What to Do and Eat at Nuit Gourmande

I woke up this morning at 4:30am realizing tonight is the Nuit Gourmande and I hadn’t made plans!

This used to not be a big deal, becuase the Nuit Gourmande, the foodie night of Montreal en Lumière festival, was not a big deal. Nuit Blanche, whicih happens NEXT Saturday, is usually the big one. But foodies are now getting excited for this one as much as the free art next week. Because this year, Nuit Gourmande is a much bigger, cooler deal.

There are about 70 activities planned, from free chaga-cocoa and milk cap cotton candy at Mycoboutique to a $25 vegan kimchi class that comes with dinner and a glass of wine at Foodchain to a $50 all-night Sept-Îles brunch to a $35 Congolese-Quebecois tapas dinner that you’ve probably never eaten anything like before (unless you’ve already eaten a bunch at Le Virunga).

There’s a Pisco sour demo and Pisco tasting with some Peruvian bites at Mochica. At just $10, I’m not sure if the Peruvian bites mentioned on the description come with the tasting (veal heart anticucho, ceviche, potato in yellow aji amarillo chili pepper-cheese sauce), but here’s hoping!

Calling all sommeliers, there’s a $15 wine tasting board game night at Randolph, the board game bar cafe in the Quartier Latin. Quebec sommelier Jessica Harnois’ board game Vin Mystère is actually hooked up with SAQ bar codes so the bar buys the right bottles for participants to taste. The game is apparently all about identifying the wine. I think you can only play the game at Randolph and that the game’s not available for purchase, since the Facebook page says it’s published by Randolph and I can’t find a place to buy it online.

There’s a $15 flat fee BBQ at Maquis Yasolo. The menu is simple: jerk chicken with sides of plantain or sticky rice.

There’s conch ceviche, fritters and a fried fish menu at the highly underrated Resto Palme in the Village.

There are multiple kinds of Baked Alaska as part of a very Instagrammable flambé night at dessert restaurant and wine bar Ratafia. ($5-$15).

Then there are the food halls. My vote goes to Time Out Market for the concept: each restaurant will make food inspired by another restaurant in the food hall as part of an event called Time Out Market Enters the Twilight Zone. Over at Le Central, there’s less of a theme for their party night with discovery tours, special cocktails, cooking demos and live DJs. Really, you should go check out both to compare the two, especially if you haven’t been yet. No freebies, tough.

You can also go for a massage at my favourite massage place (legit massage) and then have a drink and snack next door ($45 for 30 minutes).

I imagine there might be some free tastings at the Marché d’Artisans’ event at the Hotel Bonaventure. It might just be the regular options open late in a downtown area, but it’s still a nice spot.

If you want to dance, there’s La Chasse at the Montreal Casino with Nomadic Massive and DJ Champion (it comes with a drink, coat check and free parking). It’s not so much a food thing, but you could splurge on the $230.50 full meal and party combo ticket…

Here are all the events happening tonight for the festival, in case you want more options. Happy eating!