Jean Talon Farmer's Market Tour x Michelin-Trained Chef

This is my second tour...

This is my second tour with Chef Rob. Like his Supper Club, it is far more deep, thoughtful, and connected to the food culture of Montreal. We tried at least 14-15 things. We tasted different heirloom radishes and tomatoes with different acid, mineral, and citrus tastes. We had 3 different Quebec berries and 5 different cheeses - he even explained how you are supposed to assemble a cheese plate. He is definitely a big personality, but he cares as much he knows, which is incredible amounts about cooking, history, and food.

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If only I lived in Montreal, I could shop here.

This is not your typical food tour. You don’t stop at 6 or so places where you have a bite to eat. While you are going to have some delicious food along the way, it’s more about shopping in one of the best markets anywhere. The only problem with the market is there are so many things I would have loved to buy and cook but not when I was staying at a hotel.

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Seems like a scam…Disappointing

We toured the Jean Talon market with “Chef Rob”. He seemed knowledgeable about the food culture of Montreal. However, I guess I expected a bit more for the price and it was unpleasant. He bought berries at a vendor. We passed many vendors along the way that he said we would be “trying later” in the tour. We stopped at a table where he bought a single serving of 3 dishes from vendors and divided each of them into 6 servings with his rusty looking pocketknife and gave us each a napkin to eat it on. Barely a tasting and a little unhygienic. We then walked some more and sat again where he pulled out 4 cheeses and meats from his bag (when did he purchase them?? Who knows) and he again divided them up and we ate off the cheese papers and some plastic plates he had in his bag. Also some tomatoes and the berries. He did have paper plates for us this time. This was a very expensive tour and we did not get what we paid for in my opinion. Disappointed and feel a little scammed.

Response from the operator: We are so sorry you felt that way, but what you wrote about the same food, experience, presentation, items, and host is completely at odds with what other parties that day and week did for the EXACT SAME. Ourselves, the other guests, was an approach of joy and open-ness (and all other reviews in that 24-48 hour period were 5 stars). Yet here, we feel cynicism and dourness. All items are bought direct from small Quebec artisans 15-60 minutes before the tour (which is what is needed for cheeses/etc. to come to ideal room temp). You had 18 different tastes - almost double other tours - including egg tarts 3 baklava/cookies, mincemeat pie, butter tart, 4 farmhouse cheeses, 2 heritage breed charcuterie, Syrian kibbeh, arancini, 3 heirloom tomatoes (drizzled with $40 arbequina oil and bergamot salt, 2 local and wild berries, and more. Our tour is a measured and curated experience combining food and cultural history, quebec agriculture, terroir and taste, presented by a highly trained Chef that changes to reflect the market mix daily. Chef also advised that he has a communication disability from neurodivergence and his presentation may not match his intent when concentrating. Rather than approach this with optimism, you chose instead to accuse a hardworking individual trying to get by in life by sharing his passion as a scam. We are so sorry this is the endgame that was chosen and, again, apologize deeply if you misunderstood this experience as anything other than a product of care. Factored by amount of tastes vs. price, our tour is also less per taste than all available others. Remember prices are in CAD (so minus 35-40% from the USD, though we know most Americans do not realize we use our own dollar. Have a delicious autumn.

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I have done market tours...

I have done market tours in many places. But having a chef take you around like rob makes an enormous difference. A must do for cooks or just people who love food and culture!

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So Unique!

I did this once with friends and once with work. It was a superb insight to what makes Quebec's food culture so special. The Chef took all kinds of questions, and different ones each time. We ate a beautiful range of foods from different cultures. And Chef shared all his hidden spots that an ordinary person would walk by. Def. Top 5 things to do in Montreal.

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