Cheap lunch anyone?
As a thrifty kind of guy, I either bring my lunch to work or seek out a meal that can be had for under five bucks, including tax. I give English courses at various places around downtown and have found lunch time to be a pricy proposition when on a budget. Of course making lunch and bringing it from home is always the cheapest, but if you’re like me, you sometimes leave the lunch you prepared on the counter at home. Anyway, my favorite cheap lunch downtown is the Pizza Doré combo with 2 slices of pizza and a soft drink for four bucks, tax included. This is a bargain and fills you up. There is something fine about that crust, I just love it. I adore both the mushroom and mexican pizza. There is a Pizza Doré (maybe it’s d’oré) in the Berri Uqam and Longueuil metro stations as well as in the tunnel between Eaton Center and Place Ville Marie.
Yes, the value menu at mickey dees is $4.60, but I’m always on the hunt for something new, good and under five bucks. Anybody have a secret cheapie lunch place?
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I was pleasantly surprised that lunch at Indigo’s cafe is pretty cheap. You can get a bowl of hearty chili with two pieces of toasted multigrain bread for about $4. The ambience is also great since everyone’s relaxed and reading. I also like that pizza place in the tunnel between Eaton Center and PVM. I was going to blog about it but you beat me to it! My fave is the one with eggplant. For that price, it’s pretty good and better than the standard pepperoni.
I was going to mention that pizza joint in the Eaton Centre/PVM tunnel too!
One of the problems with food court lunches is that they always try to get you to buy a “combo.” The objective is not to give you a balanced meal, but to justify getting you to part with the upper end of the generally accepted price of lunch (which is between $7.00 and $8.00 these days). But if you go to a Lebanese place you can still get a shish taouk or shwarma sandwich (just the sandwich) for about $4.00.
Then there’s the noodle joint in the Centre Eaton food court (north end, between the Korean place and Basha) where you can get a huge serving — big enough for two — for about $7.00. Great if you’re sharing.
Lunch is all about Altaib (there’s one on Guy, but I prefer the Express one on MacKay) and the “all dressed” zaatar. The place gets pretty busy with students though.
In the Cartier building, corner Sherbrooke and Peel, depanneur Super Sandwich.
Meats & cheese, tuna, egg salad, etc… standard fare on a simple baguette with lettuce and tomato, prepared in under a minute, usually for under $3. Filling and slightly healthier than 2 slices of pizza.
There’s a cafe on St. Urbain Street, underneath Kam Fung, that is the closest Montreal has to a real Hong Kong-style diner (cha chaan teng). It’s called Dobe and Andy. Their lunch special, which costs something like $3.95, includes noodle soup (pork, duck, etc.) and a drink (milk tea, lemon tea and other HK staples). The menu is only in Chinese, though.
The area west of Guy is a treasure trove of cheap and delicious Chinese food (and I’m not talking about Soupe and Noodles or Nouilles U & Me). Pret a Manger on Ste. Catherine has good beef brisket noodle soup for around $5; a fiver will get you a filling bowl of Taiwanese comfort food at Bao Dao Taiwan in the Faubourg or at a seemingly unnamed Taiwanese cafe on St. Marc above Maisonneuve.
Although it’s not downtown, I feel obligated to mention that Dusty’s (Park and Mount Royal) has the best hamburger special in town. What sets it apart is not only its price ($5.40 with tax — cheaper than McDo) but its freshness: the beef patty is plump and flavourful, the tomatoes and lettuce are fresh and crisp, the fries are delicious and the coleslaw and pickle are perfect. It’s simply very high quality.
The hamburger plate at Patati Patata (St. Laurent and Rachel) is even better.
You can get delcious food for next to nothing in Chinatown at various places. Unfortunately Peches Delices closed - they had the best buns there. I used to get a couple of BBQ Pork buns, one or two dessert buns, and a canned soft drink for about four bucks.
Cours Mont Royal’s food court used to have a Mexican place. I don’t know if it’s still there but they had cheap and tasty food.