Well I would first like to apologize for my non-existent self on the blog the past oh 3 or so months!!! I have been incredibly busy. When I first got back to AK I was welcomed home by my new puppy smiley, who took up ALL of my time. It is like having a baby, but you constantly have to drag them around the house on a rope toy and clean up all their accidents! Then in May I came down to Montreal to stay with my boyfriend, FP, for a couple months and go to school down here. I got a certificate to teach English as a foriegn language in the hopes that this next year in Europe I will have a job! FP signed in France this year, which is incredibly exciting as I will always have my very own personal translator everywhere I go! My French has also imptroved dramatically, so at least this year I will be able to say a bit more than just Questo!! Questo! NO questo! With that being said let me get down to business. This post is for all those Celiacs or gluten free people out there that may just want to travel to the lovely land of the French Canadians. I have eaten out quite a bit here and have some serious suggestions of where to go and where not to go!
FP and I sublet an apartment for the summer in Rosemont, which is about 20 minutes from the center of downtown, but still on the Island of Montreal. Montreal is absolutely abundant with ethnic restaurants, which is awesome! No where else have I seen so many Vietnamese restaurants. I swear you could probably find one every 5 blocks! Either the Vietnamese love the French Canadians or the French Canadians love to eat Vietnamese food! Anyway I love it here and I highly suggest for anyone to make a point of coming to visit Montreal and Quebec city, which is a very magical place.
Restaurants in Montreal sans gluten!
La Carreta (5 Stars!)
**English spoken
350 rue Saint-Zotique EstMontréal, QC H2S 1L7 (514) 273-8884
This place is my favorite place so far in Montreal! It is a little tiny restaurant with a wonderful ambiance where they serve Salvodorian food. Everything is gluten free on their menu, except for the burrito items (however, I think there are only 2 items that come with burritos!) The sangria is phenomenal and comes by the pitcher. The owner himself will greet you at the door and knows exactly how serious ingesting gluten is for us Celiacs! He also may make a couple suggestions about what to order, but don`t brush them away! We took his word and were speechless at how good the food was. If you are in the mood for South American food, then eat here!
Zero8 (3 stars)
http://www.zero8.com/
**English spoken
This place is ok. Everything is gluten free on their menu, but be aware everything is also soy free, casein free, egg free, etc. So it is great that you can eat with no hesitation, but I am going to be honest when I say I love to eat cheese! I had poutine here and well it wasn`t really poutine. They called it poutine, but yet there was no cheese on my poutine! For those of you who are unaware of what poutine is, well it is the love of quebecers! It consists of fries smothered in gravy and topped off with cheese curds. It sounds absolutely revolting, but lets be honest, it is absolutely delicious! Ok, back to Zero8. This place does have good food, but it is very overpriced and I wasn`t thoroughly impressed. I did not have dinner here, so I could be wrong, but I did have lunch and paid about 16 dollars for a small bowl of poutine and some bruchetta. Ì don`t believe it was worth the price, but then again a trendy little restaurant that is allergy free on one of the hot streets in Montreal is bound to be expensive. So for those of you that have the money and want a nice trendy restauruant, then I do suggest this one.
Sushi time (4 stars)
**English spoken
3129, Rue Masson, Montreal, QC H1Y 1X 514-725-8181
This place is a little hole in the wall that serves excellent sushi. It is incredibly cheap and two can eat for well under 40 dollars! Just bring your own soy sauce. The daughter of the restaurant is trilingual and seems to have a good understanding of what contains gluten and what doesn`t. However, make sure you always ask! The sushi was fresh and they even serve take out and deliver!
Dong Que (2 stars)
**English spoken
1210 boulevard RosemontMontréal, QC H2S 2A5
(514) 490-0770
This is one of the many Vietnamese restaurants in Montreal. However, I was slightly disappointed with this one. I read a couple reviews online and was told this place had the best spring rolls in Montreal. I completely disagree. I could make better ones at home! Along with better sauce! I had some pho soup, which was actually really good. My boyfriend had some sort of noodle dish that he wasn`t particulary crazy about. The owner was also very unclear about what gluten was and didn`t even try to read the vietnamese card I had with me, which was very upsetting. He simply told me all I could have was 2 of the pho soups, that was it! I was incredibly disappointed as I was really looking forward to eating here. With that being said, the prices are really cheap and we ate for under 40 dollars. But I am sure at most Vietnamese places in Montreal you can eat for 40 dolllars and have much better food! So I recommend trying another place!
