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From four-hand collaborations to tasting menus you won't find again.
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Montréal en Lumière is a cold-weather spectacle of skating loops, outdoor DJs, and citywide celebrations during Nuit Blanche, but over time, it’s grown into one of the largest gatherings of culinary talent in the country: For two weeks every year, it turns Montreal into a stage for exclusive dining and once-in-a-lifetime moments with globally awarded chefs and sommeliers.
The 2026 edition runs February 27 to March 7, with gastronomic programming via Programmation gourmande Banque Nationale and Air France Finest Tables starting a week earlier on February 20. This year's theme, "A Taste of History: 65 Years of Montreal's Gastronomy," ties into the McCord Stewart Museum's current exhibition tracing the city's restaurant evolution from the 1960s to now. Expect menus that nod to the past with lost classics and foundational dishes that shaped how Montreal eats while still pushing the craft of food and drink forward.
What makes the festival worth planning around isn't just the visiting chefs (though there are plenty, from Michelin-starred kitchens in Paris and London to boundary-pushers in Chicago and Tokyo). Really, it's the format: collaborations, four-hand dinners, wine maker-led evenings, and tasting menus featuring everything from international Michelin-starred chefs and local luminaries built specifically for this window of time. Once the festival wraps, they're gone.
This guide breaks down the 2026 restaurant lineup—20 spots, 21 events—with the details you need to build your own itinerary: what's cooking, who's visiting, and how much it'll cost. Use the map to sort by neighbourhood, date, or vibe, and start booking.
Archway's five-course menu served from February 27 to March 7 puts vegetables and plants at the centre of the plates that are refined, globally inspired, and entirely vegan. For the festival, chef Benoît Leclère is leaning into Quebec wines and a menu that rethinks culinary tradition through a plant-forward lens. It's one of the few entirely vegan options in the lineup, and at $59 for five courses (with an optional $30 wine pairing), one of the most accessible.
Details:
5-course menu, $59 | Wine pairing, $30
February 27 to March 7, daily at 4 p.m.
For two nights only (February 26–27), Au Petit Extra welcomes Cristina and Pierre Chomet of Paris's Ambos and Au Tina 38 for a menu that spans their travels—South America, Italy, Spain, France, the UK, Thailand—filtered through the Centre-Sud bistro's 40 years of French foundations. It's the Chomets' first time cooking in Montreal, and a rare chance to experience their globe-trotting approach without leaving the city.
Details:
4-course menu, $90 | Wine pairing, $75
February 26 and 27, 5 p.m.
Au Pied de Cochon makes its first-ever Montréal en Lumière appearance with a collaboration that bridges two worlds: chef Michael L. Picard teams up with Zac Gannat and Bar Nouveau for two nights of indulgence on March 4 and 5. Expect the unapologetic richness the Plateau institution is known for, recalibrated through fresh eyes. At $130 for five courses (plus $75 for drink pairings) it's a splurge, but for a kitchen that helped define modern Quebec cooking, the occasion fits.
Details:
5-course menu, $130 | Beverage pairing, $75
March 4 and 5
Inside the ITHQ, Blanc Bec's aperitif format meets Japanese influence: Quebec cheeses paired with sake, guided by chef Karine Beauchamp. At $35, it's a light, affordable entry point to the festival, ideal for an early-evening bite before heading elsewhere.
For those looking to go deeper, there's also when sake master Benoit Champagne leads a masterclass exploring the craft and culture of sake across three sessions. More education than dinner, but a rare opportunity for anyone serious about expanding their drinks knowledge.
Details:
Aperitif pairing, $35 / February 20, 21, 24, 25
Masterclass, $95 / February 25, 26, 27
Two chefs who first met in Daniel Boulud's New York kitchen reunite at Bar George inside the Mount Stephen Hotel. Kevin Ramasawmy, who runs the kitchen here, welcomes Hugo Souchet from the three-Michelin-star institution of southwest France Les Prés d'Eugénie, where Souchet holds one star of his own. The menu blends French classicism with modern instincts, served in one of the city's most lavish hotel dining rooms.
