Came to this small, unassuming bagel shop on a Saturday morning around 9:30 am. There was a line that wrapped around outside -- it took about 20 minutes or so to get through. When you enter, there's a small counter where you order.
My husband and I were determined to put to rest the St-Viateur and Fairmount rivalry with our own blinded taste test. So we picked up sesame and cinnamon raisin bagels from both places. We sat down at a bench across the street with a tub of cream cheese. Here are our notes:
ST-VIATEUR:"Not like American bagels -- MUCH better, softer, nice and chewy. A slight crisp." Compared to Fairmont, both the sesame and cinnamon raisin bagels had more flavor. With that being said, the cinnamon raisin flavor was verrry subtle (Mike: "These are essentially delicious plain bagels.")
FAIRMOUNT: "Even softer, but milder flavor, also chewy. The cream cheese overpowered the cinnamon raisin."
Unanimously, we declared ST-VIATEUR the clear WINNER of our blinded taste test. Bagels from both places were absolutely phenomenal (nothing like the bagels in the US -- lighter, so soft and so chewy). But if you're in Montreal and only have time to stop at one bagel shop, our vote would be to go with the SESAME bagel from ST-VIATEUR. Wonderful texture, more flavorful. Who knew bagels could be THIS good?!
**Tips: Cash only; Accepts US dollars but at a penalty 1:1 conversion** Seating not available -- plan to take your bagels to go! **Bagels best when consumed immediately. The extras that we bought and tried the next day became rock hard!**