Call it Chinatown West, Chinatown 2, or Chinatown, part deux – or even Young Chinatown, given the large student population that keeps it humming well into the evening – the result is that Montreal has a fuller picture of East Asian cuisine than it ever did before. Roughly bounded by Guy St. to the east and Atwater Ave. to the west, with worthy addresses running between Sherbrooke and Ste. Catherine streets, this section of downtown has come alive with Asian eateries. (…)

Then there was the appearance of dishes many of us in the city hadn’t seen before: a Manchurian dumpling place, a spot that served up searing Szechuan dishes under the guise of a bubble tea emporium, a table laden with skewered brochettes of lamb or chicken gizzards sprinkled with cumin and chilies, and most recently, an outpost of a Hong Kong-style bakery offering steamed buns in the Guy métro. Slowly, a new Chinatown was born. The district now boasts more than 50 addresses, including supermarkets for Asian ingredients and eateries serving everything from hand-pulled noodles to mackerel dumplings, Szechuanese kung pao chicken and Korean kogos.

Read the rest here.

– La Maison du Nord, a Northern Chinese restaurant

– An izakaya-type place that has been packed every time I walked by

– A soon-to-be-opened Chinese restaurant whose logo is identical to that of Fairwood, a big Hong Kong chain

– A trendy (key word trendy) Asian hair salon that wouldn’t be out of place in Vancouver. It’s the first such upscale Asian salon I’ve seen in Montreal—all of the others are bare-bones $12-haircut, slice-off-your-ear kind of places.

The Times story was primarily about Berkeley, and it would probably be more fruitful to look at universities in California and Michigan, where state voter bans on affirmative action have resulted in exploding Asian student populations. I know there hasn’t really been a corresponding expansion in services targeted toward Asian students in Boston, for whatever reason.

Strangely enough all three of these neighbourhoods, in Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal, have arisen in areas either known as the West End or the “downtown west end.” They’re all dominated by 1960s and 70s concrete highrises. Odd coincidence.

I hear it’s the same story in downtown Toronto around Yonge Street. Isn’t there a part of the East Village in Manhattan that is dominated by twentysomething Japanese?

One area that fits the typical pattern of immigrant settlement is Verdun. Over the past seven years it has seen an influx of mainland Chinese immigrants, mostly young couples with children. The community there probably took root because Verdun is still exceptionally cheap, it is well-served by the metro and it has particularly spacious apartments.

I don’t know if anyone’s ever looked into the effect of heavy Asian university populations on student neighborhoods. There is a distinctly higher representation of Asian businesses around Columbia, for one- including Japanese and Korean convenience store chains.

The way this neighbourhood has been changing in the last few years is quite interesting to me, and it’s something I’ve kept an eye on since the movie theatre opened in the Forum, which usually gets me out there a couple of times a week. Around that time there seemed to be a real push to fancify the retail locations on that strip of Ste-Catherine; all that’s evident of that now is that dilapidated block east of the Forum with its boarded-up shops.

Food-wise the area has really opened up; for a while you really had to walk over to the Faubourg to grab a half-decent bite. Thankfully Manchuria, Pret, Bulgogi et al have changed that.

You’re right about Concordia—it really defines the west part of downtown. (The very fact that there are so many 24-hour businesses in so few blocks is a testament to the spending power of students!) Although it is more contained, McGill has a pretty profound impact on the surrounding area, but it is mitigated by the fact that the north side of campus runs into the mountain; the west side bleeds into a dull area of Victorian mansions and postwar highrises, with commerce limited to apartment building lobbies; and the south side runs into the central business district. Only on the east side—the McGill Ghetto—can McGill’s true force be felt, but even then the commercial impact is limited by zoning restrictions. Only on Park Avenue and in a few parts of Milton Street are there many businesses. In the downtown west end, the “Concordia Ghetto,” there is retail on every street.

I seem remember a significant Arab presence in this neighbourhood as well – shawarma joints, hooka bars, video stores, etc. Maybe these businesses cater to Condordia’s large Middle Eastern student population rather than permanent residents?

This section of downtown had such a youthful vibe when I lived in Montreal (2004). It always seemed fresh and a bit experimental, and absolutely multi-cultural. Concordia really oozes into the streets of the city here, where as McGill’s campus seems much more defined and a bit disconnected from its surroundings.

A word of advice: Prêt à Manger serves tong shui for free after every meal, but you have to ask for it.

Then Soups and Noodles came along–though General Tao chicken is hardly authentic Chinese food, they do a pretty good version of it.

Guess I’ll have to check out the area next time I’m in Montreal–dessert soup mmmmm….