GOURMET TRAVELLER 163Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Spanning
a 19th-century church with Ti any stained-
glass windows and a wing with panoramic
city views opened in 2016, this complex
attracts a million-plus annual visitors.
The ever-expanding space showcases
a permanent collection – ranging from
Rembrandt and Monet to the Group of
Seven landscape painters and otherworldly
Inuit sculptures – that makes it one of
North America’s leading art museums.
1380 Sherbrooke West, mbam.qc.caFairmont The Queen Elizabeth Once
a modernist magnet for the likes of
John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who held
their “bed-in for peace” here in 1969, the
Queen E got her mojo back when major
renovations wrapped up in 2017. It’s now
an art hotel in all but name, featuring
123 new works including sculptures, light
installations and an ethereal eight-panel
painting by Montreal artist Paul Hardy.
900 René-Lévesque West, fairmont.com/
queen-elizabeth-montrealThis UNESCO City of Design is full of al fresco art – public and street.
The Montreal Mural Art Tour highlights grand visions such as a nine-storey
portrait of local legend Leonard Cohen. spadeandpalacio.com
SEE
The city was late to the craft cocktail
party but recent bar openings signal
good times ahead. Hidden amid Old
Montreal’s tourist traps, behind a door
in a laneway, The Coldroom (above;
thecoldroommtl.com) reinterprets
classic cocktails in a 19th-century
subterranean vault. Street art marks
the entrance to Atwater Cocktail Club
(atwatercocktailclub.com) in the
Saint-Henri neighbourhood. This
den of smoke and mirrors – rum-
and-berry Smoke Show is a signature
drink – sources fresh ingredients
from neighbouring Atwater Market.DrinkEAT
City hitlist
Mon Lapin The folk from Joe Beef, the city’s
most famous restaurant, opened this natural
wine bar (above) last year. It’s a cosy restaurant
in the same vein, with seasonal, wine-friendly
fare that changes daily: perhaps radishes in
chicken-liver mousse, or smoked-eel carbonara
that recalls Joe Beef’s celebrated lobster
spaghetti. 150 Saint-Zotique, vinmonlapin.comAgrikol Owned by two local darlings from indie
band Arcade Fire, this restaurant serves Haitian
street food: whole fried fi sh, beans and rice,
plantain and beignets. The menu is teamed
with infectious Caribbean music, a riot of
Haitian artworks on turquoise and coral walls,
and Barbancourt rum – ideally in DIY Tí Punch
cocktails (fresh lime, sugarcane syrup and plenty
of Haiti’s best rum). 1844 Amherst, agrikol.caBeau Mont Long before Joe Beef became a
destination there was Toqué!, where Normand
Laprise was an early champion of Québécois
ingredients. It’s still regarded as one of Canada’s
fi nest fi ne-diners and he’s still in charge. In May
the chef opened another, less formal restaurant
in the emerging Park-Ex neighbourhood. Beau
Mont’s menu also focuses on regional produce
in dishes such as trout with peach salsa and
kale. 950 Beaumont, restaurant-beaumont.comSTAY