Montréal Bagels and Smoked Meat

Montréal's bagel is a different object from New York's: smaller, thinner, denser in the ring and sweeter, because it is boiled in honey water before going into a wood-fired oven, which gives it a blistered, slightly charred crust. Two rival bakeries in Mile End have made them around the clock for decades, and the queue at two in the morning is part of the city's furniture. Smoked meat is the other half: beef brisket cured in salt and spice for a week or more, smoked, steamed for hours, and hand-cut onto rye with mustard, ordered by fat content from lean to old-fashioned. Both came from the Jewish immigrant communities of the early twentieth century and both outlasted the neighbourhoods that made them.

What you actually see

• The wood-fired bagel ovens - visible from the counter, running day and night.
• Hand-cut smoked meat - brisket sliced to order, ordered by fat level.
• Mile End - the neighbourhood where the bagel bakeries stand.
• The Main - Saint-Laurent Boulevard and its delicatessen tradition.

When to go

Year-round and around the clock, since the bagel bakeries never close. Smoked meat counters are busiest at lunch and queue out of the door at weekends. Bagels are best eaten within an hour of coming out of the oven, which is the argument for eating them standing outside the bakery.

Honest expectations

The famous smoked meat counters have long queues and cash-only policies in places, and the sandwich is heavy enough to make a whole meal. Bagels go stale fast because of the low-fat dough, so buying a dozen to take home is a mistake unless you freeze them. Neither dish is vegetarian-friendly.

Nearby

The Plateau and Mount Royal are a short walk; Jean-Talon market is north.