2016 - Montreal Summary

Duration: 3 days (left Friday morning, returned on Sunday evening)
Distance Traveled: 1,088 km (544 km each way)
Cost: $875 for the hotel (2 nights, 3 rooms at the Days Inn Montreal), $288 for minivan rental (even though we ended up with a 7 seat SUV), $137 on gas, all divided by 5 people.

Highlights

Notre Dame Basilica, I was surprised that the site actually looked like the pictures that you can find on the internet. The Basilica is a very colourful place and I found that to be quite different from churches that I have visited in the past. Make sure to visit the chapel in the back while you are there.

Notre Dame Basilica - Exterior

Notre Dame Basilica - Interior 

Notre Dame Basilica - Interior

Saint Joseph Oratory, I feel a bit disappointed in this one since we visited Notre Dame first, if we swapped it, it might be a bit different. I felt that this place was just BIG, and it was more modern in decoration by comparison to other churches that I normally visit. I do feel that you should visit it while there though since it is the largest church in Canada.

Saint Joseph's Oratory - Exterior 

Saint Joseph's Oratory - Organ 

Saint Joseph's Oratory - Interior

Lowlights

No complaints about the sites that were visited.

Food suggestions

I think that in general, all the food ranged from good to really good, so I'll just cover the ones that I think are worth a visit in the order that we went to them.

Moishes is a really old steakhouse in Montreal and worth a visit if you are willing to wait until 9pm. At 9pm, they have a 3 hour happy hour that ends at midnight where you get an appetizer, entree, and tea/coffee for only $25. Have a look at their site for the menu, but for $25, the value that you get I feel is very very good. This was our first actual meal here and I thought it was really good at the time and definitely worth a stop if you can. You get free coleslaw, bread, and pickles as well. The servers were good, water was filled, table was cleaned between courses.

Moishes - Salmon tartare 

Moishes - Rib steak and potato

Liverpool House is the sister restaurant of Joe Beef and was opened since they were so popular here. Mike, when making reservations, only had the option of 5:30pm or 9:30pm for a Saturday and I believe this was 2 weeks before, so do plan accordingly. The service was really good here, all table items were switches between courses, water was never empty of long or at all. I found the music to be a bit loud on the bar side, but I assume it is fine on the other side. The food was really good here and even though it is pricier, I thought that it wasn't too crazy for what you get, especially since the portions were fairly big.

Liverpool House - Oysters 

Liverpool House - Croquettes 

Liverpool House - Horse tartare 

Liverpool House - Steak 

Liverpool House - Lobster spaghetti

What would I change?

I don't really have any issue with how things worked out for us. I wish that we had a hotel which had parking included, but I believe that that is rare in downtown Montreal.

Tips

You can park on the streets overnight at the public street parking spots, just make sure to read the hours correctly. We couldn't figure it out ourselves and we always just resorted to paying for underground parking. Note that vandalism and theft of cars is actually pretty high here, so it probably was worth paying for parking.

Final thoughts

Montreal is the food place to visit in all of Canada. There are several articles that talk about this and after this trip, I would agree that it is true. I normally don't travel for food, so it was a different experience and I'm glad that Mike was able to plan out the food stop like he normally does.

Thanks for a great weekend guys, hope you all enjoyed reading about our Montreal experience even if I did exclude certain things!

2016 - Montreal Day 3

Today, we head back to Toronto after having breakfast and dropping off Mario at the airport.

We went to Schwartz for breakfast, Mike said that it wasn't as good as he remembered, but it seems to change each time he goes. We ordered two large plates which include bread and some coleslaw. They do seem to like their vinegar coleslaw here, it was nice, although I think Moshies was better. The smoked meat was good. Make sure to come before 10:30am, it got really busy then.

Schwartz's - large platter

Headed to Fairmount Bagel after for some bagels. Busy spot! There was a line out the door, but it is pretty quick to get in and out since you don't have a lot of options and it is cash only. You are looking at roughly $1 per bagel, but the fresh ones which come out hot were really good. After it has cooled down, not so much. Make sure to read the instructions on the bag that is included for storage, I didn't and they weren't very good after.

