A Tale of Two Montreal Bagel Bakeries

Salmon spread, BLT and traditional bagels at St-Viateur

Following our consumption of smoked meat, next on our list was Montreal-style bagels, which were brought to the city by Jewish immigrants from Poland and other Eastern European countries. 

Montreal-style bagels differ from New York ones, which are considered better for sandwiches because they have smaller holes and are chewier and saltier. On the other hand, Montreal bagels are crunchier, not as dense and thick.

The traditional bagel was a winner at St-Viateur

St. Viateur and Fairmount are the two oldest bagel establishments in Montreal, and we decided to try both of them for our breakfast. 

Since the TV series Heated Rivalry came out in December and mostly set in Montreal, writer and director Jacob Tierney features many of his favourite places, and bagel shop St-Viateur is one of them. The character Rose Landry played by actress Sophie Nelisse wears the shop's T-shirt in the show, and actor Francois Arnaud who is Scott Hunter in the show likes the bagels at both St-Viateur and Fairmount.

In interviews he has said New York bagels aren't bagels, just bagel-shaped bread. Ha!

We first went to St-Viateur and it was not quite busy yet, which gave us time to carefully peruse the menu and make our choices. We settled on traditional on a sesame bagel, which has smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, onion, capers and a lemon wedge.

The shop also has bagel-themed merchandise

Another was the BLT, or bacon, lettuce and tomato on a wholewheat bagel with a pesto or mayonnaise spread. We asked which one was better and the staff suggested both which is what we did! The last one we sampled was an all dressed bagel with salmon spread. 

The traditional hit all the right notes, the sesame bagel had a slightly crunchy exterior, soft inside, accompanied with thick slices of smoked salmon that were complemented with cream cheese, and the richness cut by the onion and capers.

Meanwhile I didn't try the BLT but heard it was very good too, but the salmon spread was the weakest of the three. It didn't look very appetising with this bright orange gloopy sauce, when I had been expecting a thicker consistency. On top of it, the spread had a fishy taste.

Then we digested our food by walking to the Fairmount shop, which was opened by Russian immigrant Isadore Shlafman in 1919. His shop was first called Montreal Bagel Bakery, and in 1949 moved it to Fairmount Street, and later adopted the Fairmount name.

Fairmount is one of the oldest bagel shops

Shlafman's grandchildren continue to run the business, the bagels still rolled by hand and baked in wood-burning ovens.

We really liked the smoked meat in between the onion bagel, making smoked meat such a versatile protein! It's good with any kind of carbs! 

When comparing the smoked salmon bagel, St-Viateur tasted better than the one at Fairmount, though we still liked the all-dressed bagel at Fairmount. We also liked the blueberry bagel with a simple (or lavish) spread of butter that melted on the toasted slices.

During our visit at Fairmount, I saw some people come in just to get a bagel sandwich for work, and it was packaged in a simple square box that was easy to carry around. 

Smoked meat in an onion bagel at Fairmount

It made me wish I could have bagel sandwiches more often!

Smoked Meat Heaven at Schwartz's

Here's the storefront of where to dine-in!

Since we aborted our day trip to Quebec City earlier than we expected, we decided some delicious compensation was in order. We came back to Montreal, parked our car and then took the metro to Schwartz's Deli.

We got there just after 5pm and while there were other tourists milling around, we discovered there were two storefronts, one for takeout only, and the other to dine in. We went into the latter, and one of the servers instructed us to find our own seats and lo and behold -- three seats right at the counter.

The interior has hardly changed in decades

The place still has its old diner vibes. On one side are framed pictures and old newspaper articles. There are pictures of Celine Dion and it jokingly says she's in the back. It turns out she and her husband Rene Angelil have shares in the current ownership.

The paper placemat says diners are in the company of such celebrities as Jean Chretien, Burt Lancaster, Nana Mouskouri, Ken Dryden, Jerry Lewis and Guy Lafleur...

Behind the counter are back-lit signs of the menu, refrigerators holding drinks, and lots of seasonings for sale in case you were interested in attempting to make smoked meat at home.

