Montreal, Canada: What Lies Beneath

This article from my first visit to Canada appeared in The Sunday Age newspaper in 2011, but never went online: so here it is. I was hosted on that trip by the Canadian Tourism Commission.

When the architects of Montreal’s underground shopping mall beneath Place Ville-Marie drew up their plans in 1962, they had little idea what they’d started.

As newer malls and office buildings were constructed, they were all linked together. Thus the Underground City was born.

RÉSO, a play on the French word for network, “réseau”, is now the largest underground complex in the world, stretching some 33 kilometres and linking malls, museums, train stations, government buildings and hotels.

All can be reached without ever setting foot in the outside world; a compelling alternative in winter, when temperatures can plunge to minus 15 degrees.

I’m usually allergic to shopping malls, but RÉSO intrigues me and I decide to walk its entire main loop (with a Metro trip in the middle)...

10am. I pause to look up at the statue of a young Queen Victoria in the centre of Square-Victoria, then spot the RÉSO entry sign and head down the rabbit hole. Below ground, I enter a long, strangely curved brick-lined tunnel, its curves accented by wavy tracks of lights in the ceiling.

10.25am. Nearing Place Bonaventure, I’m surprised to realise I’m back at street level, as I can see manicured lawns out of the occasional window. Soon after I descend into the ominous-sounding Le Passage. It’s pure 1970s down here, with exposed concrete walls and stained timber handrails.

10.50am. After twists and turns, I emerge into the lofty hall of the Gare Centrale, Montreal’s main train station. Above me there’s a magnificent bas-relief frieze depicting stylised figures engaged in everyday activities with a 20th century gender bias - men working in construction or playing lacrosse, women teaching or planting trees.

11.15am. I’m heading into prime retail territory now, up pebble-dash steps into a sunlit atrium with a low glass ceiling. There’s a cafe beneath the glass, dotted with low black couches on which shoppers lounge. It’s surrounded by shops, and I realise this is Place Ville-Marie, the mall that started it all.

11.25am. A few more turnings and I’m beneath Rue Ste-Catherine, Montreal’s major shopping strip. Above me towers the upmarket Centre Eaton, the largest shopping mall in the city, with 175 stores over four levels surmounted by a vast glass roof.

11.35am. I catch a train from McGill Metro station to Place-des-Arts. At the end of the Place-des-Arts station concourse is a huge and beautiful backlit artwork depicting Montreal’s musical history across multiple glass panels.

12 noon. Entering the Musée d’Art Contemporain from beneath, I encounter a huge wall projection called Le Tournis, in which a camera spins dizzyingly around the centre of a room while glass smashes loudly between the foreground and the far wall. Oddly, its unrefined chaos makes a refreshing counterpoint to the controlled nature of the Underground City.

12.30pm. After the art, it’s startling to return to RÉSO and enter the Complexe Desjardins’ vast terraced shopping mall. At ground level there’s a fountain with a 30 metre high jet that almost grazes the lofty skylight. I wonder whether the settings have ever slipped, resulting in a soggy ceiling.

1pm. Back above ground at Square-Victoria, I discover the morning’s clouds have departed and it’s turned into a perfect day - bright, sunny and warm. The perfect day, ironically, to be outdoors.

Poutine! The Best in Montreal & Quebec City

For my 2013 visit to Quebec I was hosted by the Canadian Tourism Commission.

On my most recent visit to Montreal and Quebec City with Narrelle Harris, I had a bright idea.

Poutine! Visit a number of places serving the classic Quebecois dish comprising chips, gravy and cheese curds, and rank them according to highly scientific categories.

So I did. These were the results.


1. Méchant Boeuf, 124 Rue Saint-Paul Ouest, Montreal

Decor Wannabe nightclub
Vibe Loud and energetic
Fill factor Far bigger than expected for a side
Score 3 (out of 5)

"Wicked Beef" is a noisy lively place with a dimly-lit restaurant area and a bright bar lit from beneath, with people rushing around and lots of loud conversation. Not a great place for a first date, but a great place to eat a burger, or seafood from the raw bar.

It doesn't specialise in poutine, instead it comes as a side to the burgers and other dishes. We order a burger with poutine as a side, expecting it to be something small. Instead we get an excellent tasty burger done medium, with a large plate of curds, chips and gravy in the classic style.

We feel we have to eat it before the burger, or it will go cold – and it looks like the kind of dish that shouldn't be eaten cold. It's tasty though not quite as hot as could be, topped with a non-conventional serve of pulled pork.

The only problem is, once we tackle the poutine, it's difficult to eat a whole burger.


