Can you believe it's been over 100 days since Time Out Market Montréal temporarily closed? We can't. What we can believe is that time (thankfully) flies, and that we're stoked to announce that on Wednesday, July 8, the market will reopen its doors with its choice selection of the best chefs in the city curated by the editorial staff at Time Out Montréal.
RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Time Out Market Montréal
When the big reopening day rolls around, Montrealers can begin to (re)discover the market's all-star lineup as it's rolled out in phases. To begin with a bang, six chefs will be firing up their kitchens.
Marusan: Why let Old Montreal have all the fun? That neighbourhood's Japanese eatery from chefs Hideyuki Imaizumi and Tetsuya Shimizu is coming back to comfort us once again at the market with ramen, curry, and teishoku meal sets that are absolutely packed with umami. Crack those chopsticks and dig in.
Le Red Tiger: One look (and taste) of the work of chef Phong Thach and you'll agree that Vietnamese cuisine in Montreal doesn't get much cooler than this. His inspired takes on the aromatic street cuisine of Southern Vietnam satisfies major cravings with dishes like beef carpaccio with shrimp chips, crisp and tangy papaya salads, and banh mi given the French dip treatment when it's sided with a bowl of pho broth.
Paul Toussaint: The menu from Agrikol's former chef is a bona fide love letter to the culinary and cultural heritage of Haiti. We can't begin to tell you how much we missed digging into this signature chef's dishes, whether it's his betcha-can't-eat-just-one conch fritters, Cornish hen rubbed with jerk spices, spicy ceviches, or other classics like griot, jambalaya and seafood skewers.
Il Miglio: If these days have got you down, there's nothing more reassuring to eat than solid Italian fare. Created by chef Claude Pelletier and spearheaded by chef Mélanie Blouin, every bite of Il Miglio's simple-yet-refined pasta dishes like campanelle with mushrooms and truffle oil and antipasti such as the veal meatballs are like getting big hugs from your nonna.
Moleskine: The bar for pizza was raised way, way up in Montreal ever since this Neapolitan-style pizzeria was opened on Park Avenue in 2016 by co-owners Catherine Bélanger and Bruno Braën, and chef Fred St-Aubin at the helm of its ovens. Nothing hits your eye like these pizza pies, from a classic Marguerite with fior di latte, stracciatella and basil to the slightly more adventurous Suave pizza with Mornay sauce, tomatoes, bacon and marinated mushrooms.
Romados: The Plateau's claim to poultry fame from the father-son duo Fernando and Manny Machado is coming back in full force with its menu full of classic Montreal comfort food. Get ready to dig into Portuguese chicken coated in piri-piri sauce, poutine and the silky custard of their pasteis de nata at the market and skip those line-ups back at their flagship.
Montrealers won't only be able to eat the best in the city, but drink the best as well: The market's mocktail and soda bars, wine bar, beer bar and cocktail bar will all be ready to help folks toast the city coming out of its second hibernation this year with microbrews, curated wine lists and cocktail recipes from some of the top names in Montreal mixology right now.
Need a reason to get out of the house beyond breakfast, lunches, 5 à 7s and dinner? On top of the restaurants and bars on offer, the cooking school from Ateliers et Saveurs will be up and running once again alongside shopping at Signé Local where you can check out its hundreds of products from local Quebec artisans.
Make no mistake, we're taking every precaution (and then some) to make sure we've got the right balance of fun and safety while you (re)discover the best food and drink in the city. The market has put in a lot of intensified safety precautions and new systems to help Montrealers enjoy the best possible dining experience. Everyone's got enough space to safely engage in social distancing with the market's 40,000 square feet, and the space's high ceilings and systems for air circulation and filtration are there to ensure the airflow's replaced every 10 minutes. There will also be special cleaning crews circulating around the market at all times, and everyone will be fitted with PPE like masks, gloves and face shields.
When it comes to arriving and ordering, there will be sanitization stations placed throughout the market, and contactless ordering helps to avoid touching unnecessary surfaces: While delivery will be made available through DoorDash, anyone who is dining in at the market can use the new Time Out Market app to pay for, track and receive their order before grabbing spots at tables fitted out with plexiglass partitions—just search for 'Time Out Market' on the App Store or Google Play to download the app.
All we ask is that you safely socially 'dish'-tance yourself from anyone other than who you come with during your visit!
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