Letter from the Editor: Our favourite stories from 2025

The best things to do this weekend (Jan 1 to 4, 2026)

Where to party and dine during New Year's Eve

Two Horses is Plaza St-Hubert's punk rock neighbourhood salon

What to watch during the holidays according to Cinema Moderne

How cold-climate wine is made at David McMillan's Hayfield Farm vineyard

Firing ceramics by hand in the Laurentians with the pottery collective Goregama

Baie Saint-Paul might be your best bet for a weekend escape in Quebec

Bulletin

Air Canada launches Montreal-Santiago flights and a direct line home for Chilean Montrealers

A design project reframes Montreal's street collectors and binners as essential workers

Canada's first high-speed train will link Montreal and Ottawa

Remembering Debbie Zakaib, who changed Quebec fashion and transformed its food scene

Ivy Studio is shaping Montreal's visual identity from the inside out

A new city gateway and memorial with the Montreal Irish Monument Park

Inside the New Chabanel workshop of Montreal designer Finkel'

What defined Montreal's dining scene in 2025, and what's coming in 2026

Montreal's most exciting openings and heartbreaking closures of 2025

Where Montreal's food writers and photographers loved to drink in 2025 (and what they ordered)

Montreal's best restaurants of 2025 according to local writers, photographers, and influencers

LATEST STORIES

Opinion

Letter from the Editor: Our favourite stories from 2025

One story for every month of 2025: A year of covering Montreal's culture, history, and the people shaping its future.

By J.P. Karwacki·JAN 1

Newsletter

Where Montreal's food writers and photographers loved to drink in 2025 (and what they ordered)

DEC 26

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The Montreal City Directory

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Featured Guides

The best restaurants in Montreal right now

The best restaurants in Montreal right now

From boundary-pushing fine dining to heartfelt, locally rooted dishes steeped in history and culture, these are the best restaurants in Montreal.

Yes, there's that many: The 50 best cafés in Montreal

Yes, there's that many: The 50 best cafés in Montreal

Montreal’s coffee scene, fifty ways: bold, evolving, and never just about the caffeine.

The most romantic restaurants in Montreal that make for date night centrepieces

The most romantic restaurants in Montreal that make for date night centrepieces

Experiential, exciting, secluded, intimate, even theatric—this where where you want to nab those reservations.

Montreal's best bookstores: Dig through a city of print

Montreal's best bookstores: Dig through a city of print

From cozy second-hand shops with rare finds to generalists and specialty stores rich in diverse voices, this is where we go to find our next great read.

Vintage stores, thrift shops, and second-hand gems in Montreal

Vintage stores, thrift shops, and second-hand gems in Montreal

Garage racks, curated closets, and everything in between: Here’s where Montreal’s most stylish castoffs get a second life (and where you’ll want to give them one).

The most unique boutiques in Montreal

Forget the malls and embrace the city’s independent spirit: Shop local, shop curious, and let these spots surprise you.

Where to find the best listening bars and vinyl cafés in Montreal

Where to find the best listening bars and vinyl cafés in Montreal

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If you want to understand Montreal's dance scene, start with Ferias

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Arts & Culture

Exploring Montreal's vibrant arts scene

Arts & Culture Holidays 2025

The best things to do this weekend (Jan 1 to 4, 2026)

Here are the best things to do in Montreal this weekend, from live comedy to techno nights, blues shows, and dance floors made for shaking off the holidays.

Where to party and dine during New Year's Eve

It's New Year's Eve in Montreal: A massive guide to the top NYE dinners and parties from dozens of restaurants and clubs.

Arts & Culture Holidays 2025

Two Horses is Plaza St-Hubert's punk rock neighbourhood salon

For hairstylist Izzy Mulder, building a salon can be political—especially when it's rooted in real inclusivity and ethics.

What to watch during the holidays according to Cinema Moderne

Curated by the team behind a tiny-but-mighty Mile End cinema's programming that goes far beyond the usual suspects.

What will happen to 128 years of Chinatown history when Wing Noodles closes?

What will happen to 128 years of Chinatown history when Wing Noodles closes?

As Montreal's oldest fortune cookie factory shuts down after 128 years, a secret salvaged archive holds the blueprint for what could keep its memory alive.

Cinéma du Musée has become Montreal's classroom for film

Teejay Bhalla links film history, museum exhibitions, and current events to create a distinctive screening program on the Montreal scene.

Things to do in Montreal this December

The best things to do in Montreal during December fill the calendar with ballet, punk rock, immersive art, and more than enough holiday spirit.

M for Montreal is where the whole world heard it first

M for Montreal is where the whole world heard it first

The festival has been turning Montreal's restless creative energy into international careers for 20 years, and it's nowhere near slowing down.

