Mai Xiang Dumpling Mont-Royal

Philippe Guilbault and Laurence Théberge — a sommelier and a veteran pastry chef, respectively — opened Claire Jacques on what was, until recently, a forgettable Villeray corner, and by most accounts the room landed fully formed.

Nana Saveurs Kreyol et Caribéens sits on Beaubien Est in Rosemont, which is not a street that trades in hype or destination dining — and that suits this place perfectly.

B12 Burger is a homegrown Quebec chain — a dozen locations and counting — built on a premise that's harder to pull off than it sounds: halal, fresh-never-frozen patties, kept honest and kept cheap.

Montreal has no shortage of vegetarian restaurants, but plant-based Indian cooking done with genuine culinary ambition is a different category — and Tula is essentially the only room in the city occupying it.

Ethiopian cooking is architecturally communal — everything arrives on a shared spread of injera, the soft, tangy flatbread that functions as both plate and utensil, and the meal only works when the whole table leans in.