Details:
February 26 and 27
5:30 p.m.
Juan Lopez Luna's fonda fina meets London's taco authority: Nick Fitzgerald of Tacos Padre joins the Bar Luz kitchen for a two-night taco omakase on March 4 and 5. Seven courses built around heirloom Mexican corn, nixtamalized and pressed daily, some on Lopez Luna's grandmother's tortilla press. Both chefs share a fixation on authenticity, sourcing, and the craft behind a great tortilla. This is that obsession, served course by course.
Details: 7-course taco omakase, $109 | Wine pairing, $79
March 4 and 5
Seatings at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Pastry chef Christian Campos welcomes Carmen Rueda Hernández—named Best Pastry Chef in the MENA region by 50 Best in 2025—for a seven-course dessert-driven experience across three nights. Expect precision, creativity, and a menu where sweetness is treated with the same rigour as any savoury tasting menu. Non-alcoholic cocktail pairings complete the picture. At $245, it's an investment, but for dessert obsessives, this is the ticket.
Details:
7-course menu, $245
February 27 to March 1, 7 p.m.
Chef Fuad Alnirabie's Syrian kitchen meets the Jura: winemaker François Rousset-Martin brings bottles from his steep, small-parcel vineyards in eastern France for two nights of pairing at Damas. The wines—textured, savoury, lightly spiced—are a natural match for the warmth and depth of Alnirabie's cooking. A collision of traditions that shouldn't work on paper but makes complete sense on the palate.
Details:
Tasting menu with wine pairing, $250
March 1 and 2, 5:30 p.m.
Ferreira celebrates 30 years with a single evening honouring its Portuguese roots. Chef Natalia Machado and returning chef João Dias welcome the Soares family from Malhadinha Nova, a Relais & Châteaux estate in the Alentejo with a Michelin green star for sustainability. The night begins with a cocktail reception and presentation, then moves into a four-course dinner paired with wines from the family's vineyards. One night only on February 26.
Details:
Cocktail reception + 4-course menu with wine pairing, $240
February 26 6 p.m. (cocktail), 7 p.m. (dinner)
Le Vantre comes to Little Burgundy: Québécois sommelier turned Paris wine bar owner Marco Pelletier (with stints at Le Bristol and Taillevent) brings chef Satria Vue to Foxy for one night only on February 27. The menu promises refined, indulgent cooking in the spirit of Le Vantre, plus bottles pulled directly from Pelletier's Parisian cellar. A homecoming of sorts, filtered through years in France.
Details:
February 27
For two nights, Gia transforms into a Rifugio Alpino. Montreal-raised author, collaborator on cookbooks with Joe Beef and Fäviken, and founder of the alpine aperitivo Dola Dira Meredith Erickson joins chef Janice Tiefenbach alongside Luca Caviola from Italy's Orso Grigio. The menu leans into the mountains: alpine flavours, post-Olympics energy, and a celebration of altitude in the middle of Saint-Henri.
Details:
$125
March 3 and 4, 5 p.m.
Call 438-397-9000 to reserve
Chef Jean-Sébastien Giguère kicks off the festival's gastronomic programming with a menu that traces Montreal's culinary evolution: 1960s French technique through immigrant influence, international inspiration, and the boreal identity shaping Quebec cuisine today. Joining him is Fabien Pairon, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France charcutier now running a Michelin-recognized auberge in Lausanne. Five courses, two chefs, 65 years of history on the plate.
Details:
5-course menu for two, $150
February 20 and 21, 6 p.m.
Heni's collaboration goes beyond dinner. Chef Julien Robillard welcomes Ryan Fakih of Chicago's Michelin-recognized Beity and Lebanese winemaker Rami El-Sabban for three nights exploring the ties between Quebec and the Arab diaspora. The six-course menu comes with storytelling baked in, plus daytime programming—workshops, talks, screenings—that expand the conversation beyond the plate.
