Thoughts on the everlasting MTL v NYC bagel debate. What does one have on the other, and who comes out on top?
As a New Yorker, I need to state my bias. Before even trying a MTL bagel, I already know that there is one right answer, and you’re not gonna find it in Canada.
I should have known what I was in for the second I stepped into the bagel shop. Before I could think straight, I was assaulted by the sight of boho industrial decor every which way.
Putting this out of my mind (albeit difficulty, it was a lot to take in), determined it fulfill the bagel craving I had been feeling for days, I ordered my usual: sesame toasted with cream cheese and tomato.
I saw a chocolate bagel, which intrigued me, but I felt like it was unfair to start the review on unequal footing.
What felt like hours later, it was ready.
I peeled away the paper surrounding it, and could already feel the dry and flaky outside coming apart in my hands.
In the first bite, my suspicions were confirmed. Montreal had nothing on New York.
(Georgias bagel - I was too distraught to take photos)
I’ve thought all day about the best way to describe it, and the most fitting conclusion I could make was an airport bagel.
It was dry and unnaturally chewy, so different from the pillowy cushions of dough from back home.
I’m not sure if the business is struggling or if this is just the norm, but there was so little cream cheese and salt on there that I could almost taste the frugal owners’ plans to save money.
I almost had to peel apart the bagel to check that there was stuff inside, the whisper of cream cheese was so faint.
Even with all this: there was more. A simple bagel with cream cheese, not even considering the tomato, was 3.99. While even back home I would have felt cheated by this, the knowledge that the amount of dough and cream cheese in a New York bagel was easily triple the one I ate this morning made it too much to bear.
This bagels saving grace was the cream cheese (What’s awkward for them is that it just tasted like Philadelphia, so the best thing about their bagel was grocery store cream cheese). However, even so, it wasn’t enough.
Admittedly, other than the initial bias, I’m not dissing the Montreal bagel with finality. I know for a fact that I could find better elsewhere in the city, so now the hunt is on. I hope that they can redeem theirselves, for both our sakes.
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