After that, we dropped off Mario at the airport since he needed to fly out for work and the rest of us drove back home with nothing else to really report. I have been to Montreal a few times, however, this was the first time that I've actually visited the famous churches here and they are worth a visit. Coming back to Toronto I learned that Montreal is the food capital of Canada for cuisine and I think it really showed during this trip at least compared to the last time that we came.

I had a great time with the guys since it doesn't happen anymore. I only recall it happening for Mario's bachelor party and it was an overnight thing in Niagara Falls. Hopefully for the next one we try to go something a bit longer like this trip was. Do check out some of the food spots that we tried during this trip, I don't think you could go wrong with the stops that we stopped at.

2016 - Montreal Day 2

We woke up a bit later today and headed to La Maison Kam Fung for dim sum. We actually got here at around 11:00am, which is earlier than most of our regular dim sum meet ups at home. It was cool to see that they have push carts here. It did seem more expensive though. The slip actually has a running total based on what size you order which was neat (it is normally a guessing game until you ask for the bill). We paid in cash and was told that it would be tax free/included depending on how you view it. No issues with the restaurant.

Dim sum!

Went to Notre Dame Basilica next. This church cost $5 admission for a very colourful looking church. Make sure to visit the area in the back for something more normal and less sensory overload. Have a look at the pictures to decide if you want to pay to visit or not. Most pictures give you a good idea of what to expect inside based on my visit.

Notre Dame Basilica exterior

Notre Dame Basilica 

Notre Dame Basilica 

Notre Dame Basilica

After a bit of a discussion on the plan for the rest of the day, we decided to go back to the hotel to get the car and we drove to the Saint Joseph Oratory. $5 for parking, no price for admission unless you want to visit the museum which is another $5. The Oratory is REALLY big, but in my opinion, very plain. At least by comparison to Notre Dame. It also seemed more modernly designed and decorated. Make sure to try to visit the areas off to the side. We missed going back to the Gardens, but on the right (which is south), there is a nice lookout terrace area with a large parking lot.

Saint Joseph Oratory 

Saint Joseph Oratory 

Saint Joseph Oratory 

Saint Joseph Oratory

A short walk away is Duc de Lorraine which is a French pastry shop. We came because they were supposed to have $1 croissants since it is croissant day, however, they were sold out by the time we got there but we stayed for a quick snack.

Duc le Lorraine 

We drove back to the hotel and hung out a bit before heading for pre-dinner and dinner. Saiko Izakaya was for pre-dinner and they served quality dishes of things that I feel like we sometimes get at all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants. The place was nice, service was good (first time I experienced the waitress give out soya sauce plates and fill them a bit for you). I don't know if it is necessary to go, but I didn't have any dislikes about the place.

Saiko Izakaya 

Saiko Izakaya 

Saiko Izakaya 

Saiko Izakaya 

Saiko Izakaya

Next we walked to Liverpool house was for dinner. We ordered the spaghetti with lobster, the steak, horse tartare, and a dozen oysters. Without an appreciation or understanding of seafood, I didn't quite get/appreciate the oysters or the spaghetti with lobster dishes that we got, however, everyone else seemed to love them. I thought the steak was really good. Horse was interesting because it was a tougher meat, nothing else that I could say about it. Best meal of the trip! Service was really good here. Never had an empty cup of water for long, all cutlery was replaced between courses. Good suggestions when we asked our server, nice place. My issue is that the music is fairly loud at the bar-half of the restaurant. I think the other side might be quieter. We did come in with a reservation, however the earliest we got was 9:30pm, so plan ahead for this one if you want to visit.

Liverpool House - Oysters 

Liverpool House - croquettes 

Liverpool House - horse tartare 

Liverpool House - steak 

Liverpool House - lobster spaghetti

We took an Uber to the local arcade spot, Amusement 2000 Plus. This was my first Uber experience, it seemed pretty seemless and I can see why people like it. You order a car based on proximity to you, you get an estimated cost and appropriate arrival time, they come, and they go, since you don't have to tell them where to go, it is already connected to their phone. Once you arrive, you leave! No need to worry about cash or tips. Overall, I enjoyed the experience.