2. Montreal Pool Room, Boulevard Saint-Laurent 1217, Montreal

Decor Minimalist diner with a long steel counter and photos of famous Quebeckers who've dropped in
Vibe Trucker stop
Fill factor Perfect late-night drunken fill-up
Score 4 (out of 5)

This century-old institution in the former red light district (actually still somewhat red light - there's a strip-teaseur joint across the road) serves up simple fare. Its highlight is the hot dog steamé, a steamed sausage in a bun with toppings including chopped cabbage and onion, and relish.

It comes, of course, with an optional serve of poutine. I order the combo of two dogs (they're fairly small) and poutine with a drink [see photo above], and focus on the poutine first.

Served in a polystyrene container, it's a sizeable serve of chips, gravy and curds. The curds are nicely firm, the chips aren't too soggy and the gravy is hot; so hot that I burn my lip, a hazard for the novice. On the counter are shakers of cayenne pepper and salt, and I apply the hot stuff to pleasing effect.

After that, the dogs are almost an anti-climax, plain-tasting in soft buns. It's a good combo; but I think the poutine upstages the dogs.


3. La Banquise, 994 Rue Rachel Est, Montreal

Decor Colourful tables and jumbled architecture
Vibe Cheap and cheerful
Fill factor Good way to refuel before hitting the Le Plateau district's very walkable streets
Score 4 (out of 5)

We hit this 24-hour poutine emporium about 9am on a Sunday, when it's nearly empty except for a steady stream of taxi drivers pulling in for a post-shift feed.

What else to order but a breakfast poutine? There are several options including one with the kitchen sink, Le Cassoulet, but I order a version called L'Ensoleillée involving chopped up bacon and sausage mixed in with the poutine, and a serve of scrambled egg on top.

It is, as you'd imagine, even more filling than a standard poutine (if that's possible), with the full, comforting flavour of bacon and sausage clearly evident. It's like a full English Breakfast has been broken down to its constituent parts and added to chips, curds and gravy.

Narrelle chose La Savoyarde, poutine with bacon, onion, Swiss cheese and sour cream. She said it reminded her quite a lot of her Dad's version of bubble and squeak.


4. Chez Ashton, 54 Côte du Palais, Quebec City

Decor Reinvented '50s diner
Vibe Colourful but quick
Fill factor Filling and nominally healthy
Score 4 (out of 5)

Quebec City is often visited after Montreal, and so many locals have told me to try Chez Ashton that we give it a go when we drop into town. Some say this place is the best poutine in Quebec, or at least the best in the provincial capital.

I'm confronted with a poutine menu offering just three choices: standard poutine, Galvaude (with chicken and peas on top) and Dulton (with spicy mince).

I go for the Galvaude, reckoning that the peas will allow me to regard it as a health food. It's actually very tasty, and the combination of chicken, peas and gravy, along with the chips and cheese curds, makes it taste not unlike a Sunday roast chicken and pea combo that your grandmother might have cooked up.

The gravy is particularly tasty, not too salty or thin, and it's a satisfying end to my poutine adventure.

As much as I enjoyed it, I don't feel the need to eat poutine again for a very long time. Or at least not until I next visit Canada.

Montreal - With a Twist

Life is a cabaret, someone once said. No more so at Montreal's Cabaret Mado, which I visited on my first trip to Canada in 2010 (courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission). While in the city, I investigated its food, music and subterranean corridors.

As my 2011 article about those experiences has since vanished from the Web, here it is again for your enjoyment...

“What’s funny about the cabaret now is that more straight people than gay people come to see our shows. We have boys, girls, groups doing their bachelor parties and birthdays, straight couples coming to see the drag queens, it’s so amaaazing!”

It’s easy to be swept up in the enthusiasm of Mado Lamotte, drag queen extraordinaire, as she sits in front of her dressing room mirror in a leopard-print dressing gown and prepares for an evening on stage.

Mado (aka Luc Provost) is not just a mainstay of the Canadian city’s vibrant gay village, but has crossover appeal among all Montrealers who like an outrageous night out.

Mado’s venue, Cabaret Mado, is approaching a decade in operation, though the decor suggests it was set up back in the 1970s. Spherical lampshades hang above the bar, illuminating the orange patterned wallpaper, as dressed-down patrons sip bourbon while waiting for the evening’s show to start.

Then Mado appears on stage as MC, dressed in a striking pink dress, purple wig and a headpiece made from an umbrella.

Subtle it ain’t, and for the rest of the evening the warmly enthusiastic audience is entertained by a succession of drag queens lip-syncing famous songs while dressed in the most extraordinary gear.

