The entrance to the former Royal Bank of Canada in Montreal, now repurposed into a cafe and meeting space
[This is a continuation of my Canada October 2025 posts. It is a fitting end to the year where the highlight was this Autumnal trip across the Atlantic].
Montreal is home to: Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil and the renowned Montreal-style bagels. Despite being a short 7-hour flight from London, I have never thought of visiting. Thanks to Boston-Florida Cousin’s active interest in our Canada trip and with the help of Toronto Cousin’s guidance in Toronto-Ottawa-Gatineau, Mr Gochugaru and I felt we could stretch our trip onwards to Montreal where we would spend three days before leaving for London.
Our single experience using Canada’s VIA Rail passenger train, from Ottawa to Montreal, was memorable for its comfortable seats and breakfast served on board. After dropping off our luggage in our hotel located in Vieux Port, we set off to explore a bit of Montreal. We would have the day to ourselves, with B-FC joining us over the next two days, as his wife’s family lives in Montreal.
With a dinner reservation at Liverpool House (part of the Joe Beef family) we shared a light lunch of bagel and a slice of apple tart at Crew Collective & Café. Words are inadequate to describe the wonder of this cafe, located in a heritage building that once housed the Royal Bank of Canada. Sure, it functions as a straightforward cafe, but also as a co-working space, a place for family meet-ups, lunch with colleagues, tea with your mother/ neighbour/ long-lost chum from school days. Even if you don’t fancy sitting down, do go and admire the beautiful stonework and ornate ceilings. On the walls there are memorials to the bank staff who lost their lives in World War I.
Marché Jean-Talon, located in the heart of Little Italy, is made up of multiple stalls selling locally grown produce, meat, fish and any type of food item you could want. I could not take my eyes off the wonderful colours of the seasonal harvest. Here I found some very well-priced tins of maple syrup.
Vieux Port is charming, with cobbled streets, historic buildings, plenty of eating places and a fine walk along the St Lawrence River.
From good to great: it often takes a small thing to turn a good experience into a great one. At the Hotel William Gray it was the thoughtfulness of some wall hooks near the front door to hang our coats. I found the WG comfortable and well-located, a wonderful stay for our final two nights in Canada.
I only have the one photo of dinner in the dimly lit Liverpool House. It is of their lobster pasta. The photo is fuzzy but I will share it all the same.
Why my love of lobster? When I was growing up I was allergic to prawns and my lips would swell horribly when I ate them. I was advised by our family doctor to avoid shellfish. My dad was an adventurous eater (nowadays we would call him a foodie) and on a family holiday in Penang he encouraged me to try Lobster Thermidor. I think I was about 10 years or 11 years old. It was wonderful and to my surprise my lips did not swell. I amused myself with the thought that I was made for the finer things in life and have never looked back since. Others can have their Wagyu beef and Iberico pork, I will take a plate of lobsters any day.
The next post will be the final one on Canada and also the final post of this year. I will start the new year with a look back at the many meals of Christmas 2025, a healthy round-up of all that we ate in the past two weeks.