NORA GRAY

Provided you've done a minimal amount of homework, finding a good meal in Montreal is no difficult task. With an abundance of solid restaurant choices and a flourishing community of people supporting great food and talented chefs, so long as you're prepared to take people's suggestions with prudence, you should be able to isolate this month's hype from the legit eater's spots. Finding a great meal on the other hand, remains a little more thorny. The greatness of a meal is nearly always a subjective issue, but at other times there's simply no room for debate. The meal we recently enjoyed sitting at the bar at Nora Gray was a triumph not open to debate. 

THE SPARROW

The Sparrow is a hipster-chic restaurant and bar on St. Laurent between St. Viateur and Fairmount. Situated in the demilitarized zone between two of Montreal's most famous bagel shops, they have chosen wisely not to take sides in this age-old Montreal rivalry; you won't find any bagels on the menu at The Sparrow. We visited for brunch on a Sunday morning expecting to find crumpets and English breakfast alongside polar opposites like johnny cakes, peach preserves, pulled pork and hush puppies. We had heard that the menu had a flare for mixing the influences of the American south with those of the British Isles but when we arrived the menu had recently been overhauled resulting in a pretty vanilla selection of your regular sort of breakfast staples. We later learned that the British influenced menu fell by the wayside when the former kitchen staff abandoned ship to open Lawrence across the street.