The Bulletin: Bus Shelter Acrobatics, Lunar New Year Raves, and Slavic Crêpes [Issue #169]

This is a guest post from Gianni Fiasche, the voice and mind behind Snob Media, a Montreal-based film, music, and pop culture platform.

A month-long culinary circuit, all in one place

Starting February 22nd, ROYALMOUNT: Les Saveurs creates a month-long culinary circuit—six restaurants, six distinct formats, and a lot of very good reasons to make the trip:

Ramen festival combos, intimate wine pairings with xiao long bao, caviar tastings under skylights, five-course omakase, seasonal menus with tequila and mezcal pairing, and a Winter Tasting Passport for grazing your way through a food hall.

Most experiences are reservation-only and run on specific nights throughout the four-week series—so if something catches your eye, don't wait.

Activities, parties, points of interest, art exhibitions, you name it: These are the weekend events you don't want to miss.

Thursday

🌍 Nuits d'Afrique takes over Place des Arts' Salon Urbain for a free 5 à 7 featuring the three Syli d'Or world music prize winners—Thursday through Saturday, 5 to 7 p.m.

🎪 Machine de Cirque's Kintsugi transforms a surreal bus shelter into a stage for high-altitude acrobatics and poetic storytelling at TOHU.

🎤 Vino Disco's B Side with Pro-V brings R&B, hip-hop, and soul every Thursday from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.—rediscover classics over a glass of wine.

Friday

🌴 Psychotropical Orchestra brings a night of cumbia, electronics, and tropical futurism to Quai des Brumes.

📜 Owning Our Histories heads to Chinatown with presentations from the Black Community Resource Centre and Jeunesse Quartier Chinois on documenting Black Montreal and Chinatown.

💃 Taverna's Soirée Danse Tôt features free entry, a legendary house DJ, happy hour 'til 9, and a dance floor that wraps up at a civilized 11 p.m.

🎶 DJ and MC Shem takes over the decks at L'Idéal, go get your groove on.

Saturday

🐎 Sticky Rice Magazine's Fire Horse party rings in the Year of the Horse at Parquette with a lion dance, kung fu, live sets, and a full roster of East and Southeast Asian diasporic artists—workshops from 7 p.m., rave 'til 3.

🤖 Club SAT teams up with MUTEK for a special avant-garde techno night—Franco-Irish sound designer Zoë Mc Pherson headlines, with Montreal underground artists CPR Annie and Amselysen opening.

🐴 Lunar New Year comes to Chinatown with lion dances, a night market, calligraphy workshops, street magic, and a K-pop flash mob—free festivities along de la Gauchetière all weekend.

🎬 Kid Koala screens his new animated film Space Cadet at Cinéma Beaubien this weekend—with the director, producer, and creative team on hand for Q&As Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m.

🎸 Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin brings a full-band tribute to Sly and the Family Stone to Le Ministère—Alan Prater, Danny Blanco, Coco Thompson, and Wayne Tennant under the musical direction of Ben Comeau.

Sunday 

🎧 Parquette's Flop brings a Sunday slow-down with Simisea, Asha, Jimmy Trieu Phong Chung, and Jacobi—lie back, listen, and let it wash over you, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.

💃 Les Ballets Africains return to Place des Arts for the first time since 1967—35 performers blending dance, music, acrobatics, and traditional polyrhythms in a celebration of African culture and storytelling.

📚 Mile End bookshop N'était-ce pas l'été clears out its basement for a weekend book bazaar—new and used titles going for $1 to $5.

✏️ Urban Sketchers Montréal comes to the Grande Bibliothèque for a February outing to sketch architecture and people, then regroup to share drawings.

🍃 Super Boat People hosts bánh chưng-making workshops at Marché Jean-Talon for Tết—two sessions (9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.), limited spots, Sunday the 22nd.

🎨 Sad People Club hosts a Drink & Draw 5 à 7 at Bar Courcelle—bring your own materials or use what's there, grab Tejano food from next door, and stick around for an open mic at 7:30.

WHAT TO EAT & DRINK IN AND AROUND MONTREAL

Scope the latest restaurant openings, recommendations on where to eat, plus new menus, old classics, and everything in between.

Le Comptoir de Mamie just opened—breakfast from 8 a.m., lunch sandwiches at noon, and the same beloved Mamie classics running through to a late apéro.

La vie, la mort, le dessert returns to the SAT dome with an enchanted wild atrium for a five-course immersive dinner, live performances by the Opéra de Montréal, and immersive projections from Feb 18 to 21.

Nevski marks Maslenitsa, the Slavic Crêpe Week with a special pop-up menu of sweet and savoury crêpes, from Feb 19 to Feb 21. Reservations required.

132 Bar Vintage turns 13 on Feb 21—three former bartenders return behind the bar with a special anniversary cocktail.

La Cave du Parapluie welcomes Nora Gray chef Dmetro Sinclair for a Spanish-inspired mariscos night—petits plats, Tinto de Verano and vermouths, walk-ins only from 5 p.m. on Feb 21.

