Montreal can now dine on the new Time Out Market menu from chef Chanthy Yen

Time Out Market Montréal now features a coast-to-coast-to-coast menu from prime minister Justin Trudeau’s personal chef.

Today’s the day: Announced earlier this month, local and visitors to Montreal alike can now dine on a whole new menu at the market from chef Chanthy Yen.

Serving a pan-Canadian menu that pulls from his travels across the country and from personal memories of when his family acquainted themselves with food served in Canada through “scrappy and creative” reinventions, Yen is serving classics that diners will find both familiar and innovative.

Much like Time Out Market Montréal’s second latest arrival of Mezzmiz which brought a cosmopolitan Beirut style to Lebanese classics, Yen’s previously explained his food as dishes one might find at a casino: While there’s a classic steak-frites or shrimp cocktail, other ‘classics’ get spun in different directions like mussels and fries with a coconut white wine cream sauce, buttery whelks with a nori aioli, or flan with condensed milk and Vietnamese coffee caramel.

We’ve called Yen a rising star in Canada’s kitchens—some may think that’s a term reserved for young guns eager to prove themselves, but Yen helps to redefine it: After completing his culinary studies at the Northwest Culinary Academy in Vancouver, Yen worked with some of Canada’s best-known chefs, including Ned Bell from Yew Restaurant and Jefferson Alvarez of Secret Location (both in Vancouver).

After working in these Canadian kitchens, Yen expanded his repertoire by moving to San Sebastian in Spain to work at one of the world’s consistently top-rated restaurants, Mugaritz. He then spent a year learning about molecular gastronomy under the direction of Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz before conducting culinary research under the direction of chef Ferran Adria at his Bullipedia research center in Barcelona.

Since these experiences, Yen has operated restaurants and pop-up kitchens in Montreal before declaring his goals to cook for the king of Cambodia. He’s presently the executive chef at Tiramisu in Montreal’s Chinatown, the chef of Vancouver’s biggest vegan restaurant Nightshade, the personal chef to the prime minister, and now?

Now his food is up for grabs at Time Out Market Montréal.

If you got this far in the article, good job: Stay tuned for a special event coming up in late April where diners will be invited to a special prime ministerial dinner…

Chanthy Yen’s signature concept is now open and operating at Time Out Market Montréal—see the full menu here.

Mezzmiz is bringing its Beirut-style Lebanese mezze to the tables of Time Out Market Montréal

After romancing the city with their first kitchen, Mezzmiz’s new pop-up will load Time Out Market Montréal’s tables up with mezze.

Time Out Market Montréal is a versatile place, good for as many quick drop-ins for meals as it is for dancing the night away with a couple of cocktails, but the one thing that’s central to this food hall: Gathering together to enjoy a meal.

That’s what makes the arrival of the eatery Mezzmiz so important: This pop-up’s menu is all about the mezze experience, loading the table up with dishes both traditional and inspired from the culinary tapestry that is Lebanese cuisine. Coming from the cofounders Rony Zibara and Nadim Hammoud, it’s an idea that was born in Beirut and modified for North America, pulling from the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe for its dishes.

When Mezzmiz started to mix things up

Mezzmiz is a pandemic ghost kitchen project that’s blown past the expectations of local Middle Eastern communities here, thanks in part to uncompromising quality in the kitchen, but that’s not where it really started out in the city.

“We were in the process of creating a proper sit-down restaurant (back when the pandemic started),” Zibara explains, nodding to the ghost kitchen they opted to run out of the Q-ZN facilities in Saint-Laurent.

“The team behind the concept comes from six top-notch restaurants in Beirut doing Beirut cuisine. It’s quite different from Lebanese food in that Beirut is very cosmopolitan, a different take on the classics; you don’t go to Beirut to just eat the classics, so you need to put in the effort to stand out.”

It’s that Beirut style, that penchant for standing out, that Montrealers can find on the menu with only a few bites: The pop-up’s lemon confit chicken is Moroccan with Middle Eastern ingredients, for example, the shawarma is made filet mignon, and even staples like the tabbouleh opts for using sweeter Floridian lemons instead of the more tart Middle Eastern variety.

It’s not all about tweaking the traditional, however. “Montreal is extremely rich and secure in terms of the ingredients you need to make Lebanese food, if not the world, because of the size of the community here,” Zibara says. “The team has spent an inordinate amount of time finding the best ingredients they can. The spices, the pomegranate molasses, the tahini we use is all imported from Lebanon—those are things you just can’t compromise on—but there will be differences.”

