Downtown Montreal runs from the Golden Square Mile to the Quartier des Spectacles, mixing Portuguese and Japanese institutions with après-work wine rooms.
Cadet is a Bib Gourmand bar and bistro on the Main in downtown Montreal, matching a smart natural wine list with sharp, snacky plates until late.
Order: The tartare and whatever seafood snack is on the board.
Tip: The bar takes walk-ins and stays lively late; it is a strong pre or post-show stop.
Bouillon Bilk is a minimalist, high-end dining room on the Main in downtown Montreal, plating precise, inventive cooking by the Quartier des Spectacles.
Order: The tasting menu, or the pasta and fish plates a la carte.
Tip: It sits by the theatres; book the pre-show seating, then linger over dessert once the crowd clears.
Kazu is the tiny, roaring Japanese counter on Sainte-Catherine in downtown Montreal, famous for its 48-hour pork, salmon bowls and long sidewalk queue.
Order: The 48-hour pork and the salmon and tuna bowl.
Tip: Expect a line and cash-friendly bowls; go at opening or off-peak to skip the wait.
Ferreira Cafe is the polished Portuguese institution on Rue Peel in downtown Montreal, grilling whole fish and pouring deep Portuguese wine since 1996.
Order: Grilled whole fish and the salt cod, with a glass of Douro red.
Tip: The fixed-price lunch is the value move; dinner is a splurge worth booking ahead.
Toque has anchored fine dining in Montreal since 1993, chef Normand Laprise plating Quebec terroir in a formal room on Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle.
Order: The seasonal tasting menu built on named Quebec producers.
Tip: Lunch is the calmer, cheaper way to taste what Laprise is doing with the season; the tasting menu still needs booking ahead.
Jerome Ferrer runs Europea, a one-Michelin-star French kitchen on Rue de la Montagne in downtown Montreal, famed for its lobster cappuccino and long tastings.
Order: The signature lobster cream cappuccino with truffle.
Tip: The multi-course tasting is long and theatrical; go hungry and leave the whole evening free.
Le Mousso is Antonin Mousseau-Rivard's ambitious tasting-menu room in Montreal's Centre-Sud, a dark, theatrical space built around one long set menu.
Order: The set tasting menu; there is no a la carte.
Tip: Trust the kitchen and take the wine pairing; the menu changes with the season and rarely repeats.
Nouilles de Lan Zhou hand-pulls its noodles to order in Montreal's Chinatown, the dough stretched at the window over bowls of cumin-spiced beef broth.
Order: Hand-pulled beef noodle soup, watched being stretched at the counter.
Tip: Ask for your noodles thin or wide when you order; the beef soup is the one to get.
Qing Hua fills its soup dumplings by hand in Montreal's Chinatown, a bustling counter where the pork-and-crab xiao long bao arrive by the steaming dozen.
Order: A dozen pork and crab soup dumplings, plus the coriander ones.
Tip: Order fewer dumplings than you think; a dozen each is plenty and they come out fast.
Deville Dinerbar is a glossy downtown Montreal diner, plating truffle-butter popcorn shrimp and spiked milkshakes under retro neon on Rue Stanley.
Order: The popcorn shrimp and a spiked milkshake to share.
Tip: It leans indulgent and photogenic; go for the milkshakes and fried starters, not restraint.
Otto Yakitori is a late-night izakaya near downtown Montreal, grilling charcoal skewers and pouring sake and highballs until one in the morning.
Order: A run of charcoal yakitori skewers with a highball.
Tip: It runs late for the neighbourhood; go after ten for skewers and drinks when other kitchens have closed.
Jatoba is a slick pan-Asian room off Square Phillips in downtown Montreal, plating robata skewers, sushi and Korean-leaning share plates in a buzzy room.
Order: A spread of robata skewers and the sushi of the day.
Tip: It fills with a downtown after-work crowd; the robata grill and share plates are built for a group.
Ryu is a polished downtown sushi bar on Rue Peel in Montreal, turning out creative maki and sashimi, a reliable mid-range Japanese pick downtown.
Order: The signature rolls and a mixed sashimi plate.
Tip: The Peel location is central and busy at lunch; the creative maki are the strength over the nigiri.
Pikolo Espresso Bar is a two-level jewel near Montreal's Quartier des Spectacles, serving careful espresso and pastries to students off Rue Clark.
Signature drink: Cortado
Tip: The mezzanine has the quiet seats; the ground floor fills with a takeaway rush around lunchtime.
Cafe Parvis is a plant-filled cafe in a former fur-district loft in downtown Montreal, serving coffee by day and pizzas and natural wine by night.
Signature drink: Espresso
Tip: Daytime is calm coffee and salads; evenings turn to pizza and natural wine under the hanging plants.
Cafe Humble Lion is a bright specialty coffee bar across from McGill on Rue Sherbrooke in downtown Montreal, pulling careful espresso for a student crowd.
Signature drink: Cortado
Tip: It sits right by the McGill gates and gets busy between classes; mid-afternoon is the calm window.
Cafe Osmo is a Japanese-inflected coffee and matcha bar on Rue Sherbrooke in Montreal, teamed with Marusan for onigiri and pastries near the Plateau border.
Signature drink: Matcha latte
Tip: The matcha and the onigiri are the specialties; it is a calm spot to work between downtown and the Plateau.
Pourquoi Pas is a tiny, welcoming espresso bar in the Village near downtown Montreal, a longtime neighbourhood favourite for careful coffee and a chat.
