Montreal 2.0: Day 4

Today, we were finally able to have a relaxing, sit-down breakfast. The restaurant we went to was Universal Déjeuner, which served traditional breakfast items. I had a lighter breakfast with cottage cheese and fruits as well as a poached egg on toast. It was alright. Not the best breakfast place I’ve been to. 

After breakfast, we took a nice hike up to Mont Royal. It was a lovely Saturday morning so the trails were busy but not annoyingly crowded. When we reached the top, there was a bit of crowd in front of the view so not the most serene environment. The view was still very nice.

From Mont Royal, we descended to the Plateau and stopped for some coffee at Le Darling which is a coffee shop/bar with lots of character. 

I was getting hungry, so it was time to finally head over to Schwartz’s (a must-have if in Montreal). There was, of course, a line up but it was a nice, sunny day so I did not mind at all. They were very efficient here so the wait was not too unbearable even for a large group of 5 of us. I had the fatty smoked meat sandwich with coleslaw and pickles. The server did not offer the fatty option and when we asked for it he said he assumed we wanted the regular because according to him “it was the best”. I beg to differ and I am not able make the same mistake twice. When he brought over our sandwiches, he announced “fatty” when he placed the sandwich in front of me. I felt it was targeted at me. Just kidding. We had a good laugh over that.

After lunch, we stopped by Dispatch for some hipster coffee before heading back to the AirBnB for a bit of a break before dinner.

For our last night in Montreal, we had reservations at Nora Gray, an Italian Restaurant. The ambience is pretty nice. It wasn’t a large restaurant. Our booth table was ready for us when we arrived.

We asked for wine recommendations and our server was very willing and knowledgable. I had a white to go with my main. Aaron wanted a red to go with his pasta.

I skipped the antipasti, but Aaron had the roasted delicata squash stuffed with fried sweetbreads and honey mushrooms. It was very impressively presented.

For my pasta course, I had the Tagliatelle Cacio e Pepe with cured mushrooms. It was good, but not amazing. The sauce was not too memorable. 

Aaron had a different pasta, the lorighittas, calamari and spicy tomato sauce, which was again good but not great I’ve never had lorighittas before and texture is very interesting and camouflages well with the calamari but it had perhaps too much sauce. 

For our mains, I had a scallops which was the perfect portion-size given we over-ate for the last few days. It was also perfectly cooked. It was accompanied with broccoli and crispy potato chips. I was happy with my choice.

Aaron had the braised short rib which he also seemed to really enjoy. It definitely had him eating off the bone so that must be a good sign. Aaron asked for another wine to go with his main and it was suggested that he try an organic orange wine. It was very interesting and unique. It did have an unusual aftertaste though so it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

We ended the meal with some ice cream and amaretti. And that concludes our last full day in Montreal.