The Bulletin: Hip Hop Brunch Bingo, a Camera Flea Market, Tulips for Mom, and Carmen at the Opera [Issue #180]

Morning, Montreal.

The skyline and streets are ablaze in the red, white, and blue of Go Habs Go passion, and while we’re only in the early stages of Round 2 of the playoffs, I have to say it feels good to see the city get so riled up. There’s a palpable feeling of excitement come game nights, and even the loneliest of bars will get packed with fans. Here are the place we’d recommend you watch the next match.

Hockey aside, I must apologize to you, dear reader: The week’s edition of the Bulletin reveals we’ve heavily leaned on covering food and drink in the city (with a slight dip into the indie drag scene thanks to contributor Morgan Mullin).

This was not by choice, but pure happenstance. What felt like a coordinated assault on the peace of mind of every journalist on the food awards beat turned out to be a week of announcements from not one but three institutions here in Quebec: Canada’s Best 100 Restaurants, Les Lauriers, and the Michelin Guide all announced their winners, one after another.

Whether or not you agree with the results of these awards, there remains the silver lining that our signature culture of hospitality is something to celebrate and then some.

There’s so much of it to explore that I often lose track, which is why the new Library feature we’ve created on the site ought to come in handy: All those places you’ve been meaning to try keep piling up, so why not keep track of them on one place?

Enjoy the journey this weekend.

…oh, and call your mom to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day.

— JP Karwacki, Managing Editor

Before it was an office building, it was the largest hotel in the British Empire. The Mount Royal Hotel opened in 1922 as the kind of place where deals got made and reputations got built. A century later, the bones are still exceptional, and MTRPL is betting Montreal's business community is ready to notice.

Read the full story

The Editors' Picks

The places our editors keep coming back to. Every one has earned an editorial badge.

One Story to Read This Week

This week, the restaurant chain Lafleur announced that Lucie—the sassy 63-year-old cashier who'd become the chain's unlikely TikTok star—had passed away. The post came with a birth and death year, and a grayscale photo.

It was convincing enough to spark genuine grief, and then genuine outrage, and then calls to boycott the chain because, well, it was a stunt.

The woman behind the uniform is a retired Montrealer named Francine Poirier, who says she has no regrets and plenty of fans to show for it. The agency that dreamed Lucie up says the backlash was a success.

Here’s how that fictional casse-croûte cashier became one of Quebec's most recognized faces online, both here and abroad.

Read the full story

Thursday

🖼️ The urban art walk, Bonjour Chien, d’ici et d’ailleurs comes to Quartier des Spectacles, featuring sculpture, installation, and video projection based on drawings by Chien Champion.

🪭 Four days of Festival Asiasie, celebrating Asian Heritage Month, kick off at Time Out Market, with exhibits, cultural performances, workshops, and more.

Friday

🎧 Alva Noto takes over SAT with an audiovisual performance. Montreal artist Myriam Bleau’s Hypermobility, combining dance music and laser projections, follows.

🎬 Montreal Asian Film Festival commences its 13th edition with an evening of Asian-Canadian short films, in collaboration with Art Souterrain.

🏒 Watch the Habs take the Sabres in Game 2 of the NHL playoffs, Round 2.

Saturday

🎸 Le Balcon hosts brunch and bingo with a Hip Hop and R&B flair.

🎧 Akermus hosts Montreal music label Favourite Library’s *And Friends* series, with performances by Léonie Gray, Koko Love, and Bye Paula, ending the night with DJ Rourke.

💮 The GRANDE Printed Art Fair arrives at Café Parquette with over 50 screen-printing, letterpress, and printmaking artists and organizations as part of the Montreal Festival of Printed Arts (FAIMTL) program.

🖼️ The GRANDE exhibit and official festival party for FAIMTL comes to Casa del Popolo, bringing together the works of 7 artists.

🎧 EAF and SAT present a night of club sounds, with electronic/dance music from Corporation, slow dub-techno bangers by Andy Stott, and bespoke visuals courtesy of William Hayes-Dulude.

🎶 The Freddie James Project comes to Le Balcon for a night of Soul, Motown, Disco, and Pop music.

🎤 Le Nouveau International concludes Montreal Sketchfest 2026—8 days of sketch comedy performances—at Théâtre Ste-Catherine.

🛍️ Bazar Vintage MTL pops up at St-Jean Berchman’s Church, with vintage objects, vinyls, jewelry, thrifts, and more.

📷 Marché Focus, a flea market dedicated to cameras and photography, comes to WILLS.

