What a crazy whirlwind of a week, a week that's been just crazy enough that we could forget about all the dismal news from last week: The city's now announced a massive revival plans that'll include turning parts of the Quartier Latin into a "24-hour sector", building entirely new neighbourhoods, revitalizing the downtown core, and improving mobility, cleanliness and creating green routes in the city.

Madonna's in town. Alexandra Stréliski's in town. Heck, Bleu Jeans Bleu is in town. Dance parties are picking up to warm us up a bit. Whatever restauarants we've lost since the beginning year seem to be getting replaced by others.

That's how it goes, we guess: The snow comes, the snow goes. Sunrise, sunset. Just when you think it's all gloom and doom, something comes to cheer you up.

Read on—maybe you'll find something to smile about.

Activities, parties, points of interest, art exhibitions, you name it: These are the weekend events you don't want to miss.

Thursday

• Unleash your inner igloo: The outdoor electronic dance party Igloofest has returned, and it'll be running from Jan 18 until February 10th.
• CBS's Late Late Show's Ryan Conner is going to be performing on the stage of the Comedy Nest in the Forum—here's a taste of his latest material.

Friday

• Assuming you can't afford tickets to see Madonna in the flesh, Cabaret Berlin is throwing a dance party in her honor.
• The Salon de l’Auto, Montréal’s annual automotive show, returns for its 79th edition. This year you'll see new electric cars and conversations about how AI is impacting the automotive industry.

Saturday

• Specializing in drum & bass, dubstep, jungle, breakbeat, and more, Source MTL has returned to take over Le Ministère for a huge dance party.
• The National Ballet of Ukraine is bringing the rich culture and history of Ukraine to the city of Montreal at Espace St-Denis.
• At Club Soda, Total Crap is celebrating 20 years of collecting bad TV and cinema to make video montages that are so awful and funny that they should be sued for having dislocated a few jaws.

Sunday

• If you feel like checking out the city's wrestling scene, 123 Lutte is hosting a LOT of match-ups in one ring over one night.
• Le Cinéclub / The Film Society will be screening The Big Heat, an intense melodrama starring Glenn Ford as a rogue homicide cop who takes the law into his own hands to find who planted the car bomb that killed his wife.

WHAT TO EAT & DRINK IN AND AROUND MONTREAL

Scope the latest restaurant openings, recommendations on where to eat, plus new menus, old classics, and everything in between.

• On Jan 19, the upcoming neighbourhood slice shop Palomino in Pointe Saint Charles is doing an introductory pop-up at its neighbour's dining room, Knox Taverne.
• In the industry? Bar Raval is doing a hospitality workshop at Ratafia, followed by a pop-up on Jan 22.
• Saint-Henri's new Japanese restaurant Regashi is officially open on Jan 18.
• Griffintown's modern Filipino restaurant Jun Jun is now open to the public.
• Verdun's Pavillon Snack Bar has a brand new brunch menu full of stuff like smoked salmon and latkas, breakfast tacos, and more fun stuff to eat.
• Speaking of Verdun: The neighbourhood's got a new bistro in the form of Le Godot, which is swankily serving a little something for everyone.
• What the hell's in Verdun's drinking water?? Another opening: The old location of the fish 'n' ships spot Comptoir 21 has been taken over by a 'healthful' cafe, Noctis.
• The Plateau's obscure bar Barbossa is hitting the sauce hard with $10 martinis on Mondays with live jazz.
• On Jan 20, Cicchetti is celebrating its 6th anniversary with—get this—a Sourpuss tasting day. Shots are free all day until supplies run out.
• Finally, not an edible story but maybe you've heard that Le Passé Composé is moving because the Village has gotten out of control?

Striking While the Wok is Hot

Here's how Andersen Lee and the Boullion Bilk group's new contemporary Chinese restaurant Oncle Lee plays in a space that jumps in between the chef's coming-of-age and culinary cultures to create something that's wholly of and by Montreal. (The Main)

Oncle Lee: Bringing a contemporary taste of Chinatown to Montreal’s Mile End

Oncle Lee is where chef Andersen Lee has a space to call his own, exploring his Chinese identity, influences, and inspirations.

J.P. Karwacki

Here, you'll find a weekly round-up of the latest local news, from entertainment to current affairs and more.

