Address Book: Old Montreal’s Fine Markets

Last updated: July 19, 2022

Gourmets, gourmands, refined palates, and the culinarily curious, this article is for you. Here are a few addresses of fine markets that want to share their love for the products they hold so dear. You’ll never again pass these places up once you’ve tasted what they’ve got to offer. Plus, you can find great gifts to match anyone. Ready to check it out?

We Love Shopping Local!

Le Beau Marché, 366 Notre Dame Street West
This haven for food offers many services all under one roof, and with a local and eco-friendly approach to boot. In their fine grocery, you can fill your fridge with products originating from the best producers in Quebec soil and leave with a fresh loaf of bread from the bakery. Are you looking for already prepared dishes or meals to have for lunch? This is the best place to go for a good sandwich or a slice of quiche. And before leaving, you should pick from their selection of microbrewed beers for a nice aperitif.

Marché des Éclusiers, 400 de la Commune Street West

Are you in the market for some fresh, local products? Come meet the producers face-to-face and see the amazing stock on their shelves: local seasonal fruits and vegetables, cheeses, honey, bread, and pastries just ready to be grabbed up. This market in the Old Port is the perfect weekend stop. With its dance hall ambiance, flowery décor, and the abundant hanging lights, everything here blends perfectly into a pleasant, cozy experience.

La Cave à Manger, 386 St-Paul Street East

The same team behind Brewsky is the mastermind behind this bakery/wine boutique concept, so you know it’s high-quality! From their ready-to-eat items and grocery section, we loved their bread, as well as their beer sausage and their wonderful coffee aisle. And their unique selection of wines is the icing on the cake!

France and Spain Await!

Les Pyrénées, 320 St-Paul Street West

This restaurant, well-known for its basque, Spanish, and Catalan style cuisine, is selling canned goods, vacuum-packaged food, terrines, and cook-at-home dishes. You can also find artisanal products prepared in their Old Montreal kitchens. We love their selection of chutneys and jams. The combination of peach and rosemary in a jam makes our mouths water.

Le Cartet, 106 McGill Street

In this modern school cafeteria ambiance, you can choose to enjoy one of their great meals in their dining room, select from a large choice of dishes to take-out, or take some time to peruse their fine grocery selection. Truffle oils, Himalayan sea salts, vinegars of all kinds, local terrines… this is one outstanding market to visit! And for you nostalgic types, they have KusmiTea teas, Flavigny anise mints, and Carambars for when you want to take a little trip to France.

The Dolce Vita of Italy

Mercato Comunale, 701 William Street

Mercato Comunale – a true communal market – wears its name well. It highlights local ingredients and Italian flavours in its café and grocery. In addition to these two major parts, they also boast a wine bar and pinseria, which serves a Roman variant on pizza with a hand-pressed dough that you rarely see in Montreal.

Epicerie Marinelli, 759 de la Commune Street West

They have a huge space dedicated to ready-to-eat food, Italian dried meats, dried pasta, and Italian and Canadian cheeses, and everything looks appetizing! There is almost everything here needed to prepare a gourmet homemade meal, or a decadent picnic basket.

Dispensa, 696 William Street, #101
This Italian market won’t disappoint, selling a variety of pasta, panettones, and Italian beers. Want a bit of gelato to wrap up your shopping? You must taste their homemade gelato, and also grab one of their house pastries while you’re here. You won’t be let down.

Comptoir 400, 400 Place Jacques-Cartier

This place has everything you could need to satisfy a sweet tooth: panettone, nutella, fresh cookies, and other famous sweet snacks. You will also find their famed pastries and the typical drinks to get you nice and refreshed. We bet you’ll be quite pleased you came to La Dispensa. And don’t forget to buy pasta and their delicious tomato sauce before you leave.

Caffe Un Po' Di Piu, 3 de la Commune Street East

When the duo of Dyan Solomon and Eric Girard (same pair behind Olive + Gourmando and Foxy) opened this establishment, we could hardly stop our mouths from watering: pasta freshly made in-house, Italian wines, and - well, in short, this restaurant is outstanding and that’s when we said “Ciao, we’ll see you there!”

Slice and soda, 201 Saint-Paul Street

If you have never been here for their ultra-fresh pizza, then you may not know about their little corner devoted to Italian groceries. Including tomato sauces, jarred fruits and antipasto, chips of unexpected flavours, olive oils, lasagna noodles, and more, it will have you thinking you accidentally set foot in Italy!

Great and Good Ideas to Treat Yourself!

Épicerie du Marché, 350 Saint-Paul Street East, local 275 - Bonsecours Market

Are you in need of ideas on what to cook? Don’t panic, one trip around Bonsecours Market will give you all the creative inspiration you need. They have jams, terrines, bottles of alcohol, and other treats that are great as gifts. And all these beautiful local products will add a new pep to your dishes and a taste that will have friends asking for more.

The Pepin Shop & L’Amour du Pain, 369 Place d’Youville

If you were to sum up the essence of these places, it would be “brilliance, beautiful objects, and greenery”. Enter The Pepin Shop to uncover some surprising products. You’ll also come across stuff for the kitchen with designer allure, like their collection of house teas packaged in cute, reusable jars that you can reuse or their wabi-sabi style dishes. Once you’ve finished this wonderful discovery, sit yourself at the tables at L’Amour du Pain – directly across from The Pepin Shop – for a nice latte, and leave with a great, hefty boule of bread.

Le Petit Dep, 179 Saint-Paul Street West

This convenience store with vintage charm offers some meticulously hand-picked products. If you have never been here, it’s high time you walked through its wonderfully decorated storefront! In addition to offering a superb ambiance, delicious cream cookies, and lip-smacking lemonade, they also boast a nice selection of condiments, spices, and sugary and salty snacks (chocolate, salted caramel, honey…). You’ll never run out of choices!

Chocolate, Maple Syrup, Pastries, and Other Timeless Snacks

Chez Potier, 630 Wellington Street

Chez Potier is the top-of-the-line grocery/bakery that nicely rounds out the neighbourhood’s offerings. Be it sweet or salty, “to go” or “ready-to-eat”, the three selective Epicureans behind this store’s creation love to share their enjoyment for all good things. A wonderful addition to the Cité du Multimédia!

Délices, Érable et Cie, 84 Saint-Paul Street East

In Quebec, maple syrup is written in our DNA! If you haven’t tried them before, you need to sample their maple coffee and popcorn. Their vinaigrettes, like the cranberry maple ginger flavour or their other maple combos (like mustard or honey!) taste wonderful on our salads. We love the vast product selection here as well the samples they give out to the indecisive (and the discerning gourmand!). Here, the tradition of maple is made modern!

Chocosina, 406 Saint-Sulpice Street

As the name would lead you to believe, this little shop is like a kingdom of chocolate. With a selection including little caramelized cream eggs, truffle treats, or chocolate suckers, this is a great place to get your fill of life’s little pleasures! And if you’ve got a sweet tooth, you’ll be pleased to learn that they sell in bulk: their candies make a great snack to fend off those hunger pangs!

N.B.: We regularly update this list. If your business is not mentioned here at the moment, write to us so that we can include it! info@sdcvieuxmontreal.com