Beyond the Bagel: Montreal Jewish Food Walking Tour
Description
Taste your way through Montreal's Jewish heritage on the Montreal Jewish Museum's flagship Beyond the Bagel tour. Experience Jewish food culture as you explore Montreal's Mile End and Plateau neighbourhoods with an expert museum guide, enjoying many tastings and hidden histories along the way.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Noshing on some kosher pastries, we'll dive into the history of Jewish Montreal as we explore the streets of this beautiful neighbourhood!
We'll learn about the history of Jewish food, and it's starring role in Montreal's cuisine as we take a trip to the city's most famous bagel shops and oldest Jewish lunch counter.
Taking a stroll on Montreal's iconic St-Laurent boulevard, we'll discover its rich past and vibrant present, sampling offerings from a hip new Jewish bakery and iconic Deli shop along the way.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- This tour is not certified kosher nor can provide vegan or gluten-free options (vegetarian options and alternatives for non-kosher meat are available)
- This tour is not entirely wheelchair accessible; some visited food establishments have steps. However, we are happy to provide accommodation for all levels of mobility to the best of our ability.
Reviews(137)
Ella provided a nice history of the neighbourhood along with a lively food tour. She was well organized and obviously enjoyed a good relationship with the local bakeries and restaurants.
The portions are generous and delicious!!!! Bring good walking shoes and be prepared to learn a lot. Our guide was very knowledgeable!
I booked my tour from the museum. Sam was great. I enjoyed the stops. It would be nice if some shop owners came out and talked for 5 minutes. It would be good to have a fruit or veggie! Lol.
We had a wonderful time with AJ! She was very knowledgeable and fun to talk to. All of the food was delicious, and they were able to accommodate our vegetarian diet with no difficulty. We left the tour very full, and we even returned to two of the tour stops the following day because the food was so delicious! This was a great way to explore the neighborhood.
Our guide, Ella, was friendly and knowledgeable, sharing just the right amount of interesting history while keeping the tour moving at a lively pace. The food choices/venues were excellent!
We met with Ella at the Rialto and enjoyed a leisurely tour of Mile End. She shared lots of interesting history interspersed with delicious food. She was engaging and tour let us finally compare ST Viateur bagels with fairmont bagels. Spoiler alert: they are both delicious! She took us to the world’s best knishes (not to missed) and a babka that will knock your socks off. We absolutely adored the tour and highly recommend! This could be enjoyed by any age, our McGill student had a great time too!
The tour itself was interesting. The food samples likewise were interesting. Be vigilante on which samples you get from the guide. Although the bag of bagels was hot, she gave me the top one which was cold and not nearly as tasty as my friend's warm bagel. At the end where we were supposed to get 1/2 a meat sandwich (wrapped in paper), the guide handed me what felt like an empty wrapping paper - it was almost empty. The sandwich had been cut such that I got a sliver of bread about the size of my finger with an even smaller one silver of meat. Other sandwiches had a stack of meat and were a true half - well, except the person who got the other "half" of mine - they got almost a whole sandwich. I handed my wrapped sandwich to the guide and said "this is empty" she took it in hand, took a look, made a surprised face - but did absolutely nothing to correct the situation. For me, this sandwich was to be the highlight of the tour rather than the huge disappointment it turned out to be. The other thing - the guide offered the remaining kolache (delicious) to the group, both my friend and i indicated we would like it (no others did). She put it back in her bag. This happened three times and each time we requested it. At the end of the tour she kept it even when she asked a final time and we said yes. With the other samples, she asked and did give to a tour member at the time after we all sampled it. She was a good, knowledgeable guide - but clearly wanted to take that kolache home to her family. Other than the bad experiences with the food samples on this food tour, it was a good tour. But - it was about the food!!!
Ella was great. History with pictures and up close and personal stops for samples, bagels and meat sandwiches. A worthwhile tour for anyone interested in the Jewish history of French Montreal.
We're not Jewish but love good food and learning about cultures. Our enthusiastic guide Ella did a fantastic job of introducing our small group to a variety of Jewish foods and putting them in context with regard to cultural and religious traditions. The food was all delicious and abundant (you will be stuffed) and we appreciated not having to wait on lines. Also, it was fascinating to walk the boulevard and residential side streets to get a peek at local life with Ella, who is not only a local but also has a degree in Jewish history and carries a big binder with facts at her fingertips. (Personally, I like drilling down like this but others may find some of it a little too detailed, certainly children.) All in all, we highly recommend this tour!
Ella was a fabulous guide, weaving the history of Jewish immigration and stories of current life/culture with delicious food. Lots of food!! Almost all carbs and smoked meat so not for all diets. We had a gorgeous sunny day, which always helps. Thoroughly enjoyed this tour.
