Best Places Where to Find Seal at Restaurants in Montreal

The city of Montreal is home to more than a thousand restaurants offering a variety of culinary experiences to visitors and locals alike.

But, when we do get to go out for a nice dinner with our friends, we always try to look for places that offer the best possible deal.

We tend to choose places that offer good quality food, decent service, great atmosphere, and good prices.

Where to Find Seal at Restaurants in Montreal

Caribou Gourmand

Address: 5308 Boul St Laurent, Montreal, QC H2T 1S1, Canada

Phone: (438) 387-6677

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This lively cafe de terroir serves seal as an appetizer. With beet carpaccio and caribou mousse, this dish features thinly sliced tataki served with a marinade.

Caribou Gourmand is famous for its locally flavored game meats and its delicious emu burgers and boar stew.

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Delices De La Mer

Address: 7070 Avenue Henri-Julien, Montréal, QC H2S 3S3, Canada

Phone: (514) 278-1000

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This fish market in the Jean-Talon district of Quebec City is a fantastic place to find seal and other seafood, especially that from the Gaspésie province of Quebec.

Although it is not a restaurant (though it does sell certain ready-to-eat alternatives), discerning diners can purchase seal meat here for home cooking. Newcomers should inquire as to proper preparation techniques.

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Manitoba

Address: 271 Rue Saint Zotique O, Montréal, QC H2V 1A4, Canada

Phone: (514) 270-8000

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In this high-end, locally sourced eatery, the recommended starter is seal with buckwheat, mugwort, and labrador tea (although the exact format of the seal dish may change seasonally).

Manitoba, in its sophisticated, woodsy setting, provides a cuisine of inventive, ultra-Canadian flavor combinations, including numerous dishes including wild game.

Wines that were brought privately round off the dinner.

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Carte Blanche

Address: 1159 Rue Ontario E, Montréal, QC H2L 1R3, Canada

Phone: (514) 313-8019

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This BYO wine bistro in Parc Lafontaine has a positive vibe and great service.

On the main menu, you’ll discover grilled seal that has been marinated in maple-mustard, while other unusual cuts of meat, such kangaroo, make guest appearances.

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Belon

Address: 1101 Rue de Bleury, Montréal, QC H2Z 1N1, Canada

Phone: (514) 866-1101

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Belon is a chic restaurant with an eclectic cuisine; seal tartare with guacamole is sometimes offered as an appetizer (it wasn’t at the time of this writing).

PhoqueFest staple Belon also has a large selection of alternative seafood selections for those who would rather not partake in this specific dark meat.

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Les Îles en Ville

Address: 5335 Rue Wellington, Verdun, QC H4H 1N3, Canada

Phone: (514) 544-0854

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You’ll find the best selection of seal meat in all of Montreal at this Verdun eatery. You can have your choice of three different ways to prepare marine hare: terrine, rillettes, or peperette.

Even if you’re not a seal person, you’ll find enough to eat at Les Îles en Ville, a bright and lively seafood restaurant that is one of the few in the area that highlight the cuisine of the Magdalen Islands.

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Bar à Vin Liège

Address: 465 Rue Notre-Dame suite 108, Repentigny, QC J6A 2T3, Canada

Phone: (450) 657-5050

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Seal merguez, served on a fried gnocchi “poutine” with cheese curds, is presently available at this fantastic tiny wine bar on the outskirts of Repentigny.

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Phoque This! Seal Poutine is Back

This past year saw a significant return of the seal (or phoque, in Moliere’s original language). Thankfully not Seal, but seal has been the subject of debate.

Most notably, there was the Chefs for Seals farce. In addition, last October, Quebec chef Kim Côté received death threats after serving a “Phoque Bardot Burger” that had seal and foie gras.

Now, in the midst of the fierce competition that is “Poutine Week,” Au Cinquième Péché has presented us with seal poutine: particularly, gnocchi, Brussels sprouts, cheese, and au jus poutine with seal merguez.

Definitely an unexpected take on the traditional, and not the chef’s first try with this particular meal at the restaurant (see here).

Back in 2009, The New York Times wrote a story of the Plateau cafe and their usage of seal in the kitchen.

The famous French chef Benoît Lenglet once said, “I could eat a steak of seal. Anyone who enjoys wild or red meat will appreciate this.

Eat Seal At Montreal’s Phoque Fest This Week

During the third annual Phoque Fest, which began on September 10 and runs through September 19, chefs at Maison Saint-Paul, a high-end restaurant in Old Montreal known for its gourmet cuisine and extensive champagne list, served delicate appetizers of seal meat on Thursday night.

These included seal tartare, seal tataki, and seal rillette.

Antler, a Toronto restaurant where a chef previously killed a deer in front of protesters, included harp seal meat, grilled toast, pickled chanterelles, and pearl onions with a wild blueberry sauce on the menu.

And if you were to be in St. John’s, Newfoundland, The Jewish Deli was providing shaved smoked seal meat on a pretzel bun. Served with pickle and slaw.

Phoque Fest has garnered both censure from those concerned with animal rights and admiration from people who think seal is an excellent source of sustainably sourced protein.

“I’m a big believer that this a good sector to be in and that these goods are healthy,” said Romy Vaugeois, national coordinator of the Seals and Sealing Network.

“It’s grown here in our nature and it’s excellent. We just need to educate people on how to cook it and how to use it.”

There are around 20 restaurants in Montreal, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, the Magdalen Islands, Toronto, and St. John’s, Newfoundland, that will feature this contentious delicacy that, according to Vaugeois, is collected responsibly, is nutritional, and is tasty.

For Phoque Fest, each participating restaurant is providing a special entrée with a complimentary drink. The minimum check is $15, and reservations are required.

Conclusion

Seal is the official seafood of Canada. It is also a fantastic food item to bring along on your next trip to Montreal.

Because, believe it or not, you cannot find good Seals at any other restaurants than the ones listed below.

So, that why I am here to share with you some of the best places where to find the delicious Seals at restaurants in Montreal.

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