Title

The task of feeding Montreal’s most vulnerable people isn’t getting easier. One of the city’s oldest soup kitchens announced it would have to stop serving food on weekends for the first time in 147 years. Here's a look inside what it takes to run one. (The Rover)

Hunger Games: Inside a Kitchen Feeding Montreal’s Unhoused – The Rover

Montreal is seeing an unprecedented rise in demand for food banks, at a time when rising costs are forcing these initiatives to cut back.

The RoverChristopher Curtis

Expanding Canada's ready-to-drink culture 🥃

Amour Liquide’s pocket-sized, bar-quality cocktails aren't a replacement of making cocktails at home, or the experience you have in a bar—it’s an extension of that experience in places where you can’t have all the ingredients and equipment on hand. (The Main)

Amour Liquide: Expanding ready-to-drink cocktail culture in Canada

The first ready-to-drink cocktail above 7% alcohol in Canada that’s served in one portion, changing the national scene one can at a time.

The Main

Welcome... to Jurassic Montreal 🦖

This is the story of how three levels of government were duped into green-lighting (and nearly funding) a quasi-museum in an old Expo 67 pavilion where the majesty of prehistoric beasts would come alive via the magic of modern animatronics. (Cult MTL)

Jurassic Parc Jean-Drapeau: The story of the Dinasaurium con

The time Montreal nearly built the Dinasaurium, where the majesty of prehistoric beasts would come alive via the magic of animatronics.

Cult MTLTaylor C. Noakes

Money meets ambiguous plans—what could go wrong?

The City of Montreal is promising a cleaner, more accessible downtown core with a new 10-year plan to bring life back to the area. The $1.8-billion project has critics, however, saying there isn't much new in this strategy and says 10 years is far too slow for a situation that is urgent. (CTV News)

Critics say ‘nothing new’ in Montreal’s $1.8B plan to revitalize downtown core

The City of Montreal is promising a cleaner, more accessible downtown core with a new 10-year plan to bring life back to the area. The $1.8-billion project was presented by Mayor Valerie Plante Tuesday, with a goal to keep downtown culturally vibrant and economically attractive.

Montreal

Here comes the sun, slowly but surely 🌞

We just wanted to include this story because it may brighten your day, sure, but we just found it funny that local news is taking the time to remind us all of the Earth's path around the sun and that the winter misery some of are feeling is gonna end at some point. (The Beat 92.5)

Montreal will gain 2 minutes of daylight every day this week

Brighter times are near, Montreal!

The Beat 92.5undefined

Legendary buskers

Recognized as an emblem of Montreal's alternative culture, Jeremy Dunlop is a Jamaican Montrealer who's got an intricate story to tell about his path from one country to mkaing a home in another as an in-the-know musician. (Urbania)

Jeremy Dunlop : les mains qui font vibrer Montréal - URBANIA

Le rythme, de la montagne au métro.

URBANIAJean Bourbeau

A 'symbolically francophone' 24hr district

Here we go: Hinted at late last year, the Plante administration plans to allow certain businesses in the Latin Quarter to remain open all night, in addition to designating the area as a new “Francophonie district”. (La Presse)

Putting us to shame

"We believe that if we are not able to house people experiencing homelessness, we cannot dismantle encampments," said Longueuil's mayor Catherine Fournier. This flies in the face of even our own city that's known for tearing down tent cities. (Radio-Canada)

Un Plan d’action pour lutter contre l’itinérance à Longueuil

Ce Plan d’action agira « en complémentarité avec la Stratégie d’habitation de Longueuil dans la lutte à l’itinérance », indique la Ville.

Radio-Canada

A first in the right place

Montreal’s Chinatown has officially become the city’s first sector designated as a heritage site. The city utilized Quebec’s Cultural Heritage Act to identify it as such, making it part of the province’s Directory of Cultural Heritage. (City News)

‘Historic gesture’: Montreal’s Chinatown officially registered as heritage site | CityNews Montreal

Montreal’s Chinatown has officially become the city’s first sector designated as a heritage site. Mayor Valérie Plante called it a “historic gesture,” adding it was part of a global strategy to promote the sector’s history and recognize the contribution of the Asian community. Montreal utilized Quebec’s Cultural Heritage Act to identify Chinatown as a heritage […]

CityNews MontrealKelsey Patterson

And that wraps yet another weekly bulletin. We’ll be back with more curiosities, local stories, and events to discover next week.

If ever you catch something we should know, don't hesitate to reach out to us on Instagram.