Things to do and must-try foods in Montreal

Royal Montreal Curling Club. I had so much fun hanging out on the ice and trying my hand at curling. They hold the record for oldest active athletic club in North America.  Walking around  Marché Atwater is also fun. Such a cool market. Walk around, meet some locals and try some of the amazing foods.   Jean-Talon Market is another fun one. Head to this bustling market for some fresh and local ingredients. There's a reason it's so popular.

Here are the foods that you have to try: 

• Schwartz's: Famous for its “smoked meat,” the Quebec version of pastrami. Get a sandwich stacked mile-high with the stuff, schmear on a little brown mustard, scarf it down (then succumb to the food coma).
  
• La Banquise Resto: The place for poutine.
  
• Le Canard Libéré: Québécois love their duck, and a friend of mine turned me on to this place.
  
• The Original Fairmount Bagel Bakery: Fresh bagels made the old-fashioned way. As a self-proclaimed bagel snob, I can honestly say this place is the real deal.
  
• McKiernan: Go for the hall-of-fame-worthy Chicken Tikka sandwich.
  
• Joe Beef: One Montreal's flagship restaurants (and one of my favorites in the entire world). I headed there for a semi-annual event known as 'The Butcher Blackout.' Eighty pounds of meat for 15 people. Oy vey.
  
• Cabane à Sucre Au Pied De Cochon: It’s here that renowned Chef Martin Picard taps his maple trees for syrup and raises pigs for meat for his restaurant Cabane a Sucre Au Pied de Cochon
  
• Boucherie Abu Elias: A no-frills Lebanese butcher shop and kitchen. Inexpensive and delicious kebab sandwiches. Pitas stuffed with roasted meats and fixings, then lightly toasted? Heaven.
  

Go to La Banquise Resto. Best poutine in the city!

Schwartz's is a must for their famous smoked meat sandwich. Surly, old school waiters, huge piles of cured, smoked meat. Good times.