Fairmount and St-Viateur's poppy bagels
Montreal ·This summer I am making it my mission to try all of the bagels at Fairmount and St-Viateur. I have plans to try other bagel shops on the island also, but I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts dedicated to the “Fairmount vs St-Viateur” rivalry. So whenever there is a flavour that is offered at both shops, I will be eating and thinking about both the Fairmount and St-Viateur versions side by side. (Plus, the shops are super close to each other so visiting both bakeries in one trip makes the most sense and I get to eat double the amount of bagels in one sitting, so it’s a winning situation all around.)
Today’s post is about the poppy bagels. My friend Pauline and I spent the hottest yet perhaps breeziest day of the summer so far at Parc Lafontaine dissecting these bagels.
Fairmount poppy bagel
The Fairmount poppy bagel was quite sweet and chewy, but didn’t have a particularly crisp crust. I always enjoy a bagel that is seasoned everywhere, and Pauline pointed out this makes it perfect for sharing.
St-Viateur poppy bagel
As we can see from the picture, the St-Viateur poppy bagel is only half seasoned. I guess the half seasoning gives it a bit of variety because in a way it’s like having two half bagels in one: a plain half and a poppy half. The bagel was chewy but didn’t really have crisp crust. Compared to the Fairmount bagel, I felt this was less sweet. Pauline thought the texture was lighter and perhaps drier than the Fairmount bagel.
Conclusion
Both Fairmount and St-Viateur bagels are nice light snacks. If you’re looking for a stronger poppy flavour, the Fairmount bagel is definitely the one for you between these two bagels.
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I’ve previously done a post dedicated to the sesame bagels and (day-old) all dressed/everything bagels from these shops in 2019.