A small tour of Montreal’s ethnic restaurants.
Montreal is known for its diverse food scene, offering various choices from different cultural backgrounds, which makes deciding where to eat a workout. Picking an affordable restaurant as a student is an additional challenge. To make your life easier, here is a list of a few restaurants worth trying.
Maquis Yasolo ($$)
This Afro-Quebecer restaurant is 15 minutes away from Concordia’s downtown campus by transit. It has a variety of meals originating from different parts of the Afro-Quebecer culture.
Solange Pati, the co-owner, explained that the restaurant is focused on West African food but includes meals from various Afro-Quebecer backgrounds.
“We really try to embrace all Afro-Quebecois cultures, whether it’s Haitian, Jamaican, Antilles, or African, of course,” she said.
Pati recommends the maquis chicken, which she said draws more on traditional Congolese food.
“[It] is braised chicken, African style, with jollof rice and salad,” she said. “Sometimes it comes with local plantain.”
The prices are student-friendly, ranging between $20 and $30.
They also have a grocery store attached to their restaurant called Yasolo, which sells fresh ingredients.
Garage Beirut ($$)
Five minutes away by foot from the downtown campus is an authentic Lebanese restaurant, Garage Beirut. The owner, operator, and chef, Naji Elzein, opened it in 2011 after immigrating to Montreal in 2008. He runs the restaurant with his wife.
“I wanted to open an authentic Lebanese restaurant,” he said. “I saw an opportunity to show Canadians good Lebanese food, the real thing.”
The restaurant is a small, cozy place that seems very popular, especially during dinner time.
“[It] gets busy during the weekend, so I expect to have [people sitting] shoulder to shoulder,” he said.
While it is more expensive than other places, with prices ranging between $20 and $40.50 per person, they also offer takeout food, like sandwiches.
Elzein said the shish taouk is the most popular meal on the menu.
“If I get a group of two or three people and they ask me, ‘What do you recommend?’ I would tell them, fattoush salad,” he said.
He also recommended a pastry platter, which includes cheese rolls and kibbeh, or the mixed grill.
Garage Beirut also offers brunch on the weekend from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“We do Lebanese brunch, like foul, balila, fatteh, beid sojok, and fatteh,” he said.
Le Nil Bleu ($$)
A five-minute walk from the Sherbrooke metro station, the Nil Bleu is a family-owned Ethiopian restaurant established in 1993.
Adama Sidibé is the assistant manager at the Kutuma Hotel & Suites, which is attached to the Nil Bleu, and also helps out at the restaurant. He said the restaurant is pretty traditional and classic.
“We have a lot of birthday parties and even staff parties as well,” he said. “If you want a good romantic date, it’s a really good spot to bring a loved one or a date.”
He recommended the tasting platter for newcomers, which allows guests to taste more than half of the menu.
“It gives you a good overview of what’s on the menu,” he said. “Maybe you’re gonna go for the lamb, [or the] chicken; maybe you’re gonna go for the chickpeas, lentils…”
Their menu is very inclusive, offering vegan and vegetarian options with organic and halal ingredients.
“You wanna taste the love when you eat that food,” he said. “That’s what you get.”
Jako restaurant ($)
Jako restaurant serves a fusion of Korean and Japanese cuisine and is only a five-minute walk from Concordia’s downtown campus. It offers minimal seating space but tries to accommodate as many as possible.
If it’s your first visit, try the tteokkochi — sweet and spicy fried rice cakes — as an entrée. Then try the cheese dak galbi yaki udon as a main dish, mainly made of stir-fried spicy chicken thigh, mozzarella, and sweet potato purée.
Kuljit India Restaurant ($)
Located in the Bois-Franc neighbourhood, Kuljit is a small family-owned restaurant that is affordable for students.
Since 2005, they have offered a variety of vegetarian and meat-based North-Indian dishes. The place is intimate and hearty, with fast and friendly service.
While their butter chicken with fresh, out-the-oven naan bread is exceptional, their chickpeas (channa) are also tasty. Their portions are very generous as well, enough for two people.
