Montreal bagel
Photo: Coastal Elite from Halifax, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0

The Montreal bagel is smaller, denser and sweeter than its New York cousin, hand-rolled, boiled in honey water and baked in a wood-fired oven until blistered.

Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe brought the bagel to Montreal in the early 1900s, and the city's version set itself apart by the 1950s. Fairmount Bagel dates to 1919 and St-Viateur to 1957, both in Mile End, both still firing wood ovens around the clock. The honey in the boiling water and the wood smoke give the Montreal bagel its sweeter, denser character.

2 editor picks for Montreal bagel in Montreal, ranked by editorial score. All Montreal signature dishes · Montreal bagel across every city.

St-Viateur Bagel ★ 4.8

$BakeryMile End

St-Viateur has hand-rolled and wood-fired Montreal bagels around the clock since 1957, the Mile End benchmark for the honey-boiled, denser city style.

TipBuy them hot by the dozen; a sesame bagel straight from the wood oven needs nothing but your hands.

DirectionsView

Fairmount Bagel ★ 4.6

$BakeryMile End

Fairmount Bagel is Montreal's oldest bagel bakery, wood-firing sesame and poppy rings around the clock on Avenue Fairmount since 1919 a block from St-Viateur.

TipPick a side in the Fairmount-versus-St-Viateur debate by buying a hot dozen from each and comparing.

DirectionsView

Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide

Montreal bagel makes more sense with someone from Montreal explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.

Taste Montreal bagel with a local in Montreal

See all 259 bookable experiences in Montreal