How have meals tendencies modified in Montreal over the previous decade?

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1. Life
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Out with the old, in with the oat milk: We greet fallen fads and new recruits in our restaurant scene.

Author of the article:

Friend Watson • Special for Montreal Gazette

Publication date:

January 03, 2020 • January 3, 2020 • Read for 4 minutes • Join the conversation A number of international bubble tea and Asian dessert chains have come to Montreal, including Mango Mango Dessert. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

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How do you measure a decade in Montreal restaurants? That’s about 10,000 meals, give or take breakfast. Perhaps it is best to break down the past 10 years into a “then and now” of the most popular dishes and ingredients. For trend-following foodies, that could mean a few hundred lobster poutines, tiki cocktails, and pork belly tacos in the early 2010s, followed by oat milk, avocado toast, and more plant-based foods in recent years (with pit stops for rose-colored lattes, giblets and gourmet Mac ‘n’ Cheese).

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Montreal is the ideal city to measure the popularity of a food. With such a high number of restaurants per capita, short-lived trends are wiped out as quickly as one can say “cronut”.

With that in mind, we hereby greet fallen fads and new recruits. No matter what, it will be another delicious decade.

A number of international bubble tea and Asian dessert chains have come to Montreal, including Mango Mango Dessert. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

Then: Asian fusion and dumplings

Now:Bubble tea and Asian desserts

While Montreal’s devotion to Qing Hua continues and the Banh Mi pork belly tacos are still bestsellers at Grumman ’78, less soy sauce is thrown indiscriminately in non-Asian dishes these days. And now a slew of international bubble tea and Asian dessert chains have come to town, from Taiwan’s The Alley, Presotea, Meet Fresh, and Chatime to New York’s Mango Mango Dessert with its Instagram-ready fresh mango parfaits made with tapioca pearls , sticky rice balls, sweet red beans and lychee and herb jelly. (The best deals are the combo with two parfaits and mini mango pancakes or mochi.)

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Then: Gourmet comfort food

Now: Small plates and vegetables

You’ll never get the lobster mac and deep-fried Mars bars off the menu at Garde Manger or the sliders at Pullman’s – and you wouldn’t want to either – but in general the menus have moved towards veggies and slightly more sensible uses of Bacon moved.

Then: Canned food and foraging

Now:Fermentation and zero waste

Pickles, food supplements and everything that is sustainable have established themselves on the menus (e.g. sea buckthorn in all variations, from butter to beef to brownies). And many have come to appreciate a good herb. But nut-based miso-like pastes, “jangs”, and fermented starches are the next big thing. “Fermentation is probably the best way to preserve food,” says chef Jeremiah Bullied, who ferments potatoes and black garlic for his sauerbraten with black garlic mayo at Cantine Poincaré. “It keeps it ‘raw’ and improves the nutritional value. Most things taste better when fried and open up the possibility of surprising flavors. “

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“Fermentation is probably the best way to preserve food,” says Cantine Poincaré’s Jeremiah Bullied. Photo by Allen McInnis /Montreal Gazette

Then:Food truck

When Montreal’s food truck pilot kicked off in 2013, people didn’t care about the lines for Queen B’s merguez and saffron burrito bowls and Zoe’s pork belly sandwiches with quince mustard and fennel coleslaw. But in recent years trucks have only moved to private events and festivals, which means they aren’t there as often when you want them, if they are there at all. “I’m taking care of things now,” says Zoe Dalakas, who sold her truck in 2019. Their pork is still a favorite on their lunch table.

Now: Food halls

First came Le Central. Then came the Time Out Market, which made the Eaton Center a surprise destination for foodies. Time will tell whether Le Cathcart Restaurants et Biergarten can grow when it opens this month.

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Then: Steakhouses

Now:Plant-based foods

From the vegan pub Le Bowhead to the disguised Beyond Meat burger and frito pie to the upscale Hello 123 roasted kohlrabi with charred tomatoes, watercress and barley – “vegetable” is the trend of the day. However, in places like Provisions Bar à Vin, where giant farm-to-table steaks from the attached butcher’s shop are cut to order and served to the entire table, beef is back.

Then: Quinoa, rice bowls and poke bowls

Now: Avocado toast

The mid-2010s open sandwich boom appears to have peaked in avocado toast. However, avocados’ irrigation needs and reports of Mexican cartels extorting protection money from farmers are already making some rethink their healthy breakfasts.

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Then: Unsustainable seafood

Now: Slightly more sustainable seafood

As more restaurants and grocers stick Ocean Wise symbols on their menus and products, you’re more likely to find sustainably farmed trout from Quebec and Ora King salmon from New Zealand – the current upscale sashimi and tartar salmon from Montreal – on upscale menus See kitchen. RIP raised unsustainably farmed Atlantic salmon off Canada’s east coast.

Then: Cocktails

Now:Natural wine, sake and zero-proof

First came cocktail bars, then tiki bars, then speakeasys. Now it’s natural wine and sake. But as the latest edition of the Made With Love cocktail competition proved in November, cocktails aren’t over yet – they’re just often less sugary, low-alcohol, or non-alcoholic (thanks to customer demand and a trend towards sobriety among restaurant workers) and less front-and-side. Center on drinks menus.

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Then: I am milk

Now: Oat milk

As one of the first to offer oat milk (or “Mylk”) in Montreal, the Aloha Espresso Bar made waves when it opened in 2017. The option is now ubiquitous, including standard in Westmount and Dispatch Coffee.

Then: sourdough

Now: Bread made with locally ground grain

The people of Montreal have been enthusiastic about the sourdough baguettes, miches and bûches from Boulangerie Guillaume since 2010. Automne Boulangerie went a step further in 2016 and installed a Quebec designed and built mill to grind their own flour on a daily basis. Other places that have their own strengths are La Meunerie Urbaine and the recently opened Boulangerie Jarry.

Then: Industrial chic

Now: Light and airy

Pull aside dark and brooding restaurants with steel pipes and dangling lightbulbs, and make way for pastels, velor, and drapery plants. For proof, see Maman, Marcus and Bar Pamplemousse. With these trends coming from designer Zébulon Perron, it is certain that he will play an important role in defining the next decade of restaurant decoration.

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