Best South Asian Restaurants in Montreal
While Montreal doesn't have as large of a South Asian population compared to other cities in Canada, there are still some pretty good South Asian spots! I generally don't go out for South Asian food too often because I genuinely prefer my home cooked meals more and it is what I eat most frequently at home. It is nice to go out for dishes that I don't really make at home though and sometimes restaurants surprise me by how good they are! Here are what is consider the best South Asian restaurants in Montreal!
Sana Restaurant Halal (Crescent)
The first restaurant on my list and the one I have been to the most is Sana Restaurant Halal on Crescent Street (they have a second location as well that I have not been to). When I first visited Sana Restaurant Halal what stood out to me was that there are dishes that I don't normally see at Indian restaurants but are more common at Pakistani restaurants which leads me to assume that the owners are Pakistani. These dishes include things like halwa puri, haleem, and nihari all of which are super delicious dishes that a lot of people in Canada haven't tried because it is not available at the average South Asian restaurant!
I personally wasn't blown away by the nihari at Sana and the halwa puri is decent, definitely give both a try though if you've never had them, but there are a couple of other dishes that I highly recommend. The first is the haleem which is a shredded meat stew that is thickened with grains. I really enjoyed the haleem at Sana especially the the edition of some lemon and onion and I can't recommend this dish enough because it is super underrated in Canada.
Kebab curry is another dish that not all South Asian restaurants tend to have here but Sana Restaurant Halal does and they do it quite well. I like how heavily seasoned the kebabs are and the curry is super flavorful as well so it is a great dish if you want a flavor bomb! Additionally, the dal mash is an absolute must even if you aren't a huge fan of vegetarian dishes. Mash daal (same thing as 'dal mash' just how I say it) is my favorite type of daal and at this spot it's respectably seasoned and super creamy and delicious.
While most of the above dishes are something I would order for dinner, Sana also has a great lunch option with their sandwich rolls! This is pretty much like a naan wrap and is quite a popular concept in Pakistan. The sandwich rolls at Sana are really tasty and I think it is a very convenient lunch option near Concordia that I would recommend.
Restaurant Singh's (Jean-Talon)
If you are in the mood for more classic Canadian-Indian fare I would recommend Restaurant Singh's (I believe this restaurant also has a location on St-Laurent but I have not been). I have been to many classic Canadian-Indian restaurants in the city, and been disappointment many times, but I think Restaurant Singh's stands slightly above the rest.
They have all the classic curries you would expect like butter chicken, korma, lamb vindaloo, etc., but I think what stood out to me was the meat. I ordered the Special SIngh's tandoori and was very satisfied with how juicy and reasonably flavorful the meat was compared to most places. All of the meat in the curries I ordered was also very nicely cooked and all of the flavors were nicely balanced overall.
I would say a clear top 3 Canadian-Indian restaurants for me would probably be Restaurant Singh's, Palais d'Ajit and Maison Indian Curry so check any of them out to get your fix but if you are near Jean-Talon then making the trip to Restaurant Singh's is probably worth it.
Appayon
I honestly haven't had much Bengali food in my life but I found that I was pretty satisfied with my visit to Appayon! While there is a lot of overlap between Pakistani (punjabi) and Indian ("north Indian") cuisine, Bengali cuisine is quite different. For example, while mustard oil is common in certain Pakistan/Indian dishes I find it is much more pervasive in Bengali cuisine and this was evident at Appayon with certain dishes.
One such dish that had a noticeable aroma of mustard oil was the fuchka which is like a pani puri. I wasn't the biggest fan of this flavor but I think it is an acquired taste and my friend was a very big fan. Otherwise I got the haleem, naga beef, and chicken pulao and everything was great! Although the naga beef was a little less spicy than I expected there was generally such a great balance and richness of flavors in each dish so I definitely recommend trying each/any of these dishes!
While I don't have much of a reference to go off of in regards to Bengali cuisine, I thought Appayon was a very nice restaurant and a great place to go if you want South Asian cuisine but want to mix it up from the usual Indian/Pakistani cuisine!
Pizza Desi
I am so excited to shout out this last spot because it serves up South Asian pizza which I was overjoyed to see! If you aren't South Asian this may seem like a strange combination but trust me it is so delicious!
If you visit Pakistan something you will notice that is quite common is dishes from around that world that are taken and adapted with South Asian flavors. This includes pasta, shawarma, and of course pizza.
Compared to another South Asian pizza spot I visited in Montreal that I was very disappointed with, Pizza Desi came through a lot more with the South Asian flavors. I have tried the chicken tikka pizza and the paneer tikka pizza and both are great! I haven't been in the past year but from what I remember they were quite decadent, had nice South Asian flavors, and the prices were pretty reasonable given the quantity! If you haven't tried South Asian pizza definitely give it a chance and from the two spots I have tried in Montreal this far exceeds the other place I tried so I think it is definitely worth making the trip to Pizza Desi!
Best South Asian Restaurants in Montreal
I hope this post gives you all some inspiration for new South Asian restaurants to try! I think I am overly critical of South Asian restaurants in general so making this list was a bit tough but these are undoubtedly the South Asian restaurants that I have had the best experiences at in the city.
My personal recommendation to everyone in regards to South Asian restaurants is to try something new! I feel like a lot of my friends that aren't from South Asia get stuck in a loop of getting butter chicken and lamb vindaloo when they go out for South Asian food but there are so many other amazing dishes to discover! Although I would say these 4 restaurants are probably my top 4 favorites I did also want to provide variety in this post so that remained in the back of my mind while I was writing and I think I was successful in that regard as well.
I hope you all enjoyed this post! Checkout my social media for more foodie content and checkout my other blog posts for more recommendations for restaurants, not only in Montreal but around the world!
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