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One of Montreal’s best falafel-makers just expanded: Falafel St. Jacques is now open on Notre-Dame, in the heart of Lachine.
The new location sticks to the vegetarian street food formula of the original, but also adds a bakery that will bake up a range of Jewish and Middle Eastern goods, from rugelach and babka, through to a halva croissant.
It’s not far from St. Jacques’ original location, over in Ville-St-Pierre (officially also part of Lachine), but it is a notable upsize, with a corner location, more seating, and a terrasse in summer months.
Falafel St. Jacques opened in 2016 and rapidly became something of a destination eatery on the west side of town. The restaurant’s story (it’s owned by an Israeli, Ronan Baruch, and Saleh Seh, a Palestinian, is its main manager) drew some attention, and the quality of the product kept people coming back.
As Baruch told Vice when first opening, the focus was simple, good street food — falafels made to order to ensure crispness, fresh pita, and hummus with house-made tahini. It’s not just falafel on the menu — the counter-service restaurant drew attention for its shawarma, too. It’s entirely vegetarian — shish taouk and other options are made with shiitake mushrooms (instead of more common meat substitutes like seitan), and drew major props for their taste and uncannily meat-like texture.
Those will be on the menu at the Notre-Dame location, as well other options like an eggplant sandwich (sabich), and a large range of Mediterranean-leaning salads, from tabouleh to an eggplant-tahini option.
The bakery side won’t stick to the goods mentioned above — it’ll also do other staples like baguettes and other miscellaneous international breads, and regular croissants.
STATUS — Falafel St. Jacques is open at 1299 Notre-Dame in Lachine until 4 p.m. daily, with evening hours in the works.