Ottavios (5 stars!)
http://www.ottavio.ca/
This was the first restaurant I ate at in Montreal last year. This place is incredible. Their pasta dishes almost made me cry when I first had them and their mussels are to die for. I don`t really reccomend their gluten free pizzas. Frankly I think a good ol` Bob`s Red Mill crust is way better, but do eat their mussels, pasta dishes, salads, and even the dessert! The restaurant is very trendy and not horribly expensive. The waitstaff are great and I was even able to talk with the owner last time about why he decided to have a gluten free menu. They even have a whole section of their kitchen dedicated to staying gf. And you can also bring your own wine! They have two locations and if you don`t speak French, I recommend the Montreal location. In Laval you find English rarely spoken. So enjoy and bon appetito!
Quebec City
Kameleon (5+++ stars)
http://lekameleonrestosympatique.com/
This place understands what being gluten free is. It is a new restaurant that doesn`t quite have its business in full swing, but I perfered it that way because my boyfriend and I were able to have a nice quiet dinner and a couple nice chats with the waiter. The food was phenominal and in my opinion is closer to fine dining without the prices! I was able to order a 4 course meal for under 30 dollars. I had cream of mushroom soup, followed by the best caprese salad of my life. For my entree, I orderd veal that was done to perfection and was complimented with some incredible gluten free lemon pasta. Finally for dessert my boyfriend had the chocolate mousse, while I had cheesecak sans crust. I was able to sample both desserts and was literally in heaven. It was one of the best gluten free experiences of my life. So if you want to spend an amazing romantic dinner (gf of course) in the lovely city of Quebec, I can`t recommend this place enough!
Enjoy these recommendations and there are more to come next summer!!!
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20 comments:
Hi Gluten Free Alaskan Goddess,
We have been quite surprised by your comment as it does not reflect what our customers usually say about our restaurant (Zero8). For some reason, things may have gone wrong in either explaining the concept, the menu (and the fact that our poutine is by definition cheese-lesss) or in the preparation of your meal.
In order to deliver our promise, gluten & allergen-free, everything is home-made at our restaurant so yes, the price might be slightly higher than fast-food locations. We nevertheless have great lunch available between 10-12$.
We guarantee that our customers will be pleased with our food and service, so would you please be kind enough to contact me as we would like to sort this out and refund whatever wasn't to your taste.
Thank you!
Dominique
info@zero8.com
Hi,
I'm glad you enjoyed my city of Montréal. I'm also celiac (was diagnosed last year), and have started exploring some of our dining establishments from a new perspective. At some point I may start a blog as well, in which case I'll do like you do and provide some reviews. If you are ever in Montreal again, feel free to contact me and I may be able to give some recommendations of where to go (and not to go).
Of the restaurants you've mentioned in your post that I've been to, here are my comments:
La Carreta
The food was very good. The service was lousy. I coincidentally arranged to go to dinner there around the time I got my positive blood test. I didn't look at it closely in terms of it being gluten-free. My immediate impression was that more of the food contained gluten - it's good to know it's only a couple of items. Maybe I'll back there sometime and give it a second chance.
Zero8
I've been there a couple of times and enjoyed both my meals there. Some things are (somewhat understandably) more expensive than I originally expected. Some of that is undoubtedly due to the menu. The other part is due to it's location. If I need to eat downtown and haven't planned ahead, I know it's one place I can always go to.
Ottavio
I've been there once and liked it. I had one of the pasta dishes. I've been hoping to go back there and try the pizza. I'm sorry to hear that it might not be worth it. The only other restaurant pizza I've had here is from the Pizza Pizza, which specifically have gluten-free options. Unfortunately that pizza is nothing special either.
Hey Geoff!
Nice to hear from you and thanks for reading my blog. I will be back to Montréal next summer, as my boyfriend is from there and we are looking to make that our some what permanent home when we aren`t traveling for the hockey season. I am looking for a good vietnamese restaurant or thai restaurant that has gluten free options. Also, have you eaten Indian food in Montréal? Do you have a place in mind??? Thanks so much!
