Montreal Fast Food (Facebook link) is a small restaurant specializing in French Canadian fast food favorites with an Ecuadorian twist. This fusion of culinary sensibilities seemed completely insane to us when we discovered the place, across the street from our local Supermaxi supermarket in the La Gasca neighborhood of Quito, Ecuador.
Careful! You might miss it.
You can see what this place is all about even before you enter.
The owner Michelle is (French) Canadian, at least in part. He brought some of Quebec’s tastiest fast food staples back to Ecuador, and then put his own special stamp on them.
And the results are surprisingly delicious!
The menu at Montreal Fast Food includes artery-clogging classics like burgers, poutine, burritos, tacos, chili dogs, wings, nachos, french fries, and a fabulous blend of poutine and burritos – the burripoutine!
For those interested in their detailed menu, get Google Translate ready and check out their Facebook page photos section.
Inside the restaurant, there is a single dining table at ground level and the kitchen is immediately up the stairs.
Michelle, working his magic in the kitchen.
A larger, but still cozy dining area is one level below. He has several pictures of different North American cities decorating the walls. And on a mounted TV he plays music videos from the 1990s, and from more recent western artists.
And the owner Michelle was really, really friendly. He was fun to talk to as his Spanish was far better than ours and our English was far better than his. But we made it work just fine.
He made us feel so welcome!
So How Was The Food At Montreal Fast Food?
So what did we order? And how did we like it?
Well, as of this writing we’ve gone twice already…so that should say something.
Round 1
For our first visit, Rhonda got the Burripoutine ($5 USD) and a local craft brew Condor Stout from Camino del Sol ($2.75 USD).
Behold the burripoutine. A massive pile of gooey goodness.
Camino del Sol brews are all delicious!
I got a Double Hamburgesa Hawaiana Montreal ($3.25 USD) with a half portion of Poutine ($2.00 USD). I also got a Michelada to drink ($1.25 USD). The burger was easily the best I have had in Latin America so far, and I’ve had some really good ones!
There must have been 1/2 pound of beef on the burger, along with a massive slab of pineapple, cheese, and BBQ sauce. And sorry for the bites…I couldn’t restrain myself. 🙂
Poutine purists might gripe that real cheese curds were not used in the recipe. But to my well-traveled poutine palate, it didn’t matter. Since cheese curds aren’t exactly a thing in this part of the world, Michelle used the closest local option that had similar consistency and meltyness. And that is a theme for all of his dishes. If there is a Canadian ingredient that is hard to find, Michelle uses the closest Ecuadorian equivalent he can.
His special secret poutine sauce was absolutely fabulous! Truly a thing of beauty. We think we know one of his secret poutine ingredients as we once tasted a similar flavor at a high-end restaurant serving classy poutine in upstate New York.
But we’ll leave you all guessing what that is. 😉 Take a guess and post it in the comments below! We’ll tell you if you are right.
We were both really happy with our meals so we went back a few days later to try new things.
Round 2
For our second visit, I got the full plate of Poutine con Carne ($4.99 USD – with 1/4 pound of ground beef) and a Camino del Sol Red Llama Ale ($2.75 USD).
So. Much. Food!
Rhonda got a Double Hamburgesa Clasico Montreal ($2.99 USD) with a half portion of poutine ($2.00 USD). And she got a Camino del Sol Iguana IPA ($2.75 USD).
Rhonda was super happy!
Camino del Sol makes good beer!
Again, our meals were outstanding!
Crazy value for the amount of food served, and the quality. We’ll definitely come back before we leave Quito next week!
And here is the beer list from Camino del Sol. Look for them in your imported microbrews section…if you see their beer, give them a try!
Closing Thoughts
I am struggling to accept that a place like Montreal Fast Food exists in Quito, Ecuador. It’s like we entered an alternate reality. Great fast food of high quality with fantastic value. And the truly Canadian dishes are loyal to their origin.
If you have a hankering for Canadian fast food and are in Quito, Ecuador, you have to give this place a try. You won’t be disappointed.
And if you have never tried Canadian fast food before, come to Montreal Fast Food and get some! Just make sure to try the poutine. 🙂
Until next time…
Thanks for reading!
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