One is done up as a striking Spanish diva, complete with rapidly oscillating handheld fan; another performer with green locks wears a giant love heart bordered by live light bulbs; another does a Nana Mouskouri impersonation while holding a large sunflower.

It’s all good fun and a reminder of how distinctive this city is - entertaining, accepting and just a little offbeat.

“We’re very crazy people,” confirms Mado. “We have a strong Quebec culture, which influences the night life. In winter, people get sick of the cold and they go wild. The best party you can get sometimes in Montreal is in January.”

However, it’s fair to say that Montreal is a happening place the whole year round, and always memorable. Here are some other special places in Quebec’s biggest city.

Burgers with more than the lot

You wouldn’t expect a way-cool hamburger joint in this Francophone city, but maybe that’s the point of M:BRGR - to present a high-class alternative to the international burger chains.

This over-the-top burger bar has a slick 21st century interior, with sleek dark tables and curvy white chairs, and a long black bar with cool young people ranged along it.

The menu offers customised burgers up to and including white truffle shavings on top. There’s also a Kobe beef version which incorporates such exotic ingredients as grilled pear, porcini mushrooms and asparagus, and sells for a cool $100.

Life beneath the streets

As above, so below. Beneath the city streets is Montreal’s underground city, known as RÉSO, a play on the French word réseau (network).

It’s a 32 kilometre long complex of subterranean pedestrian tunnels linking hotels, train stations and shopping malls, allowing a visitor to stay entirely underground if desired.

With average winter temperatures below freezing point, this is a good place to hang out in the colder months.

If inclined to take an unconventional stroll, do an entire circuit of RÉSO with the aid of a ride or two on the Metro underground railway.

On the way, you’ll encounter wavy brick corridors, a huge postwar frieze of toiling Canadians in the main train station, upmarket malls with high atriums, a vast illuminated glass artwork about the history of music, and the fascinating Contemporary Art Museum via its below-ground access.

Duelling bagels

In the somewhat Anglophone district of Mile End, new residents’ loyalties are tested by being asked which bagels they prefer: the ones from Fairmount Bagel, or St Viateur Bagel?

Since the 1950s, these small but popular bakeries have vied for the affection of this now-cool suburb’s residents, and everyone’s been a winner as a result of the competition over quality.

Inside Fairmount, the customer joins a queue that squeezes through a narrow gap between towering stacks of trays full of freshly baked bagels waiting to be shipped out to customers.

In St Viateur, the customer is treated to the sight of a cascade of fresh bagels being scooped out of the oven, ready to be sold while warm.

But which tastes better? You’ll have to be the judge.

Full of beans

Adjacent to Mile End, the former working-class neighbourhood of Le Plateau is now cutting-edge, populated with bookshops, cafes and restaurants.

It’s well worth wandering down its side streets to have a look at the distinctive residential architecture, characterised by solid three-storey buildings with external metal stairways which allowed more internal space for big working-class families.

After this exercise, grab a table at La Binerie (The Beanery), serving old-fashioned Quebecois family food. When it opened in 1940, its cuisine represented affordable simplicity; now it’s regarded as retro chic. As you might have guessed, it serves some fine bean dishes.

Another interesting menu item is pouding chômeur, literally the “pudding of the unemployed”. This dish from the 1930s Depression is made from cheap ingredients available at the time, including brown sugar, maple syrup and flour.

Music with a backside

For nearly three decades, Foufounes Électriques has been a bar which showcases great DJs and live music.

Within its no-nonsense brick walls and industrial-punk decor, a young audience soaks up rock, electronica, house and alternative sounds.

It’s a mixed crowd from punks to goths, and the beer is reasonably priced. You can even sample Quebec fast food by ordering a poutine, a tasty mess of cheese curds and gravy.

Oh, and the venue’s name? It means “Electric Ass”.

It’s a joke that would appeal to Mado, a passionate advocate for her city’s unique mix of quirkiness and coolness.

“We have a culture that’s very rich,” she says. “We’ve got our singers, our movies, our plays; and Montrealers go and see these shows, they buy the art. We have a special culture you won’t find anywhere else in North America.”

Street Art: Roa All Over

I've been looking at a lot of street art recently.

In Berlin and Melbourne I've joined artist-led tours, and saw a fair bit of art during a food tour in London's Shoreditch.

In Los Angeles I checked out some cool murals in the old warehouse district, and have viewed numerous impressive works of the walls of Montreal.

Across all these cities, one factor stays constant: Roa.