Food & Drink

Deep in the juice with Zamalek: Blending Egyptian karkadé tea with Mile End culture

How the Mile End scene of the twenty-tens and Egyptian heritage brewed a drink Montreal today couldn't do without.

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Food & Drink

A (mostly) spoken history of Clarke Café, Montreal’s home of the sangwich

Italo family history, a Mile End legend, and building a modern institution in the Pointe, as told by Frank Servedio

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Beyond Montreal

Discover what lies beyond the city

How cold-climate wine is made at David McMillan's Hayfield Farm vineyard

Following the Joe Beef co-founder through two days of cold-climate viticulture harvests where hospitality takes the form of al fresco meals, crushed grapes underfoot, and relentless labour.

The mystery of white sauce poutine

A deep dive into the belly of the Outaouais.

Firing ceramics by hand in the Laurentians with the pottery collective Goregama

Ancient technique, unpredictability, and slow, communal craft: Goregama has gathered twice a year since 2019 to feed wood into an anagama kiln for 40 hours straight.

Baie Saint-Paul might be your best bet for a weekend escape in Quebec

From farm fields to natural wine, Baie-Saint-Paul makes the case for a quick pause away from it all.

In search of happiness in Saint-Eustache

In search of happiness in Saint-Eustache

From flea markets to pickleball courts, a reporter retraces his roots to find out why Saint-Eustache is suddenly among Quebec’s happiest cities.

Old Habits fish sauce from Vancouver Island is true Canadian umami

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Nathan Gawalko left high-end restaurants across the world to bottle ancient traditions of fish, salt, and time on British Columbia's coast.

Maine's Cutty Sark Motel is just what the doctor ordered

A coastal escape where every room has ocean views.

Meet the new custodians of Aux 2 Clochers, an Eastern Townships institution of 35 years

Meet the new custodians of Aux 2 Clochers, an Eastern Townships institution of 35 years

When Montreal veterans end up with the keys to a local legend of the region they call home.

Food & Drink

Our patron saints of diners: Montreal’s next generation of casse-croûte owners

Greenspot. AA. Chez Ma Tante. Chez Nick. Beautys. Café Joe. Wilensky's. Nouveau Système. Paul Patates. Bagel Etc. Saying their names is like casting a spell that’d conjure two steamés all-dressed combo with fries and a fountain liqueur on the side.

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Design

Architecture, interiors, and visual culture

Ivy Studio is shaping Montreal's visual identity from the inside out

Always in collaboration with local craftspeople, this nimble design firm creates immersive commercial spaces designed for that ineffable 'wow' factor.

The design behind the REM's 14 new stations, and changing how Montreal moves

The expansion adds 14 stations and 33 kilometres to Montreal's light-rail network, connecting the North Shore to the South Shore through downtown for the first time.

A new city gateway and memorial with the Montreal Irish Monument Park

An incoming commemorative park design makes the Black Rock accessible for the first time with public space honouring 6,000 Irish famine victims and the Montrealers who tried to save them.

Inside the New Chabanel workshop of Montreal designer Finkel'

Daniel Finkelstein's anti-ego approach to design is what makes his work in restaurants, retail, and beyond authentic to their purpose.

Will Crosson's critical approach to Canadiana through fashion

Will Crosson's critical approach to Canadiana through fashion

The Montreal designer creating thoughtful garments that critically engage with Canadian landscapes, histories, and identity.

The fairyland fashion brand sewn entirely in its founder's bedroom

Avenir Vert's Olivia Donahue turned thrift store finds and teenage entrepreneurship into British Vogue features—all while refusing to compromise on a sustainable vision.

A fictional designer of very real experiences

André Brown doesn't exist per se, but the branding created under that name shows how hospitality can think differently about storytelling, atmosphere, and emotional design.

The hidden world bustling beneath Montreal’s Olympic Pyramids

The hidden world bustling beneath Montreal’s Olympic Pyramids

Echoes of elegance: Inside a faded “Grand Hotel” that's lost its splendour over time.

Food & Drink

The best of Montreal's culinary scene

What defined Montreal's dining scene in 2025, and what's coming in 2026

From 2025's defining themes to predictions for 2026, here's what Montreal's food insiders are saying about the city's evolving dining culture (and its next Michelin hopefuls).

Montreal's most exciting openings and heartbreaking closures of 2025

The restaurant and bar arrivals that thrilled Montreal writers, photographers, and influencers—and the beloved spots whose closures left lasting gaps.

Where Montreal's food writers and photographers loved to drink in 2025 (and what they ordered)

From cocktails 45 floors above the city streets to neighbourhood wine bars and timeless martinis, here's where the city's insiders raised a glass in 2025.