[Long Island Mike]

Toronto vs.Montreal and other thoughts...

Everyone: Interesting topic on how the so-called Toronto/Montreal rivalry has fared in recent years and decades...
I will agree with many of the opinions here and say that Toronto passed Montreal to be #1 in Canada in the 80s.
Yes-the 80s were great for Toronto judging by just my own memories of my visits.

The separatist movement in Quebec did not help matters where Montreal is concerned - I recall I had little if any problem
language-wise there in the 80s but I knew knowing some French helped even though my attempt was feeble at best.

Montreal's big attraction to many is the French language/culture - and Quebec as a whole has a European feel to me somewhat-a great example is Quebec City's walled upper City-as close to being in Europe but not leaving North America as it can get to me.

From my membership here at UT I have read about how Toronto has changed now that it is the #1 city in Canada in size,wealth,variety and other factors.
Montreal is now #2 in Canada but it has that French influence working in its favor...and Quebec as a whole for that matter. It made Montreal just that much more interesting to me...but Toronto for me has always been my #1 destination visiting Canada.

Memories and insight from LI MIKE

 

[Blues]

Oh I'd say it's ten times better than it was here in say the 80s. There's a greater focus on local ingredients and experimentation. And I think Torontonians eat out on average more so than other Canadians but there isn't this great demand for greatness all the time. I think in Toronto a lot of the time people will eat various ethnic food etc. and automatically consider that a "foodie act" versus actually looking for quality in the food they are eating. It's I ate roti or sushi versus I ate roti and sushi and it was the best sushi/roti whatever, ever. If that makes any sense.

Make sense.

Hopefully it continues to improve. I wonder how the fortunes of Bay Street will help the restaurant industry. I know, everyone eats out. But you need deep pockets to allow chefs to get better quality products and maybe do things they might not do on a smaller budget (I know, price doesn't always mean quality). As demand for quality products increase, you'll need the financial means and mass to support those products and techniques. I've read some place that Vancouver's rather modestly-priced access to high-quality products may be slowly ending due to global demand for those products.

 

[OttoSchloss]

Make sense.

Hopefully it continues to improve. I wonder how the fortunes of Bay Street will help the restaurant industry. I know, everyone eats out. But you need deep pockets to allow chefs to get better quality products and maybe do things they might not do on a smaller budget (I know, price doesn't always mean quality). As demand for quality products increase, you'll need the financial means and mass to support those products and techniques. I've read some place that Vancouver's rather modestly-priced access to high-quality products may be slowly ending due to global demand for those products.

That's somewhat the difference between eating in Montreal and Toronto. In Toronto, people expect to pay if it's good quality food. In Montreal, they do not expect to pay for good quality food, they EXPECT good quality food at whatever price point.

 

[old boy]

I used to feel the need to stick up for my oft- slighted hometown Toronto in comparisons with Montreal. Now, on just about any level , psychological or otherwise, the need to measure Toronto in reference to Montreal has thankfully disappeared. It's Montreal's turn to be the quaint provincial sister city.