Montreal restaurants deserving of your bucket list
4 Minute Read
If you’re craving French cuisine but can’t afford a ticket to Paris, take heart: Montreal restaurants can satiate your appetite. With a culinary heritage that’s deeply rooted in French cuisine, Montreal is considered a top-tier culinary destination. Lauded for prioritizing high-quality, local and seasonal ingredients, many Montreal restaurants are garnering awards as the top dining destinations in Canada and around the world.
For your next special meal, check out our curated list of must-try Montreal restaurants.
Best adventurous experience: Mastard
Where: 1879 Rue Bélanger, Montreal, QC
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Bring your curiosity and an open mind to Mastard; the menu is a simple list of seasonal ingredients, and chef Simon Mathys has “carte blanche.” If your palette is ready for an adventure, you’re in for a special treat at this restaurant, which earned a coveted Michelin star in 2025. Mastard offers exceptional value for its five-course tasting menu, featuring creative, contemporary dishes with a French influence, plated with jaw-dropping artistic design.
Mastard landed spot 40 on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list in 2025, which highlights an “enduring guest favourite and house classic lettuce tart — pâte brisée filled with a mousse of local gem lettuce, served with an herb sauce.” Note the restaurant offers only five seatings per week – Monday to Friday – and reservations are a must.
Best decadent dining: Toqué!
Where: 900 Place Jean-Paul Riopelle, Montreal, QC
Offering luxurious, avant-garde French fare, Toqué! has enjoyed another banner year. Not only did the restaurant rank number 67 on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list in 2025, but it was also one of only two Montreal restaurants to make Forbes’ Travel Guide Star Awards 2025 list of the world’s top restaurants. Toqué! also holds a four-diamond rating from CAA/AAA.
Evening diners can opt for à la carte offerings or indulge in a seven-course tasting menu. Renowned chef Normand Laprise’s approach has become synonymous with Quebec’s seasonal, local products. Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants notes that “techniques are grounded in French and Asian traditions, but their expression is entirely Québécois.” Expect memorable dishes such as princess scallops marinated in blueberry water, or duck magret with yellow foot mushrooms and black garlic purée.
Best for duck watching: Maison Boulud
Where: 1228 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, QC
Internationally acclaimed chef Daniel Boulud is beloved for his soulful reinterpretation of French classics. Since opening Daniel, his one Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City, Boulud now has multiple U.S. restaurants – along with high-end eateries in Toronto, Montreal, Singapore, Dubai, Riyadh, and the Bahamas. Boulud appeared as a guest judge on Top Chef Canada and has received countless culinary awards. Maison Boulud holds a four-diamond rating with CAA/AAA.
Operating out of the swanky Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Maison Boulud offers a multi-course “prix fixe” menu or “à la carte” options. Indulge in rich dishes such as a well-marbled saddle of lamb, served with house-made confit ravioli and stuffed zucchini flowers with ratatouille. In the summer, be sure to request a table overlooking the Ritz’s beloved duck pond.
Best new restaurant: Le Violon
Where: 4720 Rue Marquette, Montreal, QC
If flavours were translated to music, Le Violon’s offerings would be the most beautiful concerto. Tucked away in Montreal’s Le Plateau, the restaurant offers a seafood-forward menu mingled with seasonal Quebec produce. Le Violon won the prestigious “Best New Restaurant 2025” award from Canada’s 100 Best, simultaneously snagging spot 11 on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants.
Under the watchful gaze of a giant Dalmatian painting, diners devour delightfully surprising flavour combinations such as seabream with English peas and beurre blanc, or raw beef with bulgur, tahini, green sauce and tomatoes. Be sure to leave room for the pistachio rose soft-serve ice cream – a customer favourite.
Best quirky decor: Mon Lapin
Where: 150 Rue Saint-Zotique Est., Montreal, QC
Ranked second on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list in 2025 – after previously holding the top ranking – Mon Lapin is beloved for its quirky ambiance, featuring rabbit-themed artwork and figurines. Located in the Little Italy quarter, the World’s 50 Best Restaurants also highlighted Mon Lapin as part of its “50 Best Discovery” program.
Offering French and Italian-inspired fare, a menu staple is the Croque-Pétoncle – a twist on the Lyonnais quenelle but pressed into a toasted sandwich. The menu includes about 15 dishes designed for sharing, including meats matured on the premises, fresh fish and homemade pasta. Note that reservations open 30 days in advance and are often snapped up in two shakes of a rabbit’s tail.
Honourable mentions
Beba: In the working-class suburb of Verdun, Beba offers dishes such as arroz caldoso and gnocchi alla veneta, inspired by Argentine-Jewish culinary traditions. The restaurant landed at number seven on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list in 2025.
Joe Beef: Also, on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants in 2025, Joe Beef offers unpretentious, Lyonnaise-inspired cuisine including lobster spaghetti, beef tongue, frog legs and pâté.
Sabayon: Chef Patrice Demers serves up vegetable-forward dishes – such as his signature wood fire-grilled mushrooms – at Sabayon. The Centre Street restaurant was number 48 on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list in 2025 and earned a Michelin star.
Win a $500 dining experience
Want to win $500 to dine at a CAA/AAA Diamond-rated restaurant in Ottawa? Enter the contest by December 31, 2025!
