9 Tail Fox  
This packed Korean tapas spot is like a glass of its orange wine: different, a little unstructured, but ultimately delicious. Chefs move around the open kitchen like the Blue Man Group, crisping tempura oyster mushrooms, and banging pans of kimchi-bacon fried rice and wok hei-tinged duck hearts with garlic scapes. Legend has it the kumiho, or nine-tailed fox, represented here in pink neon above the corner lot door, was sent to seduce. The story checks out. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2023.

Anemone  
It’s a Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. and there are two couples making out at the bar. The music is pulsing indie pop by Bon Enfant; an open garage door leads to twinkly string lights on the backyard patio. Order a bottle of natural Vin Nouveau l’Orange, a few temaki rolls filled with delicious things like beef topped with crispy little frites, and warm roasted bone marrow stuffed with a cool salad of Matane shrimp and spring onion. This place is a whole vibe. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2023.

Bonheur d’occasion  
Bonheur d’occasion (The Tin Flute) was a novel of urban social consciousness set during WWII in Saint-Henri. From the vantage point of this whitewashed bistro, the neighbourhood’s grit is mostly gone — it has the happy feel of talented friends pursuing a dream. Snow crab sandwiches on homemade buns have a gentle whiff of Maritime Quebec, a platter of juicy roast duck and crushed olives arrives with fragrant shiso leaves in lieu of Peking pancakes. Wafer-thin puff pastry, maple sugar and gobs of sweet clover cream are a modern masterpiece. Listed in the Top 10 of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2023.

Cabaret L’Enfer  
Sprinkled with fresh pink rose petals, the fish course is a mindbender, the aroma more Dior than wild striped bass. With its sauce of locally grown saffron and stinging nettles, what it shares with the other six courses is chef Massimo Piedimonte’s urban take on terroir. Charlevoix lamb is cured and fire-roasted; lobster-stuffed cappellacci tastes like the essence de homard. Asparagus is prepared five ways in one tiny bowl, and there are two playful desserts (parsley sorbet, skull meringue), every bite a Montreal moment. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2023.

Casavant  
Flagrant pink sky cutting through the open window jives perfectly with the burnt peach moscatel tinaja in our glasses and the orange corduroy banquette at this popular brasserie near Jean-Talon Market. P-Funk grooves from the speakers before Gilberto Gil takes over with a samba. We linger over a riff on vitello tonnato. Prosciutto cotto sidles in for veal, the tonnato sauce kept nimble by clusters of pickled mustard seeds, while slinky asparagus, lithe shavings of fennel and a shake of piment d’espelette add style. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2024.

Champs  
This long-time Boulevard Saint-Laurent watering hole got a major facelift when it was bought by a group of friends who wanted to make a new generation of sports fans feel welcome. Renovations were done with care – you will still find pool tables, beer and graffiti, but also a respectable wine list and tons of LGBTQ+ friendly events. Expect MMA fights and NHL games on the overhead screens, but also regular nights like Drag Race watch parties, queer line dancing, film screenings and clothing swaps.

Dalla Rose  
Nora Gray alums chef Mike Dalla Libera and former general manager Nick Rosati spin handmade artisanal ice cream daily using milk sourced from northern Quebec at this Saint-Henri hot spot. The crèmerie has a rotating selection of seasonal flavours (including two vegan options), like sponge toffee, Quebec lavender and vegan haskap.

Emmanuelle Lounge  
On the 5th floor of the glass-encased 2-22 building, Emmanuelle is a lounge and not a bar, nor a typical restaurant, and even less a club. The chic interior features leather sofas and low tables, while the menu highlights refined small dishes like oysters with caviar and sour cream, a foie gras and strawberry tart, green pea agnolotti and wagyu tartare. The concept was imagined by industry veteran Donald Lauture, with design by Atelier Zebulon Perron and a menu signed by Chef Nicholas Bramos.