This Belgian street artist has travelled the world, creating huge black and white paintings of animals native to the area he's visiting. Often he depicts dead animals, but not always.

I don't go looking for Roa, but he always seems to find me. Here are some of his pieces I've encountered...

1. Healesville, Australia.

2. Montreal, Canada.

3. London, UK.

4. Berlin, Germany.

5. Los Angeles, USA.

That guy gets around! Who knows where I'll see him next?

The Great Coffee Hunt

I read a comment recently that the first thing Australians look for overseas is - and I quote - "a decent coffee".

There's some truth to this. Decades after its emergence from the Italian migrant community into the wider population, Australia's espresso-based coffee culture has achieved a high degree of quality and consistency.

You can even get a good coffee in Australian country towns nowadays, which were long looked upon as a kind of caffeine terra incognita.

Partly because our coffee culture is so heavily based on the espresso machine, we tend to look askance at filtered coffee in any form when overseas, and positively recoil from instant coffee.

So there is a tendency, I have noticed, for a cafe search to be one of the first tasks I undertake when arriving in a new country or city.

And what that search highlights is the great range of technological tools we have at our disposal now.

Take Canada, for example. When travelling across that vast country last September with Narrelle, I used a variety of IT-related means to locate good cafes.

Having arrived early in the day in Vancouver, and being desperate for a coffee, I DMed via Twitter my travel writer colleague Nikki Bayley, who's a Vancouver resident.

As it turned out, she was in Seattle - but that didn't stop her guiding us to a great cafe and chocolate-maker, East Van Roasters, in Gastown.

In Victoria, on Vancouver Island, I started our first day by Googling "hipster cafe Victoria Canada" on my iPhone.

I often find this type of search useful - it usually turns up quite a few people who've typed "bloody hipster cafe" or worse, but leads me closer to the target.

Between that and a look through the Urbanspoon app, we found a great local place, Tre Fantastico, in a street away from the tourist hub.

Later that day, some more Google searches and a glance at the Yelp app found us a handy laundromat in the James Bay Area - and by chance, the excellent Discovery Coffee next door (see photo above).

On our first full day in Montreal, we were led to a lively modern breakfast place, Olive + Gourmando, not far from our hotel in the Old Town - this time by consulting the Lonely Planet Montreal app.

Later, we were walking through the downtown when I decided to have a look at the Beanhunter app. Though it tends to be a bit light-on when it comes to Canadian listings, it successfully led us to the excellent Pikolo.

Twitter, apps, Google searches - it's amazing the power we now have to undertake such specific research while on the move.

Mind you, nothing beats a personal recommendation. On my previous visit to Montreal, I'd been standing in the queue to order at Olimpico, a popular hipster hangout in Mile End.

I got talking with the woman in front of me about the difference between a Caffe Americano and a Café Allongé, the latter which I'd only noticed on offer in Quebec (and was the closest thing I'd found to an Australian long black).

When she heard of my interest in researching cafes, she pointed me to a new nearby cafe which she said was good, and served spectacular doughnuts alongside the coffee.

It was Cafe Sardine, and she was right. A great find, and discovered without the aid of technology at all.

Montreal: Red Light in the Latin Quarter

The best thing about travelling with a companion? I get out more at night.

When I'm by myself and I've had a full day trudging around a city, it can be very tempting to curl up in my hotel room for the evening, with room service or sandwiches from a local cafe.

But with Narrelle along for the ride this time, she was keen to see some nightlife and I was keen to show her Montreal.

So last Saturday night we stepped out at the Berri-UQAM Metro station, to take a look at the Latin Quarter.

This part of Montreal, wedged between the Downtown and the Gay Village, wears a few different hats. As the Latin Quarter it takes its name from Paris' Quartier Latin, partly because of the university at its heart.

It's also part of the recently created Quartier de Spectacles, a dedicated entertainment zone comprising numerous performance spaces and art galleries.

But don't let that renaming fool you. Under the modern facade is plenty of signs of the Latin Quarter's long history as the city's red light district.

It was particularly lively in the Prohibition years in the nearby USA, when Montreal became an irresistible lure for Americans looking to drink and have fun.