While the staff overall are nice, they are a bit rough around the edges, seeing so many tourists come through their doors everyday. It must be so tiring having to say takeaway is next door, or next door is dine-in... the signage in front is not clear. 

A smoked meat sandwich with coleslaw

Nevertheless, we had the enviable task of figuring out what to order. The smoked meat sandwich of course. What about Schwartz's poutine? We had to try poutine anyway. For vegetables we decided on coleslaw and a dill pickle.

Minutes after we ordered, our plates of food arrived soon after. First was the plate of coleslaw and a big fat dill pickle. The coleslaw is made from shaved cabbage, a few specks of carrot, seasoned with vinegar for a tangy taste, but not sour at all. 

Not long after the smoked meat sandwich arrived (medium fat), on rye bread with yellow mustard. The smoked meat was finely shaved, piled high and still hot. Our first bite into it was heavenly, the sandwich focused on the smoked meat that had been cured for at least 10 days and had a rounded peppery flavour that wasn't too spicy, more seasoned. Absolutely delicious. And the coleslaw cut through the fattiness of the sandwich.

Poutine topped with bits of smoked meat

The Schwartz poutine was a huge portion of French fries, melted cheese curds, gravy and topped with shavings of smoked meat. Wow this was quite the meal in itself, but very good to share. The cheese curds were stringy rather than squeaky, but the combination was fantastic. Who knew poutine needed shaved smoked meat on top?

As we ate, we watched one of the staff open a giant steel container in front of us and stab a giant piece of smoked meat and lift it out, then closed the lid. Then he added more water to continue to steam the rest of the meat inside.  

We pretty much polished everything in under an hour and walked out around $75 lighter, but also very happily sated from visiting this institution that's been around since 1928. Obviously they're doing something right to last 98 years!

Schwartz's Deli

3895 Saint-Laurent Boulevard

514 842 4813 

Montreal's Atwater Market

Atwater Market was built in 1930s Art Deco style

Chef Andersen Lee took us to his favourite public market in Montreal called Atwater Market near Lachine Canal. It's not touristy, more locals who come here to buy perennials and wines, as well as meats, vegetables and cheeses.

Thick-cut slices of smoked meat at Alywin's

The market is named after Edwin Atwater, a 19th century businessman and city councillor, and the Art Deco building opened in 1933 during the Great Depression in a bid to stimulate the economy. 

Inside there are two floors housing butchers, cheesemongers, a shop selling coffee beans, a boulangerie and patisserie. We went into Aylwin Deli to try their smoked meat sandwich (C$16) on rye and pumpernickel bread, but the thickly sliced meat tasted flat, with no peppery taste.

Nevertheless, we marvelled at the stalls selling an abundance of asparagus, not only green but purple and white as well, fresh bulbs of garlic, giant stalks of rhubarb, and fresh herbs.

Large selection of vegetables and fruits for sale

We also tried some pastries -- a coffee-flavoured eclair, and one with chocolate ganache inside, and a small lemon tart with lime zest. They were all delicious, washed down with a refreshing raspberry lemonade.

There were lots of baskets of colourful perennials to hang or place in small balcony boxes at home, while oenophiles enjoyed wandering the aisles of a giant wine shop selling a wide variety of bottles.

Lee likes to come here, pick out a bottle, buy some cheeses, cold cuts and a baguette and have a picnic.

It's such a French way of organising a casual bite that also tastes amazing -- with a glass of wine. 

If you don't drive, it's also relatively easy to get to Atwater Market by metro too.

Colourful perennials ready to be taken home

Atwater Market

155 Green Avenue

Montreal

Review: Blue Smoke in Singapore

Crispy Iberico pork belly

A restaurant in Singapore I was introduced to is called Blue Smoke, run by chef/owner Ivan Yeo. It's located along Joo Chiat Road, on the east coast of the Lion City. Before dinner my friend and I wandered along the street checking out the various boutiques and shops. 

