Why go
A beer and parmesan bagel from a wood-fired oven
The house bagel at Le Trou is called the Griffintown and it is made with beer and parmesan, which is not where most Montréal bagel shops start. It comes out of a wood-fired oven, the traditional part of the method, and it is the reason to make the trip: salty and savoury from the cheese, with the beer giving it a depth a plain cheese bagel does not have, and the char and chew the wood oven is there to produce. It is a traditional Griffintown bagel address that also behaves like a bagel 2.0 bakery, holding the method still while the flavours keep moving.
A small counter with a joke in the name
Le Trou means the hole, and the shop leans into it. The line in the window is that it is the hole that makes the bagel, and bagel holes are sold across the flavours, which turns the gag into the most practical thing on the menu: a way to taste four or five kinds without buying four or five bagels.
The room itself is tiny, a William Street counter rather than a place to settle into. Orders go over the counter and out the door, with bagels, sandwiches and coffee covering breakfast and the middle of the day. That fits Griffintown, a district that has turned from warehouses into apartments, offices and food shops, and that now runs on exactly this kind of quick morning stop. The counter works as a sandwich shop as much as a bakery, which is what the coffee and the filled bagels are there for.
Order the Griffintown, then the everything
Start with the beer and parmesan Griffintown. It is the most place-specific thing the bakery makes and the clearest statement of what it is doing: traditional Montréal method, newer flavour thinking.
Then order an everything bagel for contrast. Sesame, poppy, flax, garlic and onion put the order back in classic territory and give you a straight benchmark on the bake itself, the crisp shell and the chew underneath. Beyond those two the shop works through other sweet and savoury flavours, and the bagel holes are the quickest way to survey them, sweet and savoury alike. Sandwiches and coffee round the counter out, but the bagels are the reason to stand in it.
Frequently asked questions
What should I order at Bagels Le Trou?
The Griffintown, the house bagel made with beer and parmesan, which is the most place-specific thing the bakery makes. Follow it with an everything bagel, topped with sesame, poppy, flax, garlic and onion, as a benchmark on the wood-fired bake itself, and take bagel holes if you want to try several flavours.
What makes these Montréal bagels different?
The oven. Le Trou bakes in a wood-fired oven, the traditional Montréal method, which is what gives the bagels their char, crisp shell and chew. The flavours are where the shop departs from tradition, running from the beer and parmesan house bagel through other sweet and savoury versions alongside the classic everything.
Compare nearby places
| Venue | Type | Area |
|---|---|---|
| Cafeterra | Bakery | Old Montreal |
| bbagels | Bakery | Pointe-Saint-Charles |
| St-Viateur Bagel & Café | Bakery | Plateau Mont-Royal |
| Queues de Castor - BeaverTails (Rue Saint-Paul Est) | Bakery | Old Montreal |
| Le Petit Café | Café | Vieux-Montréal |
