need to try right now, but with a great casse-croûte offering offering charcuterie and sandwiches pulling from their cuts? And they've got wine to enjoy with all of it in an attaché dining room? That's a winner.
Building off the success of their wine bar Verdun Beach, if that first place was a successful offering of guinguette culture in Montreal, the team at the Verdun Beef—Philippe Jacquelin, Marc Frandon, and Charles Garant with chef Yann Vadaru Chi Santos, as well as Anaïs Marchand and Simon Généreux-Vien from the wine agency Primavin—have put together something that fuels guinguette all around their corner of the neighbourhood. Eat in, or grab fuel for your own feast elsewhere.
Papito
A new project from the team behind Café Parvis and Furco, Papito's arguably their first proper sit-down restaurant. A menu of small snack, side, vegetables and desserts surround a robust, wood-fired menu featuring everything from half and whole chickens to entrecôte, arctic char, and porchetta that can be doused in à volonté sauces.
Warm and simplistic in its appearence, it's a large and lively spot with big dining room following the action of the kitchen, which runs the length of its space downtown. Who needs a flashy place to eat when their blossoming reputation for good and honest eats is growing so fast?
Maison ZoSo
Chef Adam Shiller, previously from Tuck Shop Catering and a number of other projects over the past 20 years, is now the chef at this new bistro in NDG. The new place on the corner of Monkland and Harvard has seating for 40, plus a terrasse. The menu's great—think high end bistro, but definitely with that cowboy fine dining tutelage you'd find at his university of Tuck Shop. That said, scale up your meal at any time while still eating light and on the cheap if you so wish.
Open for lunch and dinner, as well as Sunday brunches, it's very classic here: Dishes like spinach and artichoke dip, burrata on sourdough with oven-roasted tomatoes, 20-hour braised brisket with mash, Beef Dip with sliced rib-eye and provolone, or seasonal pasta all speak for themselves.
Kwizinn
“Our cuisine takes risks. In the beginning, people would freak out about how we present things, or include other cuisines, and the risk-taking is what sets us apart,” chef Mike Lafaille told us when we caught with him at his new location for Kwizinn in Old Montreal.
Normally new locations for established restaurants won't make the cut for our new restaurants list (for what we hope are obvious reasons), but at this address, Lafaille's trying out new avenues in his cooking. Apart from keeping bangers like his plantain burger, it’s a far cry from his old platters with rice, salad, and pikliz: Here, the new chapter’s aspiring to new experiments that explore Caribbean cuisines further with things like oysters served with a calamansi sabayon, empanadas with scotch bonnet jam, short rib bao buns with a hoisin-mango sauce, or plantain hummus with a lemon confit.
Bella Sandwicheria
Place Ville Marie, Ground Floor
A new project from the Italian sandwich runaway hit Bossa and its chef Daniel Lo Manto, Bella Sandwicheria is a new project sprung from those roots with a bit more of a delicate touch than its forebearer. Located in the Le Cathcart food hall on the ground floor of Place Ville Marie, toppings are less traditional in a lot of ways, featuring things like pistachio pesto, stracciatella, mortadella, arugula and lemon vinaigrette or truffles and mushrooms, fennel salami, and truffle pecorino. Opening up some new flavour pathways for the chef, this one's got a lot going for it.
CUP MTL
CUP MTL's a new project with prime real estate in the Plateau from Benoit Lacaille, chef Jirachaya Sroison, Genevran Bernard and Rémi Parent. Together, they‘ve brought a new-ish concept to the city: A Thai-inspired pub serving a lot of classics like satay sticks, pork sausages brimming with galangal, and mango salads alongside new creations like pizza with pork krapow or blooming onions. delicious dishes designed to be shared. Sporting privately imported wines, fresh beers and strong cocktails, they've set up their menu so a group can order up essentially half the menu to snack on together for as little as $70. Definitely a sleeper hit, especially during the summer when the terrasse is built.
La Gargamelle
La Gargamelle's the latest project from Netflix Drink Master Loyd Von Rose (Loïc Fortin), and this time it's focused on food (though an "audacious cocktail pairing menu" is promised as well). If Fortin's drinks from his first bar Tittle Tattle are any indication, the menu here is going to be full of curveballs and fun plays on traditions and expectations: Oysters with yuzu sabayon, homemade bicolor pastas, and more.
