Thursday, February 24, 2005

Round, magical, grainy confections

Montreal is a city of bakeries. Go for a walk through the neighborhood on a quiet Sunday morning and you're bound to be entranced by the hypnotic smell of freshly-baked bagels as you approach your favorite boulangerie. It's a signature of my childhood, and every time I return to the big French-speaking town, I always make a pilgrimmage. And we always bring home countless dozens of them.

We import them because London is decidedly not a city of bakeries. There are a few exceptions - a wonderful place called Angelo's comes to mind - but the people here seem to be content with the processed white bread that sits under fluorescent lights at the supermarket.

To ensure our lives don't become any more diluted than the Loblaws Gods would wish, I often take pictures of foods that look cool. And nothing looks cooler than this. Just try to avoid getting hungry.

What's next on your menu?

12 comments:

Ms Mac said...

Believe it or not, I had never tried a bagel up until 2003 when we met our lovely Canadian friends. They let me have one of their specially brought in from a busines traveller bagels and I fell in love. Now I have my bagels brought in specially from Canada too! I wish we had a bagel place near us but until then, Canadian bagels it is!

Dean said...

There's this great deli named Max's on Oak and 13th. I lived at 10th and Alder for years, and I used to walk up early on the mornings I was off and have a bagel (fresh!) and a cup of coffee. The coffee wasn't great, but the bagel... man. The place smelled heavenly.

Now I'm REALLY hungry.

Anonymous said...

Love bagels. Love New York bagels. *sigh* Now I want to go to NYC!!! :-)

Photominer said...

I miss St Viater's (pardon the spelling if I got it wrong) bagels and I love Montreal. Its so much more colourful than other Canadian cities.

Christine said...

Oh I love good bagels! And bakeries! We lived in Poulsbo, Washington for two years, and they had this wonderful little Norwegian
bakery there. We'd walk down on Saturday mornings and get something to eat and a hot drink, and walk the dogs along the waterfront. (sigh) Thanks for the memory!!

Joan said...

The best bagel I've ever had with the best customer service I've ever had was at a Jewish Deli that was up the street from my house.

I like mine with salmon cream cheese and a slab of home grown tomato on it. Mmmm....

Chris Rachael Oseland said...

I've only been to Montreal twice, but both times the food alone made me want to learn French and move. Louisville is nice, but you can't get fresh, hot, brioche here. I didn't know how much I loved brioche until my first trip to Montreal.

MorahMommy said...

After 8 years in London I still miss montreal bagels. They are the best! When ever we go there or our parents come here we always load up on them. We usually o.d. on them in a flash and sadly have to wait for our suppliers to supply us once again.

Red said...

We have a place near where I work called "Bethesda Bagels". I swear, they put crack in those things. Soooo addictive.

Suzanne said...

oh I absolutely must have a bagel now!! There was this great little bagel store on the bottom floor of my building when I lived in Manhattan! I ate one of their freshly baked delights every single day...loaded with cream cheese!

Gel said...

Yum! Mouth-watering photo. Love poppy-seed bagels w/ NOVA lox and creme cheese. (Actually, almost any fresh bagel from a good deli.) It's approaching midnight here- Can't help it. Your fault ;): I'm hungry for a snack, but "no lox".

Pat said...

I love Montreal Bagels - the real kind - but then again - I'm so biased ;p