What bonjour-hi actually signals

"Bonjour, hi" is a greeting used by staff in bilingual commercial settings in Montreal, and its function is practical: it puts two doors in front of you and lets you choose one. Reply "bonjour" and the conversation continues in French; reply "hi" and it usually switches to English immediately. It is not a challenge, and nobody is scoring you.

The reason it is politically loaded is legislative rather than personal. Quebec's Charter of the French language states plainly that "Consumers of goods and services have a right to be informed and served in French" and that an enterprise offering goods or services to consumers must respect that right. Read against that, a greeting that leads with an English option is heard by some Quebecers as a small signal that the guaranteed language is becoming optional, and by others as ordinary courtesy in a bilingual city. Both readings exist in the same room, which is why the phrase attracts more commentary than a greeting normally would.

For a visitor none of that requires taking a side. The useful conclusion is that French is the default the law protects and English is the accommodation most Montreal businesses will offer you anyway.

The minimum French that changes the room

A very small vocabulary does most of the work, because service interactions are formulaic. You are not attempting a conversation, you are performing the opening and closing of one, and the middle can happen in English without any awkwardness.

  • Bonjour on entering, and bonsoir in the evening. This alone answers the greeting on its own terms.
  • Une table pour deux, s'il vous plait to be seated, with the number changed as needed.
  • Est-ce que vous parlez anglais? as the polite hinge into English, which is understood as respect rather than as a failure.
  • L'addition, s'il vous plait to ask for the bill, which is otherwise not brought until you request it.
  • Merci, bonne journee or bonne soiree on leaving.

Use them in central Montreal and you will mostly be answered in English anyway; use them in a residential neighbourhood, a small town in Quebec or a shop where the staff are older, and the difference in warmth is noticeable. What visitors sometimes misread as coldness is more often a server calibrating which language to work in.

Why the menu is French first

The French menu is a legal requirement, not a stylistic choice. The Charter provides that every inscription on a product must be in French and states that "This rule applies also to menus and wine lists", adding that a French inscription may be accompanied by translations but that no inscription in another language may be given greater prominence. The same Charter requires public signs and commercial advertising to be in French, and permits other languages only where French is markedly predominant.

The practical consequence is that a Montreal menu will often be French only, or French with smaller English underneath, even in places where every server is bilingual. Reading a few recurring words removes most of the friction: entree means a starter and not a main course, plat principal is the main, accompagnement is a side, saignant is rare and bien cuit is well done, fruits de mer is seafood, and service compris would mean service is already included, which in Quebec restaurants it usually is not.

Table d'hote and apportez votre vin

Two conventions on a Quebec menu can save you money if you recognise them. A table d'hote is a fixed-price set menu, typically a starter, a main and sometimes coffee or dessert, offered alongside the a la carte list and frequently better value than assembling the same courses individually. It often runs only at particular hours, so check whether the lunch version differs from the evening one.

Apportez votre vin, sometimes signposted in English as BYOW, means you bring your own wine and the restaurant does not sell alcohol. The legal basis is a specific option attached to a restaurant permit: a permit with a "service" option authorises the holder to serve patrons, or allow them to consume on the premises, alcoholic beverages the patrons have brought with them, excluding home-made drinks and most spirits. Buy the bottle at a dépanneur or an SAQ store beforehand, expect a corkage practice that varies by restaurant, and ask when booking rather than arriving with a bottle at a licensed restaurant, where you cannot use it.

The dépanneur and terrasse season

A dépanneur, universally shortened to dep, is the Quebec corner shop, and unlike its Ontario equivalent it has sold beer and wine for decades. The permit that allows this is the grocery permit, which Quebec law provides may be used every day within the period comprised between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.. Spirits are not sold there; those come from the provincial SAQ network. A dep is the practical answer for a bottle of wine for a BYOW dinner, a cold beer for a park, or anything you forgot at eleven at night.

Terrasse season is short and worth planning around, because Montreal moves outdoors the moment it can. Terrace permits are issued by borough and the operating windows differ: Ville de Montreal's own guidance lists borough operating periods ranging from March 15 to November 15 in some boroughs and May 1 to October 31 in others, with April 15 to November 15 common. If you are visiting in April or early November, a terrace may or may not exist depending on which street you are standing on.

Two taxes, then the tip

The price on a Quebec menu is not the price you pay, and the gap is larger than in most countries. Revenu Quebec sets out that the GST is calculated at a rate of 5% on the selling price and the QST at 9.975% on the selling price excluding the GST, so a CAD 100 bill arrives at roughly CAD 114.98 before anything else is added.

The tip goes on top of that, and this is where the arithmetic catches visitors out. Tipping in Quebec restaurants and bars is expected in the range of roughly 15 to 20 per cent for table service, and card terminals typically present preset percentage buttons. Those buttons are frequently calculated on the tax-inclusive total rather than the pre-tax subtotal, which means pressing "15%" hands over closer to 17 per cent of the food and drink. If you want to tip on the pre-tax amount, enter a custom amount rather than pressing a preset. Counter service, where you order and carry your own food, does not carry the same expectation, though a terminal may still ask.

The foods that are genuinely local

Montreal has a small number of foods that are specifically its own rather than generally Canadian, and it is worth knowing which is which. The Montreal bagel is the clearest case: Tourisme Montreal describes bagels made by hand and poached in honey water before being baked in a wood-fire burning oven, which produces a sweeter, denser and thinner ring than the New York style, and traces the tradition to Eastern European Jewish immigrants, with the Fairmount Bagel Bakery established on Fairmount Avenue in 1949 and still run by the founding family. Bagel bakeries here run through the night, which is why buying one at 3 a.m. is a normal thing to do.

Smoked meat, cured and steamed brisket served on rye, comes from the same immigrant tradition and is the other dish visitors travel for. Poutine, fries with cheese curds and gravy, is Quebecois rather than specifically Montrealais, and is best judged by whether the curds squeak. What is not local, despite appearing on tourist menus, is most of what gets labelled generically Canadian; if you want the city's own food, those three plus a wood-oven bakery visit are the honest shortlist.

Ordering your first meal without friction

Walk in and say "bonjour." Wait to be seated rather than choosing a table, since most Montreal restaurants seat you. Read the French menu first and ask for the English one only if you need it, which takes one sentence and no apology. If a table d'hote is offered and includes what you want, take it. Ask for the bill when you are ready, because it will not arrive on its own, and check whether the tip buttons are computed before or after tax before you press one.

If you are booking a BYOW restaurant, buy the wine before you arrive and confirm the corkage practice when you reserve. If you are visiting between November and March, assume the terrace does not exist and book indoors.

Scope matters here. This guide explains language conventions, menu structure and payment practice in Montreal hospitality, and does not recommend individual restaurants, quote current menu prices, or set out Quebec's full language legislation, which is administered by the Office quebecois de la langue francaise and applies to businesses in ways beyond what a visitor encounters. Tipping expectations are social conventions rather than legal requirements and vary by venue and by service.