Sunday

⚡ Ada X transforms its spaces into a gallery for On a Human Scale, bringing together five artists to explore the intersection of memory, technology, ecology, and the body.

🎭 Opéra de Montréal presents Carmen, the legendary opera composed by Georges Bizet.

🖼️ Art Souterrain concludes with treasure hunts, tours, and guided meditations.

🌷 Pick tulips for Mother’s Day at Laval’s U-pick tulip field (dependent on Mother Nature).

Lovebird opens its arms (and jazz club hangs) to the city. | Photograph: Jeremy Dionne

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.

The new Old Montreal cocktail bar and music salon, Lovebird, hosts nightly sets starting at 7:30 pm.

Montreal’s first design week concludes with a 5 à 7 at the Audiotopie Showroom on Thursday, May 7.

Quebec Cider Week returns for its 10th edition, with tastings, workshops, promotions, and more. Across the city, May 7-17

Restaurant Freddi, the new contemporary Japanese bar at Hotel William Gray in Old Montreal, concludes its opening week on Friday, May 8th.

Le 9e concludes its Heritage Menu, celebrating 95 years of Île de France Restaurant, on May 9. Revisiting the spirit of 1931, the menu is $55 for 3 courses, with optional wine pairings available.

Bar George honours Mom with High Tea on May 9 and 10. $60 per person, weekend brunch menu also offered.

Annette bar à vin offers a special 4-course menu for Mother’s Day Brunch. Book tickets for Sunday, May 10, on OpenTable.

Lou’s Pointe Claire hosts Mother’s Day Brunch. Two services, Sunday, May 10. Book here.

Mange dans mon hood throws a third birthday bash, featuring DJs, raffles, gifts, and plenty of smash burgers. Tuesday, May 12.

Charles Dumais and Haute Saison’s Yan collaborate for a festive and gastronomic night on Thursday, May 14. Limited seating, book now.

Pichai welcomes winemaker Fabio Geo on Thursday, May 14, for one night only. $165 for a 6-course menu and pairings.

The forthcoming Mediterranean supperclub Alia MTL opens Race Week reservations for May 21, 22, and 23.

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

Michelin's second Quebec selection is out, and Montreal has two new One Stars to talk about. Read more.

Lesley Chesterman spent 30 years as Montreal's most rigorous restaurant critic. Her read on the Michelin Guide, the city's gastronomic ambition, and why Toqué! still doesn't have a star is worth sitting with. Read more.

Outside the orbit of Drag Race and touring headliners, Montreal's indie drag scene is doing something rawer and weirder — and the performers making it happen think it's only getting started. Read more.

Mother's Day is this Sunday, and the best tables are already filling up. Here are 15 brunch spots worth booking before it's too late. Read more.

The Italian deli in a Kirkland strip mall that people drive in from Laval to visit has been earning that loyalty for twenty years. The story of La Tratt and the family behind it. Read more.

May is when Montreal remembers how to party, and this month has the receipts: Palomosa, Piknic, Fuego Fuego, NDG Porchfest, cider week, and a dozen other reasons to be outside. Read more.

Quebec's culinary industry gathered in Montreal Sunday night for the Lauriers Gala, and the province's best chefs, sommeliers, and producers walked away with hardware. Here's who won. Read more.

Everything you need to know about the Plateau: its history, its restaurants, its bars, its parks, and why it still earns every opinion people have about it. Read more.

A performance artist built a practice around radical hospitality — meals as art, a gallery in her apartment, readings in bars — and then hit the wall that stops most people: it costs too much and asks too much to sustain. Read more.

Montreal placed 28 restaurants on Canada's 100 Best list this year — more than Toronto, more than Vancouver, and it's not particularly close. Read more.

Grand Prix week runs May 19–24, and we mapped 24 (so far) of the best events across every budget and vibe, from free afternoons on Crescent Street to $1,000-a-ticket nights at the Ritz. 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 / Whitney Domingo, Community Manager / Samuel Vadnais, Head of Partnerships / Anahi Pellathy, Editorial & Production Coordinator / AnnaClare Sung, Junior Staff Writer

Morning, Montreal.

Whether or not you agree with the results of these awards, there remains the silver lining that our signature culture of hospitality is something to celebrate and then some.

Enjoy the journey this weekend.

…oh, and call your mom to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day.

— JP Karwacki, Managing Editor

Read the full story

The Editors' Picks

The places our editors keep coming back to. Every one has earned an editorial badge.