# Where to Eat
The Tourism of Montreal team has put together a great website for us to use: [http://pycon.alamontreal.com/](http://pycon.alamontreal.com/). Here you can find places where you can get a discount using your badge as well as many other restaurant options not listed below.
During the main conference, breakfast and lunch are included, so all you have to worry about is dinner. The *real* problem is choosing where to go. Within a 10 minute walk, a world of choice awaits you. To find out where others are going and to join them, use Duckling, brought to you by Caktus Group. Here's a map showing the area around the Palais de Congrès:
The shaded area is (roughly) everything within 10 minutes' walk of the PdC. The four green pins show the entrances to the PdC (the blue pins are the conference hotels). The building itself is bounded by ave. Viger on the north, rue de Bleury on the west, rue St-Antoine on the south, and rue St-Urbain on the east. Yes, that is a major expressway running under the building (not through it).
Keep in mind that all orientations here go by Montreal's own unique compass, which is rotated 45° from the rest of the world. "Montreal north" is really geographical northwest, and "Montreal south" is geographical southeast. Blame the St. Lawrence river: it flows from southwest to northeast, and the street grid is all based on the river.
## Immediate vicinity
In the immediate vicinity of the PdC (Palais des Congrès), your choices are limited to expensive or very expensive.
* **Toqué**, 900 Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle. Worth a visit if you're into celebrity chefs, regional/seasonal cuisine, five-course menus, and two-hour dinners. You'll need a reservation, nice clothes, and plenty of money ($50-100 per person, depending on wine).
## Northeast: Chinatown
From the EAST end of the PdC, walk up St-Urbain. Cross the expressway, then Viger St, and you'll quickly find yourself in Montreal's small Chinatown. Prices are low, portions are generous, and the food is generally pretty good.
Locals recommend:
* **Maison Kam Fung**, 1111 St-Urbain. Tucked away inside a nondescript modern building among nail salons and travel agencies, this is a favourite spot for dim sum. Good at handling large groups. (Disclaimer: I've never been there for dinner! Anyone?)
* **[Nudo](http://www.yelp.ca/biz/nudo-montr%C3%A9al)**, 1055 St-Laurent. Hand-stretched noodles in a semi-basement restaurant. Lots of authentic appetizers and unique house-made noodles (you can watch how the noodles are stretched).
* **Pho Bang New York**, 1001 boul. St-Laurent (corner of Viger)
Best Pho soup in town. Low price and generous portions.
## South and southeast: Old Montreal
Old Montreal (aka Vieux-Montréal) is the tourist mecca of the city. It shouldn't be too crowded in April, so it's worth a visit if you live somewhere where "old" means "pre-1945". Here, "old" means eighteenth/nineteenth century, and Old Montreal has lots of attractive stone buildings and cobblestone streets. It also has plenty of tacky t-shirt stores and restaurants aimed squarely at the tourist market.
To get there, walk SOUTH along rue Saint-François-Xavier (middle of the PdC) or rue Saint-Sulpice (east end of the PdC). Throw a rock and follow the sound of breaking glass to a restaurant. It's not hard to find them. ;-) It's a bit harder to find places that provide good food at reasonable prices.
Locals recommend:
* **Boris Bistro**, 431 McGill St. Strictly speaking not in Old Montreal, but just on the western edge of it. But the fries here are fried in duck fat. Need I say more?
## North and northwest: downtown food court hell
The main bulk of downtown is NORTH of the PdC. If you like shopping mall food courts, with large portions of low-quality food-like substances served in throwaway styrofoam containers, you will be in heaven. Otherwise... stay at street level. You can find decent food downtown, but you will not find it in the underground city.
## Farther afield
If you don't mind going a little farther than a 10 minute walk, there are plenty of nice places to go. Here are some of our favourites.
(Ces restaurants ne sont pas toujours très grands. On doit émettre la recommandation générale d'appeler afin de réserver)
## Grillades
* **Omnivore**, 4351 Boulevard Saint-Laurent: grillades, viande bio, très bonne cuisine.
## Cuisine végétarienne
* **Commensal**, 1720 Rue Saint-Denis (et autres adresses): buffet végétarien, payé au poids. The food is good, but be careful: a really full plate can cost you $15-20.
## Cuisine indienne
* **Mysore**, 4216 Boulevard Saint-Laurent: très bon restaurant.
## Cuisine japonaise / Japanese / 日本料理
Quelques restaurants avec de véritables chefs japonais. Dans certains cas, le service en japonais est disponible. Il est recommandé de réserver.
* **Sakura Garden**, 3450 rue Drummond
* **Restaurant Kazu**, 1862 Sainte-Catherine Ouest
* **Bistro Isakaya**, 3469 Avenue du Parc
## Cuisine portugaise
* **Le Doval** au 150, rue Marie-Anne Est
## Cuisine libanaise
* [**Boustan**](http://boustan.ca/) au 2020, rue Crescent et 19, rue Sainte-Catherine Est: delicious shawarma. The "Creation" and garlic potatoes are recommended.
## Brunch
* [brunch-musique (piano/sax/etc.)] Le dépanneur au 206 Rue Bernard Ouest
* [brunch-pourmangerbeaucoup] B&M au 120, rue Saint-Viateur O
Restaurants
