Le Super Qualité

Street Food on Bélanger

3.5 of 5

A Punjabi walking into an Indian snack bar in Montreal carries a full suitcase of opinions. Le Super Qualité takes that suitcase off your hands and puts a plate of dahi batata puri in front of you. Crisp shells, potato, yogurt, chutney, all collapsing at once in your mouth. Opinion adjusted.

The name tells you the attitude. It is a snack bar, it says so on the sign, and it does not want to be your fancy night out. It wants to feed you the street food of the subcontinent, the stuff sold off carts and counters from Mumbai to Chennai, and to pour you a cocktail while it does. The masala dosa is long and lacy. Pav bhaji, the mashed vegetable curry with buttered buns, is the kind of thing office workers in Bombay eat standing up and never get tired of. If you cannot decide, the thali decides for you. The room is small and friendly and slightly eccentric, and the staff will steer you without condescension.

No reservations. No groups bigger than twenty. Come early or come patient. Bring friends who eat with their hands and do not need a lecture about regional cuisine to enjoy it.

Order this: Dahi batata puri, masala dosa, pav bhaji, the thali
The damage: $
Go: A weekday lunch, since they take no reservations
Find it: 1211 Rue Bélanger, Montréal, QC H2S 1H7
Website: lesuperqualite.com