“A lot of people can make these dishes at home, but to bring together the right sauces and seasonings and ingredients in a unique manner that’s worthy of anyone to order?” Zibara adds. “The Lebanese community has adopted us overnight, and that’s a great compliment that says we’ve gone far enough with our menu, but not so far that they can’t recognize their cuisine anymore.”

The French connection

With its prominent pre-war French influences, Beirut was often called the Paris of the Middle East, so it’s no wonder that Montreal can be just as much a home for Lebanese communities and Mezzmiz’s Lebanese-Montrealer cofounders are no exception.

Like Beirut, “Montreal’s a very cosmopolitan city beloved by many Lebanese,” says Zibara. “We’re trilingual, right? French is a second language in Lebanon. When you immigrate, you either go to France or you go to Canada, and Montreal is the hub and comfortable landing spot for many.”

That linguistic and cultural connection include what’s culinary, too: “Montreal’s one of the top restaurant-going cities in North America, and that part of what makes the city interesting for us to test a concept. We wanted this to be born and nurtured by Montrealers.”

Now, Mezzmiz is bringing Beirut and Montreal together in one place ‘s mix-and-match approach Beirut style.

Mezzmiz is now open at Time Out Market Montréal inside Centre Eaton de Montréal (705 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest), operating Monday to Wednesday from 11:30am to 7pm, Thursday and Friday from 11:30am to 8pm, Saturday from noon to 8pm, and Sunday from noon to 6pm.

Paul Toussaint’s new eatery Americas BBQ is now open at Time Out Market Montréal

The Haitian Montreal chef’s new pan-American concept combines barbecue techniques from across two hemispheres.

Today’s the day: Haitian chef Paul Toussaint’s new eatery, Americas BBQ, is ready to fire up its grills at Time Out Market Montréal.

Combining techniques and specialities from across North, Central, and South America, the restaurant features equal parts dishes from provinces and states like Quebec, Tennessee and Texas as it does countries like Argentina, Brazil, and the Caribbean.

BBQ lovers take note: There are restaurants and steakhouses in Montreal who do solid work on their grill, but none of them propose as ambitious of a menu as this.

The menu is divided in four sections: The first focuses on barbecue and smoking techniques, ranging from whiskey BBQ sauce ribs and slices of brisket to chicken wings and chorizo sausage hot off the flames;, while the second has a steakhouse selection with Québec lamb méchoui and a classic onglet with chimichurri.

After that, it’s savory sandwiches like a Montreal smoked meat grilled cheese and al pastor with chunks of pineapple on a potato bun, as well as all the fixings you need for a real BBQ feast: Creamy baked mac and cheese, potato salad, beans, and some little healthful touches like a quinoa salad and grilled vegetables.

Of course, there are some desserts to round out your feast, with lemon tarts and chocolate tarts, as well as a Caribbean rhum cake (care of the chef’s Greater Antillian roots).

It’s time to tuck in, Montreal. Bring a bib!

Americas BBQ is now open at Time Out Market Montréal inside the Centre Eaton de Montréal (705 Saint-Catherine St W), serving Monday to Thursday from 10am to 8pm, Friday from 10am to 9pm, Saturday from 11:30amto 9pm, and Sunday from 11:30am to 6pm.

Time Out Market Montréal has an all-new, all-Quebec cocktail menu

Drop by the Time Out Bar at Time Out Market Montréal these days, and you’re going to be treated to an all-new cocktail menu.

We know, we know, everyone and their grandmother has got new menus these days, created to help refresh their businesses’ offerings since a pandemic kicked us while we were down for 20 months and counting. Thing is, we wanted to do things differently at the Market: That’s we focused on using only Quebec-made products, from apéritifs for spritzes and vodka for Caesars to whisky for Old Fashioneds and rhum and absinthes for tiki-style drinks.

Pick your drink

There are 10 cocktails in total to choose from: Montrealers will be able to try out drinks created by the Market’s mixologists and the specialists from Alambika.

Whatever you pick, it will show off some of the distilleries in the city’s own backyard—think Cirka’s chili vodka from their distillery by the Lachine Canal or Portage gin made by Oshlag—and beyond, from Montérégie and the Eastern Townships followed by trips up the Saint-Lawrence as far as Bas-Saint-Laurent.

