On the Menu

The exhibition On the Menu – Montreal: A Restaurant Story invites visitors to explore the changing face of the Montreal restaurant scene since the 1960s. From deli to fine dining, it reveals how part of the city’s identity has been shaped by the practice of eating out.

Aside from the food they offer, restaurants are places for meeting and discovering, symbols of identity and culture, indicators of social and economic change – as well as providing the backdrop for countless memories. Whether award-winning or unassuming, short-lived or long-lasting, local or international, each is the embodiment of an essential aspect of the city’s character.

Recognized today as one of North America’s foremost gastronomic capitals, Montreal boasts nearly 5,000 restaurants in 2025 – a third of all those in Quebec. Behind this culinary wealth lies a fascinating story that blends local traditions, creativity and influences from around the globe. The exhibition offers a window onto this vibrant world by tracing the evolution of Montreal’s restaurants. An exhaustive account would be impossible: the city has witnessed a succession of legendary eating spots, varieties of cuisine and influential figures sometimes now forgotten. On the Menu – Montreal: A Restaurant Story focuses on a selection of iconic establishments that serve to convey how neighbourhoods, communities and Montreal dining tastes have changed.