Everything You Wanted to Know About Montreal Bagels

Last Updated on 23rd February 2025 by Sophie Nadeau

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One of the most famous foodstuffs to be produced in Montreal is that of Montreal Bagels and the French-Canadian city is so famous for them, that they’re a must-try when it town. Here’s your ultimate guide to everything you ever wanted to know about bagels in Montreal (as well as where to buy the best ones!)

The city of Montreal is located in the Canadian Province of Quebec, a predominantly French-speaking part of North America. If you want to learn even more about food culture in Montreal together with a local guide, then I recommend booking a historical food tour like this one.

What is the Montreal-style bagel?

There are a few elements that go into the Montreal-style bagel to give it its distinctive sweet tang and unique texture (that’s a little chewy).

The sweet taste of the bagels is achieved by boiling the bagel in honey-sweetened water before baking it in a wood-fired oven. Both of these distinctive elements are required to make a Montreal bagel.

What is the difference between a New York and Montreal bagel?

Well, I’m glad that you asked! Depending on who you ask will ensure that you get different answers as to whether the bagels from NYC or the bagels from Montreal are the best! Bagels have been made in New York for longer than they’ve been made in Montreal.

I’m personally biased towards Montreal bagels! Growing up with a French-Canadian family, I was often given a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, and it remains one of my favourite kinds of breakfasts to this day. With this being said, there are differences between both the ingredients in the bagel styles, as well as how they are made.

The first big difference is that, while the New York bagel uses a sourdough, the Montreal bagel does not. Most New York bagels are mass-produced, meaning that they can’t be done using the wood burning boiled technique, such as is used in a traditional Montreal bagel.

In addition to this, the Montreal bagel does not use salt, which makes it taste even sweeter than its American counterpart. The Montreal Bagel also has a larger hole, though it is smaller and denser than the New York style one.

Types of Montreal bagels

In several Montreal bakeries, bagels are still created by hand, and even today customers can watch bagels being baked right in front of their eyes!

The two main types of traditional Montreal bagel are black seed (poppy seed) and white seed (sesame seed) and so these are the bagels I urge you to try should you opt to sample a couple on a foodie visit to Montreal.

Yet another type of bagel that is rapidly growing in popularity is the all dressed. This bagel offers an explosion of tastes in the mouths and is a bagel dressed with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onion seeds, and garlic seeds.

Best places to buy bagels in Montreal

Though you’ll undoubtedly know that there’s a little bit of rivalry when it comes to whether bakers in Montréal or New York City create the best bagels, what you may not know is that there’s a little bit of competition in the Quebec city itself!

Since the bagel has become so emblematic of the city, it’s not surprising that bagel stores are a dime a dozen. With this being said, some bakeries are obviously better than others and so in this article, we’ll focus on the most famous (and arguably the best) bagel bakeries in the Quebec city.

Two bagel shops are constantly vying for the title of the ‘best bagel in Montreal’. This is Saint Viateur and Fairmount Bagel. Both artisanal bagel shops are located in the neighbourhood of Mile End in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough of Montreal.

Located just a couple of blocks from one another and in operation for decades, be sure to purchase a traditional bagel to purchase from both shops in order to compare them. For more information, check out our suggested 3 days in Montreal itinerary.

It’s recommended that the first time you try a traditional bagel, you should try it plain so that you can really appreciate the chewy texture.

After a few bites, top your bagel with cream cheese for the most delicious experience! Liberté is a Canadian cream cheese that is often recommended to go with (and sold alongside) the bagels themselves. Salmon is another popular topping.

St Viateur Bagel

This artisanal store was founded in 1957 by Myer Lewkowicz, a Jewish man who was born in Poland and moved to Canada following WWII. Everything he learned about bagels and the art of bagel making, he learned in Montreal.

Today, the authentic recipe that St Viateur Bagel’s have been using for over 60 years remains unchanged to this day. What’s more is that bagels are still hand rolled and some employees have been rolling bagels for well over two decades. Bagels are made 24/7, meaning that fresh bagels are always available.

Fairmount Bagel

Yet another iconic bagel store that visitors should be sure to check out when in Montreal is Fairmount Bagel. They not only make incredibly tasty bagels, but their story is simply fascinating. After all, Fairmount was the very first bagel shop in Montreal!

The store was founded by Isadore Shlafman in 1919 under the name of  Montreal Bagel Bakery. In 1949, the store moved from the banks of the River Lawrence to Fairmount.

The bagel shop then closed, before being opened again. Today, the bagels are still handmade by a team of skilled staff members.

La Fabrique de Bagel Montreal

Though not the best quality bagel in Montreal (this illustrious title is still shared between Fairmount and St Viateur), if you don’t have time to venture up into the Mile End district of the city, then a great alternative for a taste of a Montreal-style bagel is to head to La Fabrique de Bagel.

There’s a branch within the World Trade Centre close to downtown, meaning it’s not too much of a walk from the Vieux-Port. There are over a dozen cream cheese flavours available from classics such as blueberry and plain to more niche flavours like jalapeño.

There’s a number of different bagel flavours, though the classics are sesame, everything (my personal favourite as it contains every topping imaginable and so you get to try a little bit of everything!), and poppy seed.

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