Details:
6-course menu, $95 | Wine pairing, $65 | Premium wine pairing, $85
March 4 to 6
Chef Paul Toussaint teams up with Victor Blanchet of Paris's Halo for a two-night exploration of French technique through a Caribbean lens. The five-course menu traces the routes between France and the islands, grounded in Kamúy's signature energy of colour, rhythm, and music for the kind of evening that stretches well past dessert.
Details:
5-course menu, $100 | Wine and cocktail pairing, $75
February 27 and 28
Seatings at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Chef Wassim Maaloui welcomes Camille Delcroix—who earned a Michelin star at Le Bacôve after winning Top Chef France—alongside winemaker Noémie Meyer-Ferré from her biodynamic Alsatian estate and Philippe Faure-Brac, Best Sommelier in the World and Meilleur Ouvrier de France. Two nights of refined French cooking paired with wines presented by one of the most decorated sommeliers alive.
Then the focus shifts to the sea for three nights in March. Sonia Bichet, named Meilleure Ouvrière de France – Poissonnière-écaillère in 2023, joins chef Wassim Maaloui for a seafood-driven tasting menu that highlights product and craft. Sommelier Jordane Knab handles the pairings, drawing from his selections at Le Boulevardier, Flâneur Bar Lounge, and Bar Les Cousins.
Details:
Tasting menu w/ Camille Delcroix, $175 | Wine pairing, $130 / February 19 to 21
Tasting menu w/ Sonia Bichet, $169 | Wine pairing, $95 / March 5 to 7
Antonin Mousseau-Rivard and co-chef William Sirois welcome old friends Atsushi Tanaka and Clovis Ochin for two nights billed as high on colour, flavour, and sound. Tanaka brings poetic precision from his Paris kitchen; Ochin brings natural wine and artistic energy. The promise: underground gastronomy, left-leaning wine philosophy, and a love for '90s rap. Ten courses, served in Le Mousso's signature communal format.
Details:
10-course menu, $250
March 6 and 7, 6:30 p.m.
Chef Maria-José de Frias pairs her pan-African kitchen with Quebec's Oak Hill vineyard for two nights that bridge continents. The Cantons-de-l'Est domaine, known for biodynamic practices and hybrid cold-climate grapes, provides the wines; Le Virunga provides the warmth, spice, and slow-cooked depth. Five courses that celebrate Montreal's cultural layering—and a reminder that great pairings don't always follow expected routes.
Details:
5-course menu, $120 | Wine pairing, $75
March 6 and 7, 6:30 p.m.
Two zero-waste kitchens, one table: Noé Lainesse welcomes Albert Franch Sunyer from Helsinki's Nolla—the first zero-waste restaurant in the Nordics—for two nights in the Village. Both chefs share a commitment to sustainability, local sourcing, and cooking without waste, making this collaboration one of the most philosophically aligned on the lineup. Five courses, BYOB (as always at Othym), and a menu shaped by what the season and the producers provide.
Details:
5-course menu, $100
February 27 and 28, 5:30 p.m.
Chef Robin Filteau Boucher's Bib Gourmand spot makes its Montréal en Lumière debut with Mathew Bishop of Vancouver's Gary's—itself a Bib Gourmand recipient and one of Canada's best new restaurants in 2024. The four-course menu is built to share, co-created for the occasion, and grounded in local, seasonal ingredients with nods to both Quebec and West Coast sensibilities. Canadian wines round out the pairing.
Details:
4-course menu, $90 | Wine pairing, $60
February 27 and 28, 5:30 p.m.
Chef Victor Beaumont welcomes Jean-Sébastien Sicard of Tadoussac's Michelin-recognized Chez Mathilde for three nights celebrating Quebec's terroir from the Côte-Nord to Montreal. The ten-course menu is entirely local—field, forest, and waterway—spotlighting ingredients that often go overlooked. It's an ambitious collaboration between two chefs committed to showcasing what the province grows, raises, and catches, with a Quebec wine pairing to match.
Details:
10-course menu, $160 | Quebec wine pairing, $90
February 26 to 28, 6 p.m.
Reserve by email: adm.terroirs@gmail.com
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