Signature drink: Espresso
Tip: It is small and friendly rather than a work cafe; go for a proper espresso and a chat with the barista.
Le Mal Necessaire is a green-lit tiki cocktail bar hidden down a Chinatown staircase in Montreal, mixing rum drinks served in carved pineapples.
Signature drink: Tiki cocktails served in a pineapple
Food: Chinatown snacks
Tip: Look for the green pineapple sign off Saint-Laurent; the pineapple cocktail is the one to photograph.
Cloakroom is a tiny speakeasy hidden behind a downtown Montreal tailor shop, where bartenders build bespoke cocktails to your taste with no printed menu.
Signature drink: Bartender's-choice bespoke cocktail
Food: None
Tip: There is no menu; tell the bartender a spirit and a mood and let them build the drink for you.
Bar Furco is a buzzy downtown Montreal bar in a former fur warehouse near the Quartier des Spectacles, pouring natural wine and cocktails after work.
Signature drink: Natural wine and cocktails
Food: Small plates until 23:00
Tip: It packs out after work near the theatres; the kitchen serves sharp small plates until eleven.
Bar Pamplemousse is an easygoing bar and kitchen on the Main in downtown Montreal, pouring cocktails and craft beer alongside hearty comfort food.
Signature drink: Cocktails and craft beer
Food: Comfort plates
Tip: It is a solid pre-show stop by the theatres; the kitchen runs later than most downtown neighbours.
Bootlegger l'Authentique is a two-floor Prohibition-themed cocktail bar on the Main in Montreal, mixing classic drinks over live jazz in a dim room.
Signature drink: Prohibition-era cocktails
Food: Bar cuisine
Tip: Come for the weekend jazz sets; the upstairs is louder, the downstairs bar better for the cocktails.
Le 4e Mur is a hidden Quartier Latin speakeasy behind an unmarked door in Montreal, run by a bartending school pouring precise, technical cocktails.
Signature drink: Menu-driven signature cocktails
Food: Snacks
Tip: There is no sign on Saint-Denis; ring the buzzer and let the menu of house signatures guide the order.
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.
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.
Le Cheval Blanc opened in 1987 as Quebec's first brewpub and still brews in its retro Ontario Est tavern in Montreal, a low-key Village institution.
Tip: It leans old-school neighbourhood tavern; come for the house lagers and the unhurried afternoon vibe.
Le Saint-Bock is a Quartier Latin brewpub in Montreal on Rue Saint-Denis, pairing its own beers with one of the city's longest guest tap and bottle lists.
Tip: The tap and bottle list runs to hundreds; ask staff to narrow it down by style before you order.
Benelux is a Milton-Parc brewpub in downtown Montreal near the universities, brewing a rotating range of ales poured to a student and after-work crowd.
Tip: It sits by McGill and Concordia; the rotating seasonal taps are more interesting than the flagships.
Time Out Market Montreal gathers stalls from top city chefs on the upper floor of the Eaton Centre downtown, a curated food hall under one roof.
Tip: It is a good rainy-day way to sample several chefs at once; go off-peak to avoid the lunch-rush queues.
Le Central is a sprawling gourmet food hall in Montreal's Quartier des Spectacles, with dozens of counters spanning tacos, dumplings and smash burgers.
Tip: Split up and graze across the stalls; it is one of the better late-night group options downtown.
Le Cathcart is a glassy food hall and biergarten under the Place Ville Marie esplanade in downtown Montreal, mixing chef-run counters and a central bar.
Tip: The central biergarten is the draw for after-work groups; the counters cover most cravings in one stop.
Boustan is a downtown Montreal institution for cheap, garlicky shawarma, its Rue Crescent counter feeding students and night owls well past midnight.
Try: Shawarma pita
Tip: The Aladin potato pita is the cult order and barely dents a tenner; extra toum is free and essential.
Nouilles de Lan Zhou fills a table for cheap in Montreal's Chinatown, its hand-pulled beef noodle soup one of the best-value hot bowls in the city.
Try: Hand-pulled noodle soup
Tip: One big beef soup and a plate of dumplings feeds two for the price of a downtown sandwich.
Qing Hua is a bargain in Montreal's Chinatown, a dozen hand-folded soup dumplings landing well under fifteen dollars and easily enough for a full lunch.
Try: Soup dumplings
Tip: A single dozen is a filling meal; split two orders across the table to try more fillings for less.
Boustan keeps its garlicky shawarma coming past 2am on Rue Crescent in Montreal, a downtown late-night fixture for students spilling out of the bars.
Try: Shawarma pita
Tip: The Aladin potato pita soaks up the night; ask for extra toum and pickled turnip on the way out.
Le Mal Necessaire mixes rum tiki drinks down a green-lit Chinatown staircase in Montreal, a late-night hideout for pineapple cocktails and dim lighting.
Try: Tiki cocktails and snacks
Tip: It gets loud and full after midnight on weekends; the pineapple cocktail is the late-night signature.
Bar Furco pours natural wine and cocktails until 3am near the Quartier des Spectacles in Montreal, a downtown after-hours bar with a kitchen that runs late.
Try: Natural wine and small plates
Tip: The kitchen stops at eleven but the bar runs to three; a good spot for a last glass after a show.
Cloakroom keeps building bespoke cocktails behind a downtown Montreal tailor shop late into the night, a tiny, menu-free room for an unhurried nightcap.
Try: Bespoke cocktails
Tip: There is no menu; name a spirit and a mood at the bar and let them send you off with one last drink.