The latin quarter is a neighbourhood with a lots of cafes, bars, restaurants
and theaters. The main streets are St-Denis, St-Laurent (between Sherbrooke and
Rachel) and Ste-Catherine between St-Laurent and Berri. Prince-Arthur street,
Duluth and Rachel are also interesting.
- Place des Arts (Place des Arts metro station) and the Musee d'Art
Contemporain there's a large terrace where you can listen to street musicians,
catch some sun.. it's also the site for some special events (Jazz Festival,
Francopholies, Mondial de la biere (beer festival)).
- St-Denis' cafes (between St-Catherine and Mont-Royal, the most recent and
interesting restaurants and cafes are north of Sherbrooke).
- UQAM (Universite of Quebec in Montreal) campus, recycled from an old church
(Berri-UQAM station).
- St-Louis square (north of Sherbrooke, west of St-Denis) and Prince-Arthur
street, pedestrian street with cafes and restaurants just west of the St-Louis
square, between Laval street and St-Laurent. -Laval street just west of
St-Louis square and parallel to St-Denis, there's a lot of nice houses.
- Duluth street around St-Denis, there's a lot of restaurants (bring your own
wine, although some restaurants charge you a $2.00 service fee to open and to
serve the wine)
- the Foufounes Electriques, punk club almost as interesting from the outside
than from the inside (St-Catherine just east of St-Laurent).
- St-Laurent blvd. between Rachel and Sherbrooke. Imported food, trendy bars
and clubs, Schwartz's, restaurants and food from all over the world... It's
worth it just to walk around.
- Cinematheque quebecoise and National Film Board on the corner of de
Maisonneuve and St-Denis (if you like movies). The National Film Board has a
cine-robotheque: you sit in a big chair with head phone and you can select
films (via a touch screen) and view them. There's a robot-arm that fetches the
films (on laser disk) and puts them in a laser disk player for you. The
Cinematheque has a small movie museum.
- Bibliotheque nationale (national library on St-Denis) between Ontario
street and de Maisonneuve.
- Musee d'Art Contemporain (contemporary art museum), part of the permanent
exhibition is outdoors in a sculpture garden. It's part of the Place-des-Arts
(Place des Arts metro station).
- Place des arts, concert halls and theaters. (Place des Arts metro station),
there's an underground part to the Place that is accessible from Ste-Catherine
or Complexe Desjardins (across the street from the Place). There are also two
very nice gifts shop (near the entrance to the contemporary are museum).
- Just For Laugh (humor) museum, 2111 St-Laurent near Sherbrooke. (It has
reopened until September, it is only 5$... and it's worth it).
- Schwartz's (deli) 3895 St-Laurent, considered by many as the best smoke
meat in the world.
- Nega Fulo (south american-mexican-cajun) 1257 Amherst, similar to the Cafe
Biju on Duluth, the service may be slow but the food is great and it's
affordable.
- Pizzedelic (pizza...) 3509 St-Laurent, voted best of Montreal
- Restaurant Ong Ca Can (vietnamese), inexpensive and excellent, don't mind
the grungy looking neighbourhood, 79 Ste-Catherine east
- Terenga (african) 4434 St-Laurent.
- Toque (french) expensive, 3842 St-Denis, voted one of the best restaurants
in Montreal if someone else is paying
- La Queue de la tortue (cajun), 3784 Mentana near Roy street
- Le Nil Bleu (ethiopian) on St-Denis just north Cherrier, inexpensive and
very good, try the traditional coffee service at the end
- Le Pelerin (french) on Ontario west of St-Denis. . India 2000 (indian),
3964 St-Denis near Duluth
- L'Express (french), good but expensive, 3927 St-Denis
- La Lune Indienne (indian) affordable and excellent, 2077 St-Denis near
Sherbrooke. If you're lucky, you'll get the table at the window
- Le Balafon (african), excellent and affordable, 250 Mont-Royal east
- Chez Gatse (tibetan), 317 Ontario east near St-Denis
- L'Exotic (madagascar), 3788 Laval street near Pine ave
- Witloof (belgian) expensive, 3619 St-Denis. . Mazurka (polish) affordable,
64 Prince-Arthur east, near St-Laurent
- Bayou Brazil (south american-mexican-cajun) 4552 St-Denis, features live
music.
- L'Academie (italian) affordable,4051 St-Denis on the corner of Duluth
- L'Anectote (hamburgers) not your usual hamburgers... 801 Rachel East or La
Paryse at 302 Ontario east.
- Au Petit Extra (french), voted one of the best in Montreal, 1690 Ontario
east.
- Le Latini (italian), great italian cuisine, but expensive; on 1130
Jeanne-Mance near Sherbrooke.
- Le Commensal (vegetarian) can be expensive since you pay by the gram, 2115
St-Denis on the corner of Sherbrooke
- Le Paradis du Vege (vegetarian), 3620 St-Dominique near Prince-Arthur, you
don't pay by the gram.
- Cafe Santropol (vegetarian), ask for a table in the garden, 3990 St-Urbain
(voted one of the best terrace in Montreal)
- Laloux (french) expensive but good, 250 des Pins east near St-Denis.
- Montreal Pool Room, steamed hot-dogs on St-Laurent south of Ste-Catherine
- Shed Cafe (cafe) not known for it's food... 3515 St-Laurent
- Lafleur (fast food) know for it's poutine and opened 24 hrs/day, on the
corner of St-Denis and St-Louis square
- La Chartreuse (tea room), great selection of desserts and coffee on
St-Denis just north or Sherbrooke.
- Shed Cafe (bar/cafe) trendy... 3515 St-Laurent
- Les Foufounes Electriques (alternative/punk) on Ste-Catherine east
- Le Lezard (alternative) on St-Denis.
- Metropolis (mega-dance-club) near the Foufounes.
- Angel's (dance-club) near the corner of St-Laurent and Prince-Arthur
- Publix (juice-bar), large selection of fruit juices, near the corner of
St-Laurent and Prince-Arthur.
- Le Swimming, Le Bowling (bowling like you've never seen), etc... all on
St-Laurent north of Prince-Arthur street.
The boundaries of the quartier latin are not well defined, but this will give
you a fair idea of the location
- Jeanne-Mance street to the west
- Berri street to the east
- Rachel street to the north
- Rene-Levesque blvd to the south.
- Place des Arts, St-Laurent, Berri-UQAM and Sherbrooke.
Note that some
prostitutes hang out at night around the corner of St-Laurent and St-Catherine
or near the corner of St-Denis and Rene-Levesque blvd. There's also some
sex-shops and porno theaters around there. It's totally safe at any hour but I
wouldn't walk around there with the kids, unless you want to be asked
embarassing questions. That's in the south part of the quartier latin (between
St-Laurent and St-Denis and between St-Catherine and Rene-Levesque blvd.), the
northern part is less "red-light district" like (north of Sherbrooke)...
Altough square St-Louis is not always a pleasant place to at night (the square
is closed between midnight and 6:00am).