Café Kuya hosts a kamayan on Feb 21 with lechon kawali, chicken adobo, kinilaw, lumpia, and turon, served the traditional way.

Flying Tables and Hof Sucrée ring in Lunar New Year with a collab pop-up on Feb 22—Asian-inspired pastries drawing from Chinese, Malaysian, and Singaporean influences, from 9 a.m. until sold out.

Buboy, Broadway Beer Bread, and Culac team up at Dobe & Andy on Feb 22 for a one-night Hungarian-Viet-Filipino pop-up with karaoke, naturally.

Sun Ramen pops up at Lawrence on Feb 22—duck shio and cement [sic] niboshi ramen, wine and sake, with a possible Chartreuse ice cream appearance.

Bar Bisou Bisou welcomes Chef Alejandro Huerta Ramirez for an Open Kitchen on Feb 22—Mexican bites, micheladas, and sherry by the glass.

Rôtisserie La Lune hosts a one-night collaboration on Feb 23 with New York chefs and Beaujolais vignerons for classic French bistro cooking with optional Domaine Chapel wine pairings.

Good food at a discount, delivered to your door

For a limited time, you can get 30% off your first three boxes of groceries from Lufa Farms when you use the code 3X30LOCAL.

We're talking about same-day harvested greens and veggies from local urban farms, a curated mix of 2,000+ responsibly sourced staples, and doorstep delivery.

🌱 Boost Montreal’s agricultural innovation

🚚 Reduce food miles with ultra-local sourcing

😮‍💨 Explore seasonal flavours without commitment

Here, you'll find a weekly round-up of our stories from the past week, plus the latest local news.

Montreal used to be Canada's late-night dining capital—kitchens open past midnight, 10 p.m. reservations a given. Now most places stop taking orders at 9. What happened, and is it worth mourning? Read more.

Mothland Records started as underground shows—now it represents 30 artists, runs two festivals, and stands as one of Montreal's last real answers to a music scene gutted by rising rents and vanishing venues. Read more.

Filmmaker Xiaodan He spent 25 years finding the confidence to tell her story withMontréal, ma belle, and it's quietly becoming one of the most important immigrant narratives in recent Canadian cinema. Read more.

Figata has landed on Notre-Dame West with red sauce, tableside Florentina steak, and martinis refreshed before you think to ask. Read more.

Montreal-based hinter has spent eight years creating architect-built retreats in Quebec and beyond—here's why founder Mauricio Padilla thinks they're space that can slow down time. Read more.

A Toqué!-era rotisserie spent years in a garage before finding its home at Cécile where Nova Scotian chef Benjamin Gilker applies fine dining technique to Acadian comfort food. Read more.

Before Oscar Peterson was old enough to drink, he was sneaking into Rockhead's Paradise to hear the house band swing. Here's the full story of Montreal's most legendary jazz club: Read more.

New York City tried Montreal's giant snow vacuum 20 years ago and gave up—too much garbage in the machine. A Gothamist deep-dive into why Montreal takes snow removal seriously and NYC, famously, does not. Read more.

Justin Trudeau has quietly settled into post-PM life in Montreal—buying a $4.26 million stone mansion in Outremont and spotted having lunch at Leméac with girlfriend Katy Perry. Read more.

With Legault's exit and the CAQ leadership race running until April, Quebec's immigration pathways and provincial budget are both in limbo—leaving thousands of workers, nonprofits, and food banks waiting on answers. Read more.

Montreal is making a formal bid to host the headquarters of NATO's new defence investment bank—with the mayor, the premier, business leaders, and academics all backing the push. Read more.

Quebec's auditor general found that SAAQclic cost over $500 million more than budgeted, still doesn't work properly two years after launch, and that decision-makers launched it anyway despite knowing it wasn't ready. Read more.

Montreal is opening a downtown AI hub to tackle its construction chaos—researchers will use a digital twin of the city to monitor sites in real time, simulate scenarios, and hopefully make the orange cone less of a civic symbol. Read more.

Montreal's snowbirds are selling their Florida properties, rethinking the annual drive south, and eyeing Mexico and the Caribbean instead—driven by a weakening loonie, spiking insurance costs, and a chillier political climate in the U.S. Read more.

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And that wraps yet another weekly bulletin. We’ll be back with more curiosities, local stories, and events to discover next week.

If ever you catch something we should know, don't hesitate to reach out to us on Instagram.

👋 Masthead: Philip Tabah, Founder & Head of Creative / Daniel Bromberg, Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief / Jean-Philippe Lauzon, Co-Founder & Head of Tech / JP Karwacki, Managing Editor / Amber Spector, Social Media Manager / Samuel Vadnais, Head of Partnerships / Anahi Pellathy, Editorial & Production Coordinator