The Personalised Montreal Food Tour in QC, Canada | City Unscripted Eat Like a Local Review
There was no way I was visiting Montreal without trying ALL the food I could and what better way than doing one of my favourite travel activities: a food tour, of course!
I went on a walking food tour Montreal locals would even love, it’s about the culture and the history and an ambience that you don’t always find with bigger, standard and generic tours. Welcome to my best food tour in Montreal review.
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About City Unscripted
Unscripted by name, unscripted by nature. This company prides itself on tailoring every single package on a case by case basis.
‘No two City Unscripted experiences are the same because no two travelers are either.’
They have the ‘Eat Like a Local’ theme in places like Tokyo, Barcelona, Sydney and many more. The one in Montreal is among the best Montreal food tours because it only runs in small groups, can be personalised to each person and focuses on specific neighbourhoods rather than travelling across the entire city.
Overview of Montreal Food Tour
I spent a sunny, Sunday afternoon on this Mile End Montreal food tour with a local guide from Brazil who took us to famous places, described the food, gave a background of the food and a history of Montreal while we walked the streets. It was very fun.
The food topped everything. It was the best food I’ve had so far in Canada! For a dedicated neighbourhood to explore through a Montreal food tour Mile End pretty much has it all and with lots of food tours in Montreal to choose from, read my review of this personalised version to make your mind up.
What You Get
On this local food tours Montreal by City Unscripted you will get:
- A dedicated tour guide with insight to the food and city
- Personalised stops and food to your preference
- 5 tastings
- 2 alcoholic drinks in any place (soft drinks, water or coffee if you prefer non-alc)
- Walking a distance of 3.5km (Note: The tour can be altered for accessibility, fitness and other requirements)
Directions
On every tour I’ve been on, not just the food tours I mean every tour, there is a generic spot to meet the guide to start the tour. What is brilliant about City Unscripted Montreal is that the guide picks you up from your accommodation or varies the meeting spot on a tour by tour basis!
The meeting point for Eat Like a Local was the first restaurant on the food tour because it was close to our hostel and made sense for our guide to join the infamous queue ahead of the start time.
Highlights of City Unscripted Montreal Foodie Tour
- We were lucky that the weather was beautiful so the walks between stops were glorious. Also, the streets were less busy because 24 degrees is too hot for lots of locals!
- The Montreal tour guides are always super passionate and have insight to the city.
- Ours pointed out great street art, where festivals take place and history of Mount Royal hill/cross and the boundaries between neighbourhoods.
- The recommendations were also good from our Montreal tour guide like when our guide advised us about renting Bixi bikes and gave us the low down on how to book them and how to maximise the cycling time.
- The FOOD of course! Sampling multiple dishes from Montreal was the main part and delivered.
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City Unscripted: Eat Like a Local Montreal Quebec Tour
We started in the Plateau area of Montreal, walked through Little Portugal and ended in Mile End where the majority of the food on the tour was.
Schwartz – The Oldest Deli in Canada
Any of the best tours in Montreal will include a stop at Schwartz and not just because of it’s (phenomenal) food but because it is an institution in this city. It’s a landmark in its own right and part of the Montreal day-to-day life.
Here, I was introduced to the famous Montreal local food: Montreal Smoked Meat! It was everything I dreamed of and more. It perfectly perked between the soft, white bread and subtle mustard before melting in my mouth.
Schwartz has been around since 1932, it is somewhat of a cult classic in Montreal and you see that with the dozens of newspaper clippings and awards that fill up every wall. It was used as a filming location in Somebody Feed Phil, highly recommended by Anthony Bourdain and it’s even part-owned by the Quebecois Queen herself, Celine Dion!
Quebecois Ice Cream
We had a sweet treat along the way at Ripples, which is said to be one of the best spots to get local ice cream made with all Quebecois ingredients.
The most popular flavour is the 6x chocolate ice cream… I had caramel, mm!
Poutine
There is no food Montreal is known for more than this: Poutine! It hails from Quebec and there’s nowhere in the world that does Poutine like here. Trust me, I’ve tried!
This was a great example of the tour being personalised for us because the original place the <ontreal walking food tours take you on is La Banquise but we had gone there the day before so I let our guide know and he took us to somewhat of a more local spot. This place was humble, small and tucked in corner but had locals sat at the bar watching the chefs create the poutine right in front of you. We had the classic, of course.
Bagel (& Espresso)
Next was the traditional Montreal food and past-time: The Bagel! It’s been a long-standing debate about the Montreal Bagel and the New York Bagel. Both have similar history and origins of Jewish immigrants coming to North America and creating this culture but the taste and texture differ between the cities.
We learned that the Montreal Bagel is more dense, thinner, chewier, sweeter with a larger hole and baked in a wood-fire oven.
All the walking food tours Montreal offers will take you to St-Viateur Bagel but the City Unscripted one, focusing in Mile End, brings you to a cute, also famous spot called Fairmount Bagel. We got the original and the onion bagels before heading to xxx for a quick espresso stop.
Local Micro-Brewery
Montreal is different to other Canadian cities in lots of ways but two things are common: tipping and micro-breweries.
Most Montreal food tours mile end hosts will probably include a stop at a micro-brewery and Eat Like a Local takes you to a popular one called Si Boire. This is the last stop of the afternoon and a great place to end your socialising with your guide and group.
The best way to enjoy these places are to get a flight of beer which is where you choose 6 beers of your choice from the menu to sample in small glasses that are brought to you on a tray with a note explaining which one is which. Then you get to choose which one to have a pint of afterwards.
Info & Tips
- Try and get on the tour as early in your trip as you can so you can get the recommendations, an idea of Montreal food and great stops so you don’t duplicate.
- As with all my food tour reviews, it involves a lot of walking so pack them comfies.
- Although it’s wise to always carry a water bottle, Canada is very good at providing water for customers.
- Tipping is a big part of Canadian culture so tip your guide.
- The best food tours Montreal offers should include some of these classic foods, so you know you’ll get the quality through City Unscripted.
How To Book This Mile End Food Tour
This was an honest review of my Montreal walking food tour with City Unscripted. As is common in the travel industry, I received a complimentary tour from City Unscripted. The opinions, passion and words in this review, however, are all mine!
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