In Montreal, food is spectacle. A key word is terroir, the best of local produce from farm, forest and sea. Toqué, housed in gleaming art moderne premises on Place Jean Paul Riopelle in the financial district, has perfected the art of preparing venison, wild fowl and local vegetables as classic European terrines, roasts and risottos. At Aix Cuisine du Terroir, in cozy ground-floor surroundings on Place d’Armes, wild boar, bison, duck and salmon star in classic and hearty “bistro-style” preparations at lunch, with more ornate appetizers and accompaniments at dinner. Long-established in the midtown commercial area on Crescent Street is classically French Les Halles. Excellent Szechuan cuisine is served quite formally at Le Piment Rouge, in the elegant Windsor office complex of midtown.

Essential sports venues are Molson Stadium, just a few blocks north of most hotels, where the Alouettes play wide-open Canadian football from late summer into fall; and the Bell Centre, home of the fabled--if not still fabulous--Canadiens hockey team.

Montreal has assorted performance spaces grouped at Place des Arts for theater and classical music, but entertainment transcends standard premises in the city where Cirque du Soleil began. Churches, converted movie theaters, the former stock exchange (the Centaur Theatre) and tents are also venues for music and drama in English and French, acrobatics and equestrian performances. For informality, venture into a Boîte à Chansons, a song bar where patrons may join the performers.