The first snow has fallen and we’ve already been told we look a little pale, so to get the rosy cheeks and almost supernatural cold tolerance we can boast about this winter in Montreal, we recommend a healthy weekly dose of borscht.
It’s a beet soup with onions and potatoes, served with dill and, if you’re feeling greedy, sour cream. Borscht appears in almost all Eastern European cultures, with variations – meat, no meat, bines, no bines, with pelmeni in it or not, etc.) – and everyone says that the real borscht comes from home.
There are many versions of borscht: Russian, Polish, Romanian, Ukrainian, which differ from region to region and from family to family. That’s how we know it’s a miraculous soup.
In Montreal, we’re lucky enough to have a diverse and extremely talented Eastern European community – and to be able to eat a very good borscht at any time…
Our favorite Eastern European restaurants in Montreal
Perogies Lili – Ukrainian restaurant
There are only a few places to sit and eat your borscht in a hurry at Perogies Lili, but you eat in front of large windows overlooking the street. You get a bowl of borscht and, of course, perogies made according to the Ukrainian recipe.
You can also take perogies home, because the restaurant sells them frozen, and part of the restaurant’s profits go to humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
Where: Perogie Lili, 126 Fairmount Avenue West
When?
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Wednesday, Thursday – 11am to 7pm
Friday, Saturday – 11am to 9pm
Sunday – 11am to 7pm
Chez Anna – Hungarian restaurant
No borscht on Chez Anna’s menu, but instead we have a goulash and store for sour cream, pickled cucumbers and a big walnut strudel to eat later.
Where: Chez Anna, 4128 Boulevard Saint-Laurent
When?
Closed Tuesdays
Monday, Wednesday – 10am to 8pm
Thursday – 11am to 9pm
Friday, Saturday – 10am to 10pm
Sunday – 10am to 8pm
Stash Café – Polish restaurant
At Stash Café, the borscht is called barszcz and can be had with or without uszka (a type of Polish filled pasta) inside.
For the festive season, Stash also offers a Ukrainian borscht with sour cream, which can also be taken to go.
This is one of the city’s most romantic and pleasant restaurants, and in addition to the soup we recommend the golabki – cabbage leaf rolls with tomato sauce.
Where: Stash Café, 200 rue Saint-Paul Ouest
When?
Closed Tuesdays
Monday, Wednesday – 5pm to 10pm
Friday, Saturday – noon to 11pm
Sunday – noon to 10pm
Nevski – Russian restaurant
At Nevski, borscht is served with rye bread and sour cream. You can also eat pelmenis (Russian pierogis) and pirojkis (the variant served on brioche bread).
It’s a perfect place to dine with friends, have a drink and dance afterwards – it’s not just the borscht that warms you up…
Where? Nevski, 75 Queen Street
When?
Wednesday – 5pm to 9:30pm
Thursday – 11:30am to 2:30pm / 5pm to 9:30pm
Friday, Saturday – 5pm to 11pm
за здоровье!