Not that Montreal is trying that hard to hide its Red Light past. All over the district are light installations like this one, highlighting entertainment venues but also giving a nod to the sinful past:

There was plenty of liveliness evident in the Latin Quarter the night we visited. Firstly we happened upon this DJ, performing in a three-day Emerging Arts Festival:

There was some excellent street art on the walls of side streets, such as this combo of Batman, a fox, and, er, some other creature:

Despite the new respectability of the area, there were still some signs of the raunchy past such as this:

And this:

Another survivor from the past is this place - Les Foufounes Électriques (Electric Buttocks). A long-lived alternative music venue, it's the sort of vast grungy retro cheap-beer place which vanished in Melbourne long ago:

And here's another nearby stayer - the 101 year old Montreal Pool Room:

Despite the name, it's a fast food joint dishing up classic Montreal comfort food such as poutine and steamé (steamed hot dogs). We had dinner here - simple, tasty and cheap. Beats room service food anytime:

[And you can read Narrelle M Harris' take on our trip to the Latin Quarter at her blog post here.]

Disclosure time... On this trip I travelled courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission and Tourisme Montreal.

Montreal Hotel Goes Pop!

I like the idea of an Art Hotel, though obviously it has the potential to be pretentious.

If done well, however, the display of art can create something memorably different from the many generic hotels out there. It also provides a benefit to locals, who can enjoy the exhibits in the public areas of the hotel.

I've just stayed in an impressive example of this concept, LHotel (pronounced "lotel") in Montreal, Canada.

It's housed within a grand 19th century bank building on Rue Saint-Jacques. This street was once the epicentre of Canada's financial system, and so is lined with vast neoclassical temples to banking glory.

The banks have long departed the street, leaving numerous high-ceilinged buildings perfect for upmarket hotels.

The point of difference at LHotel is its owner Georges Marciano, former co-owner and designer of fashion company Guess. A serious collector of pop art and other modern art, Marciano has decked out the hotel with a large number of works from his collection.

Here's a random sample of what I spotted during my stay.

This first pic is of the lounge next to the bar. Beyond the compacted metal piece in the foreground is a giant glowing figure and a portrait of Marciano on the wall:

Here's a famous Andy Warhol piece above the ground floor lift door, based on a photo taken by Neil Armstrong on the moon:

Just opposite is this curious arrangement of works, the right-hand piece by Miro. Is that Ronad Reagan in the ad on the left, by the way? Looks like him:

There was a lesser-known Warhol next to the lift on my floor:

And this was the corridor outside my room:

Finally here's the hotel illuminated at night, seen as I returned from the direction of Places d'Armes after attending an outdoor electronic music event on Île Sainte-Hélène in the St Lawrence River (as you do).

It was taken with the aid of the handy Glif tripod stand for the iPhone, which holds the phone steady and connects to a compact tripod (and this mention is not an ad by the way, I bought my own Glif and recommend it!).

LHotel is well worth dropping into for a drink, even if you're not staying overnight, just to ogle the surprisingly accessible collection.

And as the man said, all you need is

Disclosure time: On this trip I was hosted by Tourisme Montréal and the Canadian Tourism Commission.

Montréal en Anglais

I'm back from Canada - and I have to say, I ♥ Montreal. What fascinated me most about it was how its French heritage meshes with its British history, creating a Francophone city with dashes of Anglophone place names and culture. For example, my hotel (the excellent Hotel St Paul) was on Rue McGill, named after a successful Scottish fur trader, and my nearest Metro station was named after a British monarch.

Here are some examples of the British elements I found scattered through the otherwise French-speaking landscape...

1. This grand building in what was once the commercial hub of Old Montreal was built by the Grand Trunk company in 1900. Grand Trunk was a British-owned railway company which built and operated lines in both Canada and the USA, and this was its North American headquarters. A historical curiosity is the death of the company's president Charles Hays on the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic in 1912.

2. Here's a sign on a famous bagel shop on the distinctly Anglo-sounding Avenue Fairmount, in the attractive district of Mile End:

3. The nearest Metro stop to my hotel was Square-Victoria, named after the first Queen of Canada. Here she is in the middle of the square:

4. I went on a walk through Montreal's extensive underground pedestrian route one day, and crossed through the Gare Centrale (Central Station) on the way. Above one end of the station concourse I encountered a vast post-art deco bas-relief frieze created in 1943 by Charles Comfort. It was scattered with English words, including those of the Canadian national anthem...

5. ... which made me think there must be a French-language version somewhere, for balance. And sure enough, here it was at the other end of the concourse (with a McDonald's sign placed for ironic impact):

6. Most unexpected of all was this statue I discovered towering above Place Jacques Cartier, on my way from the Champ-de-Mars Metro Station. Right in the heart of Old Montreal, in a prominent public position opposite the former Palais de Justice, is a statue of Napoleonic war hero Lord Horatio Nelson. A war hero, that is, to the British, and famous for defeating the French fleet at Trafalgar. How cheeky is that?

Disclosure time... on this trip I travelled courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission.