Back in December, I wrote about my first visit to Atwater Market, and I loved it so much that I now go at least once a month to grab local produce, fresh baguette, and my usual haul of four or five different cheeses. After learning that Jean-Talon Market was bigger, I just had to go see it for myself. On a Sunday morning, I took the somewhat longer metro ride up to Jean-Talon station, which is literally ten steps from the market. The minute I got there, the foodie inside me couldn’t be restrained. I was glad to see it had a Première Moisson bakery and Chocolats Privilège, which both have locations at Atwater, but other than that, it was surprisingly quite different. While markets are usually only busy in the summer, you wouldn’t know it, as the aisles were filled with people and every stand was open.
Fresh fruits and veggies that beat anything you can find at the grocery store.
The “tea salon” immediately caught my attention. All the walls are lined with hundreds of different loose-leaf teas and you can even sit down and order some Indian snacks, like samosas and pakora (aka. heavenly melt-in-your-mouth deep-fried potato balls) – I was tempted, but there was cheese to be bought (and eaten!). I left the shop and started walking down the aisle, and a lady behind a counter ushered me to stall. In a matter of seconds, I was sampling some of the best confiture (jam) I had ever tried. The combinations were unreal. She had me taste orange-mango, apple-fig, and pumpkin-apricot. She told me how they were all homemade by her and her husband, and I applauded her while thinking how nice the fig jam would be on a slice of camembert (conveniently available two stalls over).
Tomme du Marechal from Chevrerie du Buckland is a hard goat cheese with a strong, but not overpowering flavour.
One definite advantage of Jean-Talon over Atwater Market was tons more fresh produce, all for reasonable prices. Strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries – hot commodities in the winter months – were half the price of what they are at the grocery store.
A self-professed cheese-aholic, I was hunting for a new one to try when I came across Chevrerie Buckland, which had a tiny stand with just three cheeses, all goat’s milk. The vendor offered me a sample of each. It was the first time I tried a semi-soft goat’s cheese and I loved the mild, slightly caramelized, taste. I learned that it was made in Buckland, a small town outside Quebec City. The mild, medium, and aged were all fantastic, so I grabbed a hundred grams of each.
The Canadian staples: fresh cranberries and maple syrup.
The selection of fresh fish was impressive and I almost picked up a dozen oysters. They looked so appetizing laid out on ice, but then I remembered what a student budget was and realized that they would look rather odd sitting in the fridge beside my roommate’s takeout. Since it was Cabane au Sucre season, maple was in full force. A slave to sweet and salty, I grabbed some maple corn – the Canadian twist on caramel corn. The maple didn’t stop there. Next, I sampled maple pie (yes, there is such a thing in this wonderful country). There’s only one word for it: heavenly. I would have bought a whole one, but knew that it would be gone the second I brought it home.
Overall, I wouldn’t say that it’s any better than Atwater Market, just different. Atwater has better prices for things like cheese and meats, but Jean-Talon boasts aisle upon aisle of fresh fruits and veggies.
The maple pies and cookies that I sampled — dangerously delicious.
Images are the author’s own.