Piel Canela
Operated by the Barranco Partners management group (Barranco, Nikkei) since 2023, the Caifan Mtl restaurant's 4,500 square foot space on two floors (with a 40-70 pax private room in the basement) is now home to the Latin American brunch spot Piel Canela by day: Working with Mexican chef Karla Guzman (Tapeo, L'Express, Pujol, Caifan), chef Eduardo Acosta (Caifan), sous chef Edgard Trujillo and pastry chef Victoria de Oliva, Piel Canela will specialize in Latin American cuisine with a Montreal twist by revisiting traditional dishes like duck tlatoyo (a corn pancake stuffed with black beans and queso fresco roasted in duck fat with duck breast and salsa tomatillo), Montreal-style Molito amarillo (pancakes stuffed with a mixture of Nordic shrimp, corn and coriander in a yellow mole sauce), and French toast made with brioche bread at Carlota's served with a creamy pineapple compote, cinnamon, and rum with maracuya cream.
Boqueria
The Old Montreal location for La Catrina is now neighboured by Boqueria, a space focused on Spanish cuisine. Headed by chef David Melo Rubio who's sporting a lot of stripes from Michelin restaurants in New York, Barcelona, Lisbon and London, this new spot will focus on tapas, seafood, and a bar that'll stay open after the kitchen's closed up—perfect for those late summer nights stumbling through the historic part of town. It's prime real estate with a lot to prove, so maybe book this one for your next date night or when your parents are in town and can foot the bill.
Juliette Plaza
Following in the footsteps of many 'little sister' concepts to open in the past year wherein restaurants provide small attaché projects, Juliette Plaza is the new project from Cheryl Johnson and Charles-Antoine Crête's Montréal Plaza.
Opening its doors on February 28, it's in many ways everything a person who's experienced the unbridled creativity of the OG, but it also boasts its own distinct ambiance and menu that's a bit more snackable than its forebearer: Snacks like devilled eggs, sandwiches, and temaki-style rolls get paired up with smaller dishes of seafood and fish mastery found at MP, as well as offal spun in creative new ways. Atmospherically, expect a lot of nostalgia and innovation both in dishes and the walls.
Onigiri Shop
It hasn't been open for long but NDG's Onigiri Shop, specializing in onigiri with over 30 fillings, is already easily selling out—they even had to post an apology about it. Who'd have thought that stuffed rice balls wrapped in seaweed made by hand would capture so many imaginations?
While that drawcard's meant for grab-and-go snacks, their menu's no joke: They've got everything from salmon and tuna to miso short ribs, marinated eggs, grilled eel, miso-marinated beef with soy-marinated egg yolk, and Korean fried chicken with kimchi and torched cheese.
Maps
This new arrival in Villeray brings another shift away from a Montreal-style pizza and towards a more New-Yorkaise pie with a cozy new space. A new project from Percy Carrière and David Reily named after a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song, Maps is a spot reportedly inspired by the Danish minimalism with stark wooden tables to gather over and split a couple pies, salads, and bowls of warm olives. Priced around the mid-20s, their recipes—last we checked—range from margheritas and white pizzas with mozza and a garlic cream sauce to sausage and old school pepperoni variations.
Oncle Lee
While the city's not exactly a stranger to a newer generation of Chinese restaurants, few—if any—have gone the lengths to offer an alternate take on the cuisine. Enter Oncle Lee, where chef Andersen Lee has a space to call his own, exploring his Chinese identity, influences, and inspirations.
Embarking into uncharted territory for Montreal to create a contemporary Chinese spot, some flavours and dishes will recognizable here, but so much of what the restaurant does won't be served in the Beijings, Mon Nans, and Keung Kees of the city: Steaks sliced and served sizzling on hot plates with a side of bone marrow; oysters either steamed with black bean sauce or served with a yuzu mignonette; raw fish and shellfish dishes like scallop crudo with XO sauce and marinated salmon.
Miracolo
Local restaurateur extraordinaire Richard Holder and his collaborators has done it again with Miracolo, an Italian-forward restaurant next to Schwartz's on Saint-Laurent Boulevard. Designed in collaboration with Thomas Csano, it's yet another astounding space to dine in, dressed to the nines in every single nook, cranny, and angle you care to look in with vague moments of religiosity—think Madonna statuettes, a cow's head with a halo, or communion wafers at the entrance.