Gia Vin & Grill  
The team behind Nora Gray and Elena once again demonstrates its unerring sense of what hip Montreal wants to eat, here with an irresistible menu centred on arrosticini (grilled skewered meat of the Abruzzo region of Italy). Yet, in this converted cinder-block building in the historic RCA complex, the antipasti (crunchy fish croquettes on a dill-scented yogurt aioli or fresh radishes nestled in a bed of both emulsified and toasted hazelnuts, drizzled with honey), pastas (garlic, mint and chili-spiked spinach bucatini) and natural wines are equally essential to the chill, happy buzz. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2022.

Heni  
A heady breath of cinnamon hangs in the air and on the tabletop, a hypnotizing motif swirls with umber and brown sands. The dishware is Tunisian. The water, poured from a curvaceous glass ibrik made in the mountains of Lebanon. Yet, the toum is milder than most, thanks to the wild garlic. Kibbeh nayyeh, a bulgur-enhanced tartare, is rosy with beef from PEI. There’s lobster instead of shrimp in the tamarind-tomato ghaliyeh maygoo stew and birch syrup anointing the baklava. With each plate, we cross between Southwest Asia and North Africa – by way of Little Burgundy. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2024.

Île-de-France  
In the span it takes to whoosh up the elevator to Île-de-France on the ninth floor of the Eaton Centre, we’re time-machine warped to 1931 and Montreal’s art deco heyday. Scalloped alcove walls, an oval bar, oak-and-walnut herringbone floors and potted palms set the stage for a menu as throwback as we had hoped – poached shrimp dangling off a coupe of Marie Rose sauce, hanger steak with piquant Café de Paris butter and baked oyster persillade. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2024.

J’ai Feng  
If you manage to wrangle one of just four stools at this Little Italy grocery store, prepare yourself for super-slippery and explosive noodle bowls, which are bound to splatter as you hurry them into your mouth. Menus change at the whim of chef Anita Yue Ming Feng: We got chunks of tender braised beef, daikon and Chinese five spice in one dish, and silky shards of tofu, green peas, pickled mustard greens and Sichuan peppercorns in another. Throw in some cooling salads from the grocery side of the shop and a just-sweet-enough Japanese dessert from Pâtisserie Maru and, though it’s only lunchtime, you won’t be “Feng” (a.k.a. “faim,” French for hungry) for the rest of the day. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2022.

Juliette Plaza  
The little sister to Charles-Antoine Crête and Cheryl Johnson’s nine-year-old Montréal Plaza lives up to its playful lineage. Toy dinosaurs oversee the oyster service, presented on a Triassic-sized scallop shell platter. Laced with basil, the strawberry spritz conjures a summertime lick of a Jolly Rancher. Splatter-painted mustard serves as the backdrop to bacon-wrapped cocktail sausages. Poppadoms fall aside to reveal a Smurfian terrain of crisped lamb flank carpeted in mint, parsley and black olives, with dots of lemon-confit labneh here and there. Dessert comes, and it’s two Goglu cookies sandwiched around maple ice cream. We grin like kids. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2024.

Larrys  
Start your morning with a cappuccino made with Portland’s Heart Roaster beans, then head back in the evening, friends in tow. Wash down small plates, like the beef tartare or the Albacore ceviche, with a selection from the natural-centric wine list, a pint of Pippin cider or a glass of Ontarian riesling beer.

Mastard  
The French name of the restaurant translates to “big, husky person,” and the two adjectives describe chef Simon Mathys’ outsize presence in the Quebec culinary landscape as well as his love for it. His passion for local ingredients is palpable in dishes like the thick, ruby-red slice of tomato from La Ferme des Quatre-Temps, adorned in herbs and flowers and resting in a pool of camelina oil. A pour of hot, fragrant smoked-beef fat turns it into a salad with a sheen of cow – both fresh and elemental. Even the way Mathys acknowledges his entire staff on the menu is at one with this soulful and honest place. Listed in the Top 10 of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2022.