There were vintage shops selling clothes from the 1980s to antique brooches and jewellery, a biodynamic wine shop where the wines had no sulfites in them, and clothes made by young designers. 

Succulent miso shiitake brioche buns

At the appointed time we reached Blue Smoke, and it's a casual place with an open kitchen at the back. Yeo was there with a bandana on his forehead, as I can imagine it gets pretty hot there as he cooks with open flames and grills.

He's a maverick in that he did not come up through the ranks in the restaurant world -- instead he was in advertising, got jaded, then switched to music, and that was where he saw how restaurants and bars were run from the back-of-house point of view that interested him. Yeo had also had a taste of the restaurant business as his grandparents had opened eateries and he helped out as a kid.

Then he has an uncle who made his own beers and Yeo and his brother were interested in pairing food with these beers, hence Blue Smoke. The concept is that everything on the menu is smoked, but not in the American way of marinating for ages and then smoking it for over 12 hours. Yeo prefers to experiment with various ingredients by grilling them, throwing them on open flames and then seeing what happens.

Hands-down favourite grilled cauliflower

We tried some of his dishes and for the most part they were pretty good. We started with the miso shiitake buns, where brioche buns are cut open and brown butter spread on the insides with smoked shiitake mushrooms. They were a delicious combination.

Next came the crispy pork belly, reminiscent of the Cantonese roast pork. Here they used Iberico pork smoked over lychee wood and then roasted over charcoal, then served with wasabi sour cream to add a subtle kick and attempt to cut the oil. This was a bit too fatty for me but the skin was crispy.

The grilled cauliflower steak was arguably the best dish. It was grilled with miso butter and served over a bed of yuzu sauce and crumbled pistachios sprinkled over it for a bit of a crunch. We all raved about this humble vegetable that tasted so good.

Grilled lamb marinated with a Sichuan spice rub

Another meat we tried was the grilled lamb shoulder that arrived beautifully presented before we attacked it. The lamb was marinated in a mild spicy Sichuan-style spice rub before it was grilled over both wood and charcoal before being served with a side of wasabi sour cream. 

The wood smoked stingray steak was another winner. The fish was marinated with traditional Filipino shrimp paste, homemade sambal belachan (chillis) and then smoked over lychee wood. For me it was at the high end of my spice tolerance, but it was so good that it was addictive and I kept eating it.

Finally the highly anticipated wood-smoked beef brisket... fell flat. Perhaps we were expecting something similar to American smoked meat, but this one arrived at our table looking pale and tasted bland even though it was marinated with garam masala and smoked for 20 hours. 

The smoked beef brisket was bland and flat

Nevertheless the dessert of deep-fried Del Monte banana tempura style with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream helped us have a nice finish. The outer layer of the banana slightly crunchy, warm and combined with cold ice cream was just what we wanted.

In terms of Chinese medicine, Blue Smoke is very heaty! We talked to Yeo after who told us they cook Teochew or Chiu Chow off-menu dishes! He described their fish porridge which made us all salivate, but we were too full and the kitchen was closed for the evening.

This is how Yeo entices customers to come back again and now we know!

Blue Smoke

261 Joo Chiat Road

Singapore

  

Picture of the Day: Beef n' Lakes

Can you imagine eating a full portion of beef n' latkes?!

We're currently in Palm Springs, California, home to about 487,000 people and a lot of delicatessens that serve both smoked meats and sinful desserts. 

Last night we went to one called Sherman's, named after Sherman Harris. It opened in 1963 and is still very popular.

As smoked meats are a rarity in Hong Kong, it was a nice surprise to be able to eat it here! The menu had so many items featuring corned beef, pastrami, chicken soup with the option of matzo ball, chopped liver, and meat loaf!

One interesting dish that caught my attention -- beef n' latkes -- which is corned beef or pastrami in between not bread, but two potato latkes!

I had forgotten American portions were huge and was overwhelmed when it arrived! The only way to eat it of course was with a fork and knife.

A great combo -- better than having bread, as the latkes added more flavour (and oil), and complemented the corned beef flavour!

Needless to say I could only manage half of it!