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Scola Pasta
A longtime favorite with office workers. Don't be intimidated by the pushy lunchtime crowds. Grab a tray, get in line, and prepare for mouth-watering daily specials served over the counter by some of the most gregarious cooks in town.
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Senzala
Wonderful Brazillian meat and seafood dishes are served here. Try the churrasquinho mixto a medley of shrimp, chicken and beef brochettes marinated in garlic. The breakfasts here are also one-of-a-kind. The Tropicana has poached eggs gratinée in an avocado with mango and tomato with cheese sauce and is served with plantain and fruit brochette. The restaurant is warm and causal and tended by terrifically friendly staff.
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St Viateur Bagel & Cie
A splendid café that serves up its signature bagels, grilled or nature, with soup or salad. There are about a dozen sandwiches but most popular are the traditional smoked lox with cream cheese and roast beef with Swiss cheese, olive oil and tomato. There's also a breakfast bagel with eggs and ham.
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Stash Café
This place serves hearty Polish cuisine in an intimate setting of church pews and low-hanging ceiling lamps. Your stomach will be made warm and content by Eastern European standards like borscht (beetroot soup) and pierogi (triangular, savoury filled pastries). The more ambitious should sample the Wild Boar table d'hôte . Reservations are a good idea anytime of the year especially if you want a window table.
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Tampopo
Plateau locals love this cozy place for its aromatic Vietnamese soups and filling noodle dishes with flank steak, grilled pork and rice vermicelli. Take a seat at one of three low tables with bamboo matting, or at the long wavy counter with a view of the open kitchen.
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Three Amigos
You know, sometimes it isn't all about the food. The chicken chimichangas (around C$12 ) here are lethally good, and the homemade salsa reeks to perfection with coriander, however the rest is fine but unremarkable Tex-Mex fare. Then why come? Because locals and students from the nearby universities and college pack this place to the gills, especially on weekends, turning it into a kind of loud, tacky and boisterous party.
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Titanic
The sandwiches are what has office workers scurrying to these cramped basement quarters from all over Old Montréal on their lunch breaks. The varieties are endless and can include pepper pâté, smoked mackerel or spicy Calabrese sausage.
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Toqué!
No other place has generated so much excitement on the Montréal dining scene as Toqué!. Chef Normand Laprise gets rave reviews for his superfresh, innovative menus based on blending local produce into eclectic dishes. Even his desserts excite, created around fresh fruit with surprises like basil accents.
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Tutti Frutti
Plates are laden with gut-busting helpings at this bustling downtown breakfast place. Don't expect much atmosphere from the no-frills dining room, the ambience here comes from the crowds particularly on weekends. The velours bleu (two eggs, bacon and two blueberry pancakes served with potatoes, toast and coffee) is one of the most popular dishes - you won't need to eat for the rest of the day it's so filling.
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Usine de Spaghetti Parisienne
The congenial stone and wood interiors with open hearth attract loads of tourists and families, but can you blame them? Its standard dishes like fettuccini with baby clams or filet mignon are great value and prices include all the bread and salad you can eat.
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Vents Du Sud
The cuisine is rustic terrines, conserves of duck, grilled meats and hearty sauces of garlic, peppers and tomatoes. It's one of the few places on the Montréal scene devoted to this kind of food. Service is warm and welcoming and good at giving menu recommendations if you are not familiar with this type of cuisine. Its garage-sale chairs, salty regulars and moustached host give it the feel of a village eatery. Reserve ahead.
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Wilensky's Light Lunch
Terminally grumpy staff make no effort to hide that cranking out your soda and Wilensky's special is the most disagreeable task they've had all day. Rickety stools line the counter and 1930s photographs adorn the walls. This place was immortalized in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz but is equally famous for its cheap sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs.
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Ye Olde Orchard Pub
Join hordes of chattering pubgoers for British Isles classics like bangers 'n' mash, fish and chips, Lancashire steak or Irish stout stew, all served to the strains of traditional Celtic music by kilt-clad waiters. As the night wears, the empty Guinness glasses pile up below the pubroom TVs.
