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Monday to Wednesday, 6pm-10.30pm, Thursday to Saturday, and 5.30pm-9.30pm. Lunch at Au Petit Extra is the perfect antidote to a bleak afternoon. Dinner is like a big party. Packed to the rafters with jovial regulars, this neighbourhood bistro is remarkably warm and friendly. The wine list offers a good selection of affordable bottles with daily specials listed on blackboards around the room. Though the location is a little off the beaten track, this is the ideal place for out-of-towners to experience a taste of French Montreal.
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Au Pied de Cochon is a restaurant with few pretensions. Artistic-plate-presentation seekers, heart-smart eaters, and vegetarians be damned. This is a place for pork, duck, venison, and thick slabs of seared foie gras, as well as Quebecois specialities such as poutine, oreilles de crisse, and ragout de pattes de cochon. Like its owner Martin Picard (and the crowd consisting of the Plateau-Mont-Royal’s hippest thirty-and-fortysomethings), this exciting bistro has character to spare. Beware: noise levels can be excruciating on crowded nights. Also, this is a non- smoking restaurant.
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Read through the menu at Café Ferreira and you’ll wonder where else Portuguese cuisine is given such star treatment. Chef Marino Tavares has adapted many simple and traditional Portuguese dishes to today’s tastes, interpreting the classics with a contemporary edge. Add to this a cosmopolitan crowd, an enthusiastic and knowledgeable wait staff, and a comprehensive selection of Portuguese wines and rare ports, and you have one of the city’s most exciting and popular restaurants.
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Express has been a Montreal landmark since 1979 and is still the place to be. The long, crowded room is crackling with Left Bank excitement. It’s all here: the zinc bar, the black-and-white chequered floor, the well-worn walls, and the small, wooden, paper-covered tables with jars of cornichons on every one. The food is consistent and the wine list offers some of the best deals in town. As this is the most popular bistro in town, don’t even think about showing up without a reservation.
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Le Taj’s lunchtime buffet is popular with students, university professors, and adventurous business people addicted to the comforting spiciness of Indian food. At dinner, the place comes to life as one of the city’s most exotic dining destinations. The assorted classic curries and tandoor-baked flat breads and meats awaken the senses, every bite offering something new. Prices, thankfully, are less jarring than a mouthful of curried carrots. The traditional Indian decor is matched by friendly and solicitous service. This is Montreal’s best Indian restaurant. Montreal’s nightlife begins early and ends late. From the first round of the cinq à sept, drinks after work with your business colleagues, until the last beat bounces out of a speaker at an after hours night club the following morning, this city offers a full range of entertaining outings once the sun sets. At night in Montreal, everyone’s got their look but no one really looks dressed up. However it’s better to err on the side of chic when getting ready for a night on the town: look sharp rather than slovenly, something black is often a safe bet.
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