I haven't tried a Thai, Vietnamese, or Indian restaurant yet. By the time you get here next summer, I might have :-)
If you want to keep in contact with me about this, send me a message soon. My email username is geoffzz. The domain is gmail.com. (I'll delete this post with my email address in it if and when you've contacted me this way.)
A great source of Sans gluten/gluten Free stuff is :
www.birkat-hamazon.com
While searching for info about gluten free options, I stumbled onto your blog. Very helpful info indeed! I do have two questions for you. Where can I buy a few gluten-free replacement things like bagels, crackers, etc.? We'll have a kitchen in the hotel room so we'll eat most breakfasts there. Next, what is the best place for a fancy anniversary dinner? It's ok if it's pricey - we just want it to offer great gf options and have some nice atmosphere and service. I
survived Paris with my French dining card, so I'm not opposed to visiting a place where very little French is spoken (at least once anyway). Thanks in advance if you can help!
The Loblaws and Provigo supermarket chains have many locations that have gluten-free sections. A few other chains do too. The GF sections include frozen sections, which may have frozen GF bagels. I don't know if there is any place to get fresh GF bagels around Montreal.
There are a number of nice places to have an anniversary dinner. One very nice place where I have dined a couple of times is Bonaparte (http://www.restaurantbonaparte.ca/en/the-restaurant/) in Old Montreal. You just have to mention to the server that you are GF. If the server is not sure about whether something is GF, he will ask the chef.
I just come back from the health supermarket "Avril" in Brossard and I was delighted to see the very numerous gluten free items. It is worth the visit. It is located near the 10-30, at 8600, Boulevard Leduc. Search the internet for the "supermarché Avril" and you will find other locations for them also. There are so many kind of breads, brioches, bagels, pastas, preparation for sauces, etc...
Hi Geoff,
Thanks for answering my blog question! I have been incredibly busy lately, as we moved back to France and I am working and going to school. I had a question for you, do you know the name of the place that sells gluten free bread that is made fresh daily? It is on boulevard curé labelle. I was trying to think of the name today and couldn't. Not sure if you have tried the bread there but it is amazing!!!!
The place I believe you likely are referring to is Marie Nature Bakery. Unfortunately it has gone out of business.
If I recall correctly, the last time I was at Les Glutineries Saint-Hyacinthe, a completely GF store, they had fresh bread. I believe they have a bakery on the premises. There is a second location in Brossard, which might have some fresh items made in the Saint-Hyacinthe store.
Geoff - thank you for the tips about dining and groceries. I made reservations at Bonaparte for our anniversary dinner.
Not meals unfortunately - but if you have a sweet tooth there are now fresh delicious GLUTEN FREE pastries, cakes, fruit pies, cupcakes, biscotti, scones in Montreal at Fusion Montreal Tiberio Gelato at 1000 Lagauchetiere (near Peel street) (where the skating rink is). made by a pastry chef who has perfected them because she has the Celiac allergy to gluten. Enjoy!
Maurice Di Genova
GLUTEN FREE delicious fresh pastries in Montreal, éclairs,creme puffs, cakes, pies, more, web: plaisirsansgluten.com, also available at Tieberio Gelato 1000 LaGauchetière, (skating rink, near Peel st.)
I personally like Gluten Free Hotels Guide as they list hotels around the world that serve gluten free food. Here's a direct link to Gluten Free Hotels in Montreal - http://www.glutenfreehotelsguide.com/city.php?id=68
Ottavio- you have to try their pizza, the goat cheese and arugula is the best I've ever had! I brought my mother there too 6 months ago, and she's still raving about it.
Fusion at 1000 de la gauchetiere- I highly agree with the comments posted, it's owned by a girlfriend of mine that has been sensitive to my celiac since we met, and she's really creative, a must try
Interested in Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Peanut Free, Nut Free food desserts look no further other than "Delicious Without Gluten". A Montreal company that takes it to the next level. Sick of trying to find products suitable for you and your family, delicious without gluten offers products like muffins, brownies, cupcakes, pitas and more. Come check out delicious without gluten on Facebook and check out the website at deliciouswithout.com !!!
http://deliciouswithout.com
are you still living in rosemont ? i live on 9th avenue lol! isabelle
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