• Rooftop with Distillerie Wabasso (Wabasso gin)
• Voyage aux Îles with Club Local (Spritz les îles & Portage gin)
• Bleuet Boréal with Distillerie 3 Lacs (3 Lacs limoncello, Quebec’s first)
• Saint Flanelle with Cirka Distilleries (Cirka’s chili vodka)
• César du Cap Diamant with Distillerie de Québec & Comont (Cap Diamant vodka and agave spirit from Comont)
• Negroni 1642 with Distillerie Mitis (Mugo gin)
• Vieux Montréal with Distillerie de Montréal (Rosemont Whisky de Montréal)
• Clé en main with Club Local (White Keys Vodka)
• Anticosti with Distillerie du St. Laurent (St. Laurent gin)
• Punch Petite-Patrie with Distillerie de Montréal & Distillerie Mariana (Rhum Blanc Rosemont & Absynthe Balzac)

Shop for your drinks, too

In addition to the new cocktail menu, Time Out Market is launching a small retail shop in collaboration with Alambika so you can either stock your own bar for the holidays or pick up some stocking stuffers!

Boxes for making gin & tonics, cosmopolitans, sangrias, margaritas, and more will be on offer, including jiggers and glassware to make them easy pick-up-and-go gifts alongside a range of mixology equipment in case you plan on hosting some Christmas parties at home.

Easy party planning

Grab your friends and, more importantly, grab some drinks! Just be sure to enjoy it all responsibly.

If you’re like us, you’ve probably been eager to get back to the tables of Montreal’s restaurants, and to once again enjoy meals from the city’s most amazing chefs at all hours of the day.

The thing is, while we would be happy just to eat a two-egg plate for breakfast, we know that brunch can be so much more than that. And at Time Out Market Montréal? It’s ten times what you think brunch can be: Starting this Saturday and Sunday (February 19 and 20) from opening until 3 p.m. onward, every single eatery at the Market is going to be making a special dish to blow your weekend out of the water.

Things were already great for brunch at Time Out Market Montréal thanks to the all-day brunch from Le Passé Composé, but now they’re getting even better: Breakfast pizzas and brunch poutines? Middle Eastern, Indian and Japanese brunch dishes? You can sign yourself up for all of it, but the best way to experience it will be bring a bunch of people and try a larger selection of dishes together, all while knocking back some of the special cocktail pitchers that have been crafted for the occasion (see below the menu):

What’s on the menu?

Paul Toussaint — Jerk sandwich, mesclun, fried egg, plantain fries

Le Red Tiger — Sweet and Sour chicken

Moleskine — Breakfast pizza: Mornay sauce, tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms, fior di latte, cheddar, egg, lettuce

Mezzmiz — Foul with Eggs: Lebanese fava beans with zaatar and sumac spiced eggs

Il Miglio — Spaghetti carbonara: panchetta, pecorino, parmasan, eggs, black pepper

Marusan — Nikujaga Teishoku: A bowl of steamed rice, miso soup, ganmo tofu patte, onsen porched egg with dashi, Japnaese beef and potato stew

Americas BBQ — Benedictine Al pastor, barbecue pork, poached eggs, potatoes buns, guacamole, hollandaise sauce

Chanthy Yen — Pork Taiwanese pot stickers, poached egg, crunchy XO sauce and green onions

Casa Kaizen — Nori Tostada brunch : Nori panko, garlic sour cream, no-tuna, jalapeños panko

Tunnel Espresso — The Brunch Sidekick: one coffee of your choice with a special sweet treat

Campo — Bifana Brunch Poutine: grilled pork cutlet, fries, cheese curds, Sao Jorge cheese, Porto sauce, sunny side up egg

Le Blossom — Inari: Salmon, tamago, fried avocado, sweet potato

Burger T! — BLT!: bacon, tomato, lettuce, egg and cheddar cheese

Le Taj — Aloo Gobi: cauliflower and potato curry

And for drinks?

To top it all off, you you can top up with a special boozy cocktail menu from the Time Out Bar that you can order up either by the glass or by the pitcher.

Cocktails include a festive ‘Mai Tom‘ (12 for a glass, 30 for a pitcher) tiki drink with rum, fruit juices, Cointreau, and more; the ‘Crémeux Abricot‘ (10 for a glass, 25 for a pitcher) for a creamy mix of Spritz les Iles, a new boozy milk liqueur named Crème à glace, plus lemon, apricot, and orange; and no brunch is complete without some bubbles, so try the ‘Fraises des Champs‘ (13 for a glass, 30 for a pitcher) with its mix of rhubarb liqueur, Saint-Germain, sparkling wine, strawberry, and basil.

And if you’d rather keep things zero proof? There are plenty of mocktails, house sodas, and smoothies to dig into if you’ve got to stay sharp throughout the rest of the day.

Time Out Market Montréal‘s new brunch menu starts on the weekend of February 19 and 20, and will be available every Saturday and Sunday from opening until 3 p.m.