In the kitchen, it's chefs Alejandro Vega and Pierre Morneau. Their menu's a versatile one, offering a little of every size of dish and snack to meet their aims of being open every day of the week: Stop in for a few cocktails and some ricotta or anchovies on toast, or settle in for a more substantial meal of dishes like broccolini or endive salad, skewers of grilled mortadella, crudos, carpaccios, and a lot of fresh pasta that you see being made if you grab one of the table in the back dining room.
It's a bustling spot: At 100-ish seats, this has been a runaway hit since it opened. A great spot if you want that quintessential experience of rubbing shoulders with a neighbour as you chow down and feel the energy of an active address.
Bar Vivar
A lot of spots in the city will describe their menu as 'tapas-style' and intended for sharing, but that gets tapas all wrong. Bar Vivar, however, is doing is right for a change.
Located in the Plateau along the time-honored strip of Duluth and across the street from Au Pied de Cochon, Bar Vivar beckons diners with Spanish-inspired menus that blend their source material with a bit of Montreal (think involvement of croissants, or local charcuterie). Headed by chef Georges Greiche with the hospitality of the floor overseen by Patrick Oakes, these veterans from Joe Beef has come together to create a cozy wine bar resonating with simplicity and warmth.
Reminiscent of home, the ambiance leans towards dropping in at someone's chic home for a glass of wine and a snack, but it's fairly easy to order up the whole menu here: The 40-seat space adorned with artwork and leather banquettes inspired by medieval Spain offers things like tortilla, croquettes, and jamón alongside traditional wines, sherries, and vermouths.
Gino’s Negroni & Lasagna
The Mile End got a new spot for negronis and lasagna in the form of Gino's, and it's pretty swish: A new spot from longtime Montrealers Glorindo Clara and Lara Ghanem, they've created a wholehearted embrace of Italian flavors and warm hospitality—and no, we ain't just talking about their layered slices of pasta, sauce, and cheese. It's a cozy bistro with round tables and wooden chairs that recall those classic trattorias of old, albeit with a mix of elegance to go with that famiglia touch.
Despite what the name implies, they've got their fair share of variations on negronis as well as a non-alcoholic 'nogroni' option to go with carpaccio, burrata, and insalata that can precede vegetarian or meat lasagnas, plus tiramisu, semifreddo, and other sweet nothings to end on a high note. Whether you're coming here for fuel for a longer night out, or a tidy stop to end your night, you can't go wrong with modestly priced slices of lasagna and a couple boozy Italian classic cocktails to round out whatever your plans are.
Marci
Marci isn't just about food and wine; music plays a starring role as well at this Plaza St-Hubert arrival boasting a New Jersey-inspired menu, natural wines, and a top-notch sound system.
Run by industry veterans, it was imagined by David Schmidt and Daniel Finkelstein with chef Alex Geoffrion in the kitchen crafting comfort food with swagger. Dive into classics like pizzas, casino clams, chicken parm, and Caesar salad with anchovy fillets.
The wine list, featuring mostly natural selections, is handwritten on a large mirror behind the bar, offering affordable choices by the glass.
Parapluie
Chef Robin Filteau Boucher's dream of owning their own restaurant becomes a reality with Parapluie in Little Italy: Partnering with maître d'hôtel Karelle Voyer and friend Simon Chevalier, Filteau envisioned a place where he could cook and connect with patrons in a 30-ish seat spot serving French-inspired dishes crafted with seasonal ingredients priced affordably between $10 and $30.
Standouts include the ravioli in brown butter, beef with button mushrooms and a chicken jus, sauce on eggs mayo with poached lobster, and a Montreal-style trout on a bed of horseradish sauce. Karelle curates the wine list while mixologist Félix Pagé Blouin crafts the cocktails, keeping the room lubricated while folks drop in and out over the course of an evening.
Octo
Opened in January 2024 in Hochelaga following the closure of their fine dining restauranr Le Flamant, Octo seeks to take on dim sum with playful twists.
Pascal Bolduc and David Hibon are the ones who spearheaded this culinary project designed by Blazys Gerard studio to have an industrial ambiance with popping references to octopi. At 44 seats, Hibon has constructed a menu that vascillates from the small and inexpensive to the big and filling: Their 'reinvented' Asian street food from $4 to $23 features signature treats like the duck spring rolls with passion fruit sauce, shrimp wonton in Tum Yum broth, bao, Peking-style duck, honey cake with maple parfait and a miso cheesecake.
The big bonus folks love here is that they're open late, cranking out food until 1am from Tuesday to Friday.
