The fastest, cheapest, frequently best food on Montreal's streets.
Vendors, food trucks and stalls: the cheapest, fastest, frequently best food in Montreal.
Schwartz's carves hand-sliced smoked meat to order on Saint-Laurent in Montreal, the counter-and-queue benchmark for the city's defining sandwich since 1928.
Try: Smoked meat sandwich
Tip: Order it medium-fat off the takeout counter and eat it standing; the deli caraway rye is not optional.
St-Viateur turns out Montreal's honey-boiled, wood-fired bagels around the clock in Mile End, sold hot by the dozen from a flour-dusted Saint-Viateur counter.
Try: Wood-fired bagel
Tip: Eat a sesame bagel while it is still warm; day-old ones are for freezing and toasting later.
Fairmount Bagel has wood-fired Montreal's oldest bagels since 1919, a 24-hour Mile End window turning out sesame and poppy rings a block from its rival.
Try: Wood-fired bagel
Tip: Buy a hot dozen and settle the Fairmount-versus-St-Viateur argument for yourself on the walk home.
La Banquise is Montreal's 24-hour poutine temple on Rue Rachel, ladling gravy and squeaky curds over fries in more than thirty over-the-top combinations.
Try: Poutine
Tip: The classic proves the kitchen; add smoked meat or guacamole once you have tried it straight first.
Ma Poule Mouillee grills charcoal Portuguese chicken to order on Rue Rachel in Montreal, its piri-piri birds and chicken poutine drawing a permanent line.
Try: Portuguese charcoal chicken
Tip: Get a half chicken with hot piri-piri to go; the tiny room has almost nowhere to sit.
Romados is the Plateau rotisserie and bakery in Montreal whose charcoal chicken and custard tarts pull a lunchtime line out the door onto Rue Rachel.
Try: Portuguese charcoal chicken
Tip: Order the chicken and a couple of pasteis de nata; cash keeps the fast-moving queue moving faster.
Boustan has fed downtown Montreal since 1986, a late-night Rue Crescent counter with garlic-heavy shawarma and the fried-potato Aladin pita past midnight.
Try: Shawarma and pita
Tip: Ask for extra toum garlic sauce and pickled turnip; it stays open long past the bars for a good reason.
La Panthere Verte fries crisp falafel and stuffs zesty vegan pitas in Mile End and across Montreal, a green-minded counter for a fast, meat-free lunch.
Try: Falafel pita
Tip: The falafel pita with green sauce is the order; it is fully vegan even when it does not taste it.
Nouilles de Lan Zhou stretches its noodles by hand at the window in Montreal's Chinatown, dropping them into cumin-spiced Lanzhou-style beef broth to order.
Try: Hand-pulled noodles
Tip: Watch the dough being pulled at the counter and order the beef soup; specify thin or wide noodles.
Qing Hua folds its soup dumplings by hand in Montreal's Chinatown, sending out steamer baskets of pork-and-crab xiao long bao that burst with hot broth.
Try: Soup dumplings
Tip: Nibble a corner first to let the steam out; a dozen pork and crab is plenty for one hungry person.
Wilensky's has griddled its fried bologna-and-salami Special at a nine-stool Mile End counter since 1932, an unchanging Montreal snack served with mustard.
Try: Fried bologna special
Tip: It comes with mustard and never cut; do not ask them to change it, that is the whole ritual.
Tacos Frida carves al pastor off the trompo in Saint-Henri, Montreal, onto small house-made corn tortillas for some of the city's most authentic street tacos.
Try: Al pastor tacos
Tip: Order three tacos and hit the salsa bar; the al pastor and pineapple pairing is the standout.