Amusement 2000 Plus

We were at the arcade for maybe an hour. It was fairly small, reminded me of Playdium but more cramped. We had a good time, played some really old games since it doesn't seem like we really have arcade machines here anymore. You do need tokens here, so you can be stuck with a few extra if you don't plan accordingly. Nothing seemed expensive here which was nice.

Went back to the hotel and hung out a bit more before calling it a night. By the end, I think everyone was pretty tired since we don't normally hang out until so late. Tomorrow, we have breakfast, drop off Mario at the local airport, and head back to Toronto.

2016 - Montreal Day 1

This weekend is my bachelor party weekend in Montreal, where we leave on Friday morning and return on Sunday evening. This time, it is with the guys and the ones who made it are Mike, Seiji, Harold, and Mario. We picked up our large SUV (Nissan Pathfinder) last night since they didn't have any minivans available. This was unfortunate since the trunk space for the Pathfinder is actually pretty bad if you have ANY luggage at all. But we made due since it is a 7 seater, so we just used the extra space for our stuff.

We began at 9:00am and rounded up everyone by around 10:30am after a quick bite at McDonald's and we were off. We didn't really hit any traffic until we were close to Montreal which was nice. We had one break stop and a gas stop and made it at around 5:00pm. Remember that there is usually constructions in Quebec, so be aware. Also, gas seems cheaper in Ontario, so fill up before crossing over.

Since we didn't really eat on the way in, we stopped for a small bite at Frites Alore which specialize in fries and poutine. We ordered a large fry, three sauces, and two poutines (one General Tao and one duck). The food was quick to come and it was good, I thought that they were a bit cheap on giving gravy and curds, but the duck poutine I thought was pretty good.

Large fry on the left, general tao on the top, duck on the bottom

We had a later dinner planned at 9:00pm and with the Raptors' playing Game 6 tonight (3-2), we went to a nearby sports bar and had two pitchers while watching the game. I don't watch the game much, but when you watch it with a group, I totally understand why people would do this with others around. Having people cheer or boo and complain adds a lot to the sports watching experience compared to when it is just myself and I am not a big sports fan. At half-time, we had to leave for dinner and by then they were up by a few points, so it sucked that we couldn't finish watching the game.

Dinner was at Moishes which is the local steakhouse which has been there since 1938 and they have a 3-hour happy hour from 9:00pm to 12:00am where you can get an appetizer, a main, and a coffee/tea for only $25! You can add a side for $5, making it a full course meal for only $30. I ordered the salmon tartare, the rib steak, and the potato. Everything was really good. At this price, it is hard to beat for the portion sizes that you get (the rib steak was surprisingly big). Don't forget that you also get free bread, pickles, and coleslaw (and man, the coleslaw was really good here). By the time we left the restaurant, we found out that the Raptors lost. Oh well, onto Game 7 on Sunday!

Salmon tartare 

Rib steak and potato

After dinner we headed to Randolph Pub Ludique, a board game cafe, and we played Sheriff of Nottingham. In SoN, everyone takes turns being the sheriff and you are basically like border patrol, everyone else will take turns telling you what they are bringing over and you need to determine if they are lying or not. If they are, you as the sheriff was charge they a fine, if they are telling the truth, you owe them money for wasting their time. We don't do this often anymore, so it was fun. The place closes at 2:00am, so, it is a pretty lively city to be in if you are a night owl.

How'd I end up with this girly looking drink?

With our game done, we got back to the hotel and went to visit the casino. Parking is free, but the GPS got us lost again, so it took longer than necessary to get there. We wandered around and played a few games there. There was free pop, coffee, or tea if you want while there. It is multiple floors and the building is quite nice, although I did not understand the layout, so a map would have been nice, just so that I knew where everything was. It was a bad experience for me when I realized that since I don't play the games often, I forget what the rules are, and the board is only in French, no English, so it was impossible to play anything unless it was something that required no reading. We were here for about 45 minutes before we left.

Headed back to the hotel after and called it a night. It was pretty late by this point (probably 3:30am), tomorrow, we visit some churches and more eating!