📍Brocard – 3910 St Laurent Blvd, Montreal, Quebec H2W 1Y2
🌍Country: Syria 
🔥Must-try dish: Freekeh
🪑Seating: Indoor seating only.
👍The High: The warm, freshly cooked bread is unlimited. 
👎The Low: The Fatoush Salad was bland compared to the rest of the dishes ordered. 

Montreal’s Plateau just welcomed a tasty new neighbour: Brocard, a Syrian restaurant already winning hearts with friendly service, a cozy vibe, and dishes you’ll crave long after the last bite, even though it only opened a few weeks ago.

This city is basically a foodie playground. You can eat your way around the globe without ever leaving town. While Toronto leans hard on Asian and Latin American flavours, Montreal mixes it up with everything from African and Middle Eastern eats to European classics, fares representing many of the Francophone regions of the world, and that distinctly Québécois cooking you won’t find anywhere else in Canada.

With so many options in the city, the bright, zesty pull of Syrian food was impossible to ignore on a sunny Friday in one of the coolest neighbourhoods.

First up, the mocktails. The Tamer Hindi is a tangy tamarind sip for anyone who likes things on the less-sweet side, while the Polo, lemon and rose water, tastes exactly like summer in a glass.

For starters, I had to go classic: Mutabbal with warm, fresh flatbread (that comes in unlimited quantities). The smoky eggplant, punched up with citrus, yogurt, and spices, is silky enough to scoop up every last bit of bread. A Fattoush Salad came along for balance. It’s not a show-stopper, kind of mild, really, but it does the job as a side dish. If you’re chasing more excitement, grab another dip or the kibbeh instead.

Syrian cooking makes it easy to keep things light, even with red meat on the table. The Freekeh, a green wheat common in Levantine cuisine, is cooked in lamb stock and mixed with nuts and green peas. On top sits a tender lamb shank, so every bite hits with flavour, texture, and freshness. It’s light, but still full of layers.

With the smell of the grill in the air, the Damascus Kebap was an easy pick. The juicy ground veal comes with grilled veggies, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, basically all the good stuff in one plate.

All in all, stumbling on this new spot felt like perfect timing, it hit the spot just when it was needed. Not gonna lie, the FOMO in Montreal’s food scene is very real.

Eat with you soon!