Sesame bagel from St-Viateur

This post is about the bagel that started my love for bagels: the sesame bagel from St-Viateur. I really have to say that living in Montreal has had a very big impact on my opinions about bagels. To be honest, I feel like all the bagels I ate in my life before experiencing Montreal bagels were imposter bagels. The sesame bagel from St-Viateur was my gateway bagel to superb bagels, if you will.

I have many fond memories of going into St-Viateur Bagel in the Plateau. The sesame bagel is the quintessential Montreal-style bagel. Compared to a NY bagel, the hole is much bigger and the bread is more dense and a bit sweeter.

I recently had a discussion over Montreal bagels with my friend Kevin. While the sesame bagel is excellent, sesame is not my favourite bagel flavour (I prefer everything). However, Kevin was loyal to sesame for the freshness factor. Sesame is the most widely-produced flavour in Montreal (you can get one 24/7 from either St-Viateur or Fairmount!), so if you get a sesame bagel, you are guaranteed the freshest, hot out of the wood-fired oven bagel. Part of the fun of getting bagels in Montreal was being able to watch people hand-roll bagels and to see bagels come straight out of the oven.

Thank you to my friend Diane Nakamura for sending me the photos featured in this post! I can’t wait to be back in Montreal and actually eat the bagels instead of reminiscing about them.