Le Molière par Mousso  
An A-Team of Quebec chefs – Antonin Mousseau-Rivard and Daniel Vézina – rolled up to the Quartier des Spectacles and created a Parisian-style brasserie for the ages. Édith Piaf plays on repeat as grandes dames enjoy glasses of rosé with their Doré meunière, couples slurp back Veuve and oysters at the bar, and proud grandparents treat their granddaughter to spit-roasted chicken. A giant craquelin-topped profiterole, stuffed with thick cream and vanilla ice cream, is drenched in warm chocolate sauce. Instant classique. Listed in the Top 10 of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2023.

Les Mômes  
Your bottle is immediately placed in colourful tabletop silicone chillers at this vintage-inspired BYOB spot, run by a couple with an eco-friendly ethos. Enticing combinations of local ingredients show up in beef tartare spun with the gentle tang of sea urchin, and tuna seared and served in a bright sauce vierge. Homey pan-seared gnocchi is the house specialty, tossed with braised lamb and pops of cherry tomatoes tonight. In this lively Villeray atmosphere, staff act like nice neighbours as they drop off a sweet religieuse for dessert. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2023.

Nita  
Every sandwich is made from scratch at this unpretentious Mile End spot (named after chef and cofounder Jessiah MacDonald’s grandmother), down to the fresh-baked bread, cold cuts and condiments. There’s also a custom blended filter coffee, seasonal sodas and a wall of private import wines, to-go or by-the-glass. Order a “Sandwich du Moment” or permanent classics like veggie paté, gravlax and the ridiculously addictive breakfast sandwich, with or without sausage patty.

Pichai  
With a shoutout to Bangkok’s storefront aluminum roller shutters and curry shop tiles, this new spot from the team behind Épicerie Pumpui exudes a retro magic pumped up by the dance and alt-music soundtrack. A sweet, sour and herbaceous laab ped made with minced duck meat and duck hearts satisfies our craving for the electric flavours of Bangkok, while a dish of tender grilled veal tongue with a gentle nam jim tao jiao (fermented soy and garlic-tamarind dipping sauce) takes us to a mellow beachside resort. Cheerful service and the fine bubbles of a Chemin des Sept Turbo Brut cider add to the night’s sparkle. Longlisted as part of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2022.

Parapluie  
Order the bread, our waiter insists more than suggests. Not only because it’s from nearby Boulangerie Louise, but because not a drop of sauce should be left unrelished. Not the cloudlike tarragon emulsion that cloaks an eight-minute-20-second egg, still translucent at its centre, nor the horseradish dill cream that pools around barely-torched trout, made deeply savoury by everything bagel spice and trout roe. That said, the chunky frites – cut in the platonic ideal of a proper chip, all fluff inside crunch – would handily get the job done, too. Listed in the Top 10 of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2024.

Sabayon  
Quebec’s lauded pastry chef, Patrice Demers, plucks sorrel straight from the garden for his amuse-bouche — an invigorating sip of the leafy herb blitzed with cucumber and gooseberry. The cobalt blue cutlery rests, sommelier Marie-Josée Beaudoin explains, were handmade by the couple. Intention thrives behind every detail at this brilliant 14-seater offering tea and dinner services. How the blue carries through to bendy light fixtures, or how the praline sparkles and pops with every bite of 90-percent-fruit strawberry sorbet, vanilla cream and pistachio cake dessert. Listed in the Top 10 of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2024.

St-Viateur Bagel  
This shop has been hand-rolling bagels and baking them in a wood-burning oven since 1957. Locals, tourists and celebrities alike (it’s got Celine Dion’s and William Shatner’s seal of approval) pop into the 24-hour bakery for a dozen to go or an on-the-spot carb fix after a night on the town.

Wills Beer  
This urban brewery in Montreal’s burgeoning Mile-Ex neighbourhood comes care of cousins Alex and Ethan Wills (cofounder of lauded restaurant Larry’s), who both live steps away. Grab some cans at the bottle shop – perfect for a picnic in a nearby park – or take a seat at Wills Bar next door to get a taste of the laid-back life. Fun fact: The retro-chic logo was inspired by Alex’s uncle, Ernst Barenscher, the man behind iconic Canadian designs like Ontario’s trillium symbol.