Short Track Speed Skater Maxime Laoun’s Guide to Montreal 

There is nowhere better than Montreal, according to double Olympian Maxime Laoun. A happy local, the 29-year-old is delighted the 2026 ISU CNSG Short Track World Championships is landing in his city this weekend. Here, he gives the inside track on where to go, what to do and most crucially of all… what to eat in tis gastronomic capital of Canada.

WHERE TO… GO AS SOON AS YOU ARRIVE

“I would say Jean-Dalon market. Nobody really goes there but it’s a really nice market. You have all the farmers outside, with their fruits and small stalls where you can taste everything. You have really good restaurants all around there too. 

“And Mount-Royal, it’s a really good park to walk in with the mountains around and everything. 

“Then St Laurent Street if you want to do bar-hopping at night. It’s really cool.” 

WHERE TO… GO AFTER WATCHING SHORT TRACK AT ARENA MAURICE-RICHARD

“There’s a nice sushi restaurant here called Kazumi. You have a lot of fancy sushi places in Montreal, they’re all downtown and they boost the prices but I feel like Kazumi is perfect. I’ve known the owner for 10 years and we always go there. Honestly, you won’t find a better place than this. Plus it is bring your own, so you don’t overpay for the wine!” 

WHERE TO… WATCH OTHER SPORT IN MONTREAL

“Go to Centre Bell to watch hockey. The vibe is really cool. We are really a hockey town. Everyone gets crazy there. If you’ve never been to a hockey game, you’ve got to go. And they’re doing really well. It's one of the best seasons we’ve had, we can finally believe that we can win the Stanley Cup again.” 

WHERE TO… EAT LIKE A LOCAL

“Clearly Poutine is our thing (iconic Québécois dish consisting of crispy French fries, fresh cheese curds and hot gravy). La Banquise is really famous for it, but you can go anywhere. 

“Right now, we are in the Sugar Shack season, it’s one of the biggest things in March. You go, sit eat sausage, eggs, ham and drench everything in maple syrup. You get some maple toffee at the end. You really feel bad when you get out of there…

“One other thing I really like that is really cheap is Gnocchi della Nona at Drogheria Fine, on Fairmont Avenue. It’s really good and it’s $5. And just beside you have Kem CoBa, one of my favourite ice cream shops. You get really weird ice cream flavour that you don’t normally get. I like the sweet and salty ones, like honey and peanuts and then butter ice cream too.”

WHERE TO… GRAB SOME CULTURE

“Just go to Old Montreal. It’s a really cute place to walk. There’s some nice churches, cathedral, old buildings. It’s really worth it.”

WHERE TO… TAKE SOME EXERCISE 

“Go to the Parc Maisonneuve or Mont Royal for some cross-country skiing. It’s really cool and it’s like 25 minutes by metro from the middle of the city. 

“Then in the summer, I like to go and walk along Canal de Lachine. You can go to the beach there too. And I like to play golf, Royal Montreal is really good.”

FINALLY… WHY MONTREAL IS THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE

“It has the perfect equilibrium between how much green space we have, the parks and everything and all the restaurants and activities. And in winter the snow makes everything really beautiful and in summer everyone is happy. Everyone is out and the vibe is really good.”