Jun Jun
“Higher end Filipino restaurants have been more for the titas (aunties), the bougie and sophisticated crowds,” Jun Jun owner JoJo Flores explained. “It’s lacking in a lot of cities, including Montreal; we don’t see that level of focus on plating or quality ingredients often. With Jun Jun, we want to offer a new generational take on our cuisine.”
While Jun Jun fully embraces Filipino cuisine’s inherent cross-cultural qualities, it spins them further: Anyone unaffiliated with Filipino food will often find that by googling the name of a dish off Jun Jun's evolving menu will show something entirely different—what was once a stew, a soup a dessert, or a ceviche has become the inspiration for something entirely different, yet the touchpoints of flavour remain in subtle ways.
Take the bulalo carpaccio for example, which turns the traditional Filipino beef shank soup of shanks and marrow with corn on the cob into a plate of thinly sliced tenderloin topped with a marrow-demi mayo, a grilled corn salad, and fermented cabbage.
Ohayo Café
At the 28-seater Ohayo Café right next door to Kitano Shokudo, you'll find yoshoku food—Japanese dishes based on Western food, like Japanese-style French toast—in addition to a coffee program features a range of specialty coffees ground on Mahlkönig and Mythos grinders, with a La Marzocca for espresso-based drinks and classic pour-over gear for filter coffee.
Run by Hiroshi Kitano and his longstanding employee and close friend Samath Mom, they're preparing everything from homemade pickles to karaage, ramen, mazemen and artfully arranged bowls of chirashi.
“It’s very specific to cafés in Japan,” Hiroshi says. “Omu rice, hayashi rice, beef stew: they’re Western, but we’ve been making it for a long time.” Ohayo’s menu also features keema curry with ground beef and pork, an egg sando, and ebi (shrimp) and chicken burgers.
Chai-Yo
At Chai-Yo, you'll find a fusion of Thai and Chinese flavors within an entirely vegan menu celebrating family recipes and street food classics. A new project from ChuChai—a restaurant awarded Thai SELECT Classic mark of certification awarded by the Ministry of Commerce of the Royal Thai Government to guarantee the authenticity of their food—the menu here's focused on bold yet comforting flavors:
Pad thai with tamarind sauce, bean sprouts, carrots, chives, tofu and peanuts; stir-fried pad see ew with tofu and Chinese broccoli; kao kra pao stir-fry with basil and chili served with steamed rice; bahn mi-style sandwiches of vegan duck (seitan) with black pepper, lettuce, pickled vegetables, chili and coriander on a baguette, and more.
Sora 45
Perched on Place Ville-Marie's 45th floor, Sora 45 is a new project from the team behind Hiatus that takes over its more informal bar space below their supremely high-class restaurant. With stunning skyline vistas and delectable sushi in a chic setting, what was originally intended as a café and lounge for Hiatus has been reimagined with the help of chef Gary Durand and Hiatus chef Yoann Therer. Together, they've curated a menu of sushi and hot dishes complemented by selections by mixologists Carl Charette-Kelada and Tim Robertson.
Open for lunch and dinner, it's far easier to drop in for a bite here than at Hiatus: Stop in and grab platters of maki, nigiri, hosomaki, and bowls of chirashi by day, or a longer list of more elaborate sushi and dishes by night that'll range from eight-hour braised pork-belly and beef sirloin marinated in koji to seasoned chicken tsukune meatballs.
La Marelle
Taking over the space that once housed Mile-Ex’s chef-forward dining room of Le Diplomate, La Marelle comes from Salle Climatisée alum Carlos Melgar. Now brightened up with a new paint job, the restaurant’s softly opened with a purely creative menu that pulls inspiration from the chef’s personal and professional backgrounds. Seasonal with a good use of seasonal ingredients, dishes to date have featured scallop aguachile, beef taratares, sweetbreads, raddichio salads, and beets with stracciatella. Given the spot's connections, you can bet the wine selection’s off the chain here.
Kari de Krapow
Following on the success of the Southeast Asian street food spot Krapow, Kari’s a new takeout curry house project that once again specializes in gluten-free menus. This time, they’re focusing on bowls of comfort food sourced from all curry-producing countries of the world. Things get changed up often here, but the latest menu we’ve seen went from Thai green curry with shrimp to Indonesian chicken stem, Jakarta-style milky beef stew, and Vegan Malaysian vegetable stew. They’ve also built in a grocery component to pick up products you can’t find elsewhere.
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