Does Montreal Really Have the World’s Best Bagels?
I always thought so until I experienced Kettlemans Bagel in Ottawa. Kettlemans hand-rolls Montreal-style bagels, offers unique spreads, fresh salads, and sandwiches, making the perfect breakfast-to-go, boardroom power lunch, or late-night indulgence. Founder and Montreal native Craig Buckley opened the first store in August of 1993. His goal was simple: to make the best bagels you could find. By rolling, “kettling,” and baking traditional Montreal bagels in a wood-burning oven using handpicked hardwood and maintaining an unwavering commitment to quality, Kettlemans has become a food institution—open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 28 years.
Coming to Montreal
There are now four Kettlemans locations in Ottawa and one in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke. And guess what? They are finally expanding to Montreal in 2022 at Av. des Canadiens-de-Montréal, across the street from the Bell Centre. The Toronto area will get at least three more stores in the next year as well.
“Going into French Canada and ultimately bringing the brand back to Montreal as our founder is from there is very important for us,” said Daniel Reyes Cocka, Director of Marketing and Communications for the company and a native of West Island Pierrefonds. “After that, the plan is to expand into the United States, offering us the opportunity to grow in the American market and hopefully get an IPO.”
Kettling
“Kettling” is a vintage bagel-baker’s-union term that refers to boiling the bagels, as opposed to steam-proofing them. Reyes Cocka adds that it refers to what they used to call people who made Montreal bagels using a kettle boiled in honey water.
When patrons walk into a store, they first see the Kettlemans Bagel Roller working and rolling fresh bagels, cutting the dough, and boiling the bagels in honey water to seal moisture. Behind the Bagel Roller is the baker who finishes the bagels with fresh poppy or sesame seeds and bakes them for about 20 minutes in a wood-burning oven. Once complete, the bagels are ready to be enjoyed.
Our Experience
While you can eat inside, we were happy to dine in our car conveniently parked near the entrance. I loved the concept. As you get in line to order, there are pre-packaged snacks, bagels, party sandwiches, spreads, latkes, knishes, and desserts to choose from. Montreal-based Solly the Caterer even has goods on the shelf.
The selection of bagels, fresh out of the oven and stuffed with classic deli sandwich ingredients, is a lot of fun. For me, it was no contest—I chose Montreal smoked meat with cheese, while the two others opted for bagel and cream cheese with lox, toasted—one on an onion bagel and the other all dressed. It was thumbs up from all three of us.
We didn’t leave empty-handed, bringing home deli cream cheese, chive cream cheese, a dozen potato latkes, six spinach knishes, a container of party sandwiches (egg, tuna, and lox), a dozen selected bagels (onion, pumpernickel, all dressed, and garlic), and desserts including a Nanaimo bar, mini cupcakes, toffee crunch, and hamentashen.
More Menu Items & Mobile Convenience
Kettlemans also offers salads, all dressed pizza bagels, bagel dogs (rolled bagel dough stuffed with a Hebrew National hot dog), and more. I will have to try the latter and their famous pretzel next time.
I downloaded the handy Kettlemans app, which gave me an immediate $5 off. You can load your wallet with dollars, and the cashier merely scans your device for payment. The app allows you to accumulate award points. For more information, log on to www.kettlemansbagels.ca.
