Bonjour-hi and bienvenue-welcome back to the Montreal Bulletin, The Main’s weekly collection of what’s happening, what you might have missed, and what’s to come in Montreal.

This week’s edition before we hit snooze for the holidays is all about Quebec gastronomy, DJ and VJ performances in hotshot and underground venues, and maybe—just maybe—a way to alleviate the eyesore we call construction.

Love it already? Sign up to receive this straight to your inbox.

Upcoming Events You Won’t Want to Miss

Click into each tab below to find out what's what this weekend in Montreal.

Montreal News: What You Need to Know

A weekly round-up of the latest local news, from food and entertainment to current affairs.

Wait, do SAQ employees actually know what they’re talking about when they give advice?

Shots fired: Journalists decided to look into whether or not the impromptu sommeliers that make up the SAQ’s employees actually knew their wines. It’s not exactly a scathing review, but it does shed some light on the amount of training they receive before they put that Chianti in your hands. (Métro)

Les employés de la SAQ s’y connaissent-ils vraiment en vin?

Le rôle de la SAQ est de gérer le commerce des boissons alcoolisées partout dans la province. Le vin, c’est donc son affaire (littéralement!), mais quand vient le moment de choisir une bouteille, est-ce que ses employé.e.s sont vraiment de bon conseil?

Journal MétroZoé Magalhaès

Alberta man opens Montreal-style bagel shop in South Korea

After training and learning the craft in Montreal, Wayne Kim brought our city’s world-famous food to Calgary under the name of Wayne’s Bagels before opening up in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam neighbourhood. Turns out it’s not just locals who love it, but expats from Canada as well. (Maclean’s)

This Alberta man brought the Montreal bagel craze to Korea

Wayne Kim fell in love with Montreal’s signature food from three time zones away. He brought it halfway across the world.

Macleans.caJason Markusoff

Montreal’s no man’s land approach to construction zones could see makeovers

One of our city’s greatest exports isn’t only food, but photos of disastrous construction site scenery, where undetermined paths run through seas of orange pylons and precarious wooden bridges are placed over sidewalk gaps. Montreal, however, plans to find new ways to tackle these eyesores.  (La Presse)

Multiplication des cônes orange | Montréal veut changer ses pratiques

Rues difficilement navigables, arrêts de bus déplacés, commerces inaccessibles : la multiplication des balises de signalisation continue de rendre la vie de nombreux Montréalais difficile. Consciente des désagréments, l’administration Plante planche sur une série de mesures pour réduire l’impact des…

La PresseHenri Ouellette-Vézina

How French and English literati have explored their hometown Montreal

There’s a rich underlying tapestry of works paying tribute to the city and its landscapes from some of the city’s greatest writers, and this post is a good way to start diving into them, seeing the streets and sights from angles you may not have discovered before.

A Walker’s Notebook in Montreal: Daily Splendour of the City

For this first literary post, find the book "Carnet d’un promeneur à Montréal" by our policy director Dinu Bumbaru.

Heritage MontrealTaika Baillargeon

Stronger, bigger, faster, greener

The city will expand Mount Royal Park by three hectares thanks to a transfer of land on the site of the former Royal Victoria Hospital. Roughly 290 parking spaces located around the Smith House will also be removed and greened. (Le Devoir)

Le parc du Mont-Royal sera agrandi

Quelque 40% des places de stationnement situées sur la montagne, soit environ 290, seront retirées et verdies.

Le DevoirJeanne Corriveau

Gritty, cyberpunk genre meets futuristic Japanese noodle bar in Old Montreal

A new cyberpunk-inspired noodle bar, Neo Tokyo, finally opened its doors inside the same building that houses Google’s new office address of 425 Viger. A meal there is meant to conjure the famous noodle bar scene from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner on the streets of a technologically advanced Los Angeles. (Eater Montreal)

Old Montreal Just Got a ‘Blade Runner’ Remake in Cyberpunk Ramen Bar Neo Tokyo

Gritty science fiction meets reality at this long-awaited, futuristic Japanese noodle bar

Eater MontrealJP Karwacki

Could downtown’s towers of offices be converted into homes?

With the sheer amount of vacancies in Montreal’s downtown core, the city is starting to look at the adaptive retrofit of its building to additionally address the housing crisis. They’re still only at the strategy phase, but the worst part is that they’re staunchly against turning buildings like Place Ville Marie into apartments. Bummer. (La Presse)

Montreal participant on Netflix’s Drink Masters recreates the experience in his hometown

Tao Zrafi, one of the finalists on Netflix’s Iron Chef-esque mixology show Drink Masters is currently creatively directing the beverage program at a new Little Burgundy bar called Baby, and it’s a cocktail tasting menu that’s… a little more than interesting. (MTL Blog)

A Beaconsfield café is the perfect spot to, well, talk about death

It’s called a Death Café, where monthly gatherings at a library are conversation opportunities to discuss the oft-uncomfortable topic of death. It’s not necessarily a grief counseling session, however; it’s just to talk about death as a topic of interest and getting different people’s perspectives on it. (CBC Montreal)

Violence is rampant among youth in Montréal-Nord—so what do we do about it?

A lot of intervention plans are underway in the northern borough of the city where violent crimes have been rising, but the question remains about whether or not it’s going to have a considerable impact on the rates. It needs funding anyhow from various levels of government including the ​​city, province and at the federal echelon. (Journal Métro)

Esplanade Tranquille levels up this winter with projection mapping at free skating rink

Finally, not only is downtown’s Au Bord du lac Tranquille a bonafide spot for people to get on the ice this season, they’re also doing some cool projection mapping art this winter that responds to how you glide on the ice.

And with this edition, we’re wrapping things up for 2022, but we’ll be back with more curiosities, locals’ stories, and moments to discover in January 2023.

Stay tuned, and happy new year Montreal!