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| - I was having dinner with my friends in Montreal. They asked if I have tried the bagels here. "No," I replied, "I was thinking more about croissants and baguettes, you know, the French stuff, when I think of Montreal." "But oh croissants are so boring!" My friends declared that they have to take me there. "Now?" I asked. We were having dinner. And bagels, for me, is strictly a breakfast business. Bagel shops close early. "Yes, after dinner! They are open 24 hours!!' And my friends started reminiscing about how they would go to the bagel shop after a party, or late hour studying.
By the window of the store, there are pellets of sacks of flour. The air is rich with a yeasty aroma. On the table, there is a guy cutting slices from a lump of dough as big as a child, and forming them into circles. There's an oven blazing, and bagels going in on a big wooden paddle and coming out later golden and hot. While there are several flavors for sale, go with the one they are making fresh.
Compare to the soft pillowy ones I'm used to, so plump the holes almost disappear, this one is thinner, has a chewier and denser texture. It's delicious, but then most anything piping hot from the oven is going to taste great. This place is a workshop, no table or chair, though there is a cooler to sell yogurt, cream cheese and other things you may put on a bagel. The heavenly aroma lingered on in the car for a few days, long after the bagels themselves were devoured.
I thought this place is a hidden gem, but judging from the number of reviews, seems like every Montrealer knows of this institution!
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