La Tamalera

C’était pour l’anniversaire d’une toute petite fille. Nous étions une vingtaine et ils ont su mettre tout le monde à l’aise. Un endroit chaleureux, où la bouffe authentique mexicaine est reine! J’y ai pris les tacos végé à la fleur d’hibiscus et c’était bon, doux! L’intérieur est aussi authentique vous allez voir! Un charmant endroit où aller manger pour peu cher sur Fairmount.

This is a great place for a small bite or long dinner date — it’s both intimate and friendly, spare and bright. The food is very good — please, Tamalera, stick around. We need your tamales and pork tacos and horchata.

In Montréal there are really very few Mexican restaurants worth eating at. La Tamalera is the good one worth returning for service/​food/​price. Also, we can find best tamales in Montréal.
It’s not really pricy, My Tortas Ahogadas ($ 9.50) is served with pork, black beans, garnished with pickled onions, radishes and avocados

I just have to say that it’s a great colorful place, good music, best bajas tacos and awesome service! I’ll come back to taste the whole menu! Thank you La Tamalera!

Authentic Mexican tacos, fast friendly service at a reasonable price, great little place I’m sure to visit again. Lost one star for no booze :)

I had the baja shrimp tacos and they were delicious, service was pleasant too. An all around un pretentious and yummy meal.

Quirky décor, matched with awesome food! It felt modern, with Mexican stereotype flairs. (That was meant as a compliment)
The guacamole was creamy, chunky, and full of flavor.
Our table shared a couple cheese and chili tamales. They were alright; they were heavy on the masa dough. Having eaten homemade temales from Mexico, the ones from La Tamalera were a far cry from those homemade ones.
As a main, I had shredded pork tacos, which came in a tasty pork broth, housed in a pot. The broth was a little on the greasy side, though it wasn’t a deal breaker.
Overall, the place it tasty and the prices are pretty fair. Definitely worth eating at.

Pour un repas authentique mexicain pas cher, on né se trompe pas. Les tamales sont au prix de 2 ou 3 $. Les plats sont environ 12 $ et je n’ai même pas pu finir mon assiette. On peut aussi prendre 1 litre de jus frais pour 4 $!
Le décor couleurs bonbon fait penser à une chambre de petite fille. On retrouve des cadres religieux aux murs sur lesquels on a dessiné des bulles de bandes dessinées. Bref c’est un méli-​mélo d’un peu n’importe quoi.
Pour moi c’est une belle option de semaine quand on n’a pas envie de cuisiner mais qu’on né veut pas se ruiner!

My wife and me were looking for a good, authentic, Mexican restaurant. Finally we found a great one. Is not easy even in Mexico to found really good «tamales» but these are one of the best. With surprise You can find also authentic «huevos rancheros», «café lechero» Veracruz style (it will be perfect for winter). The horchata drink is also good. Forget the «gringo» Mexican cliché; This is one of the good ones!

Tasty Mexican food is always on the menu.
La Tamalera did not disappoint.
We had a chicken tamale, Tacos de cochinita, and Tacos al pastor.
The tamale was ok. A little heavy on the dough and light on the chicken. I don’t have a lot of tamale experience though. Maybe it’s meant to be that way? The spicy sauce served with the tamale was green with red pepper flecks throughout. Spicy and good!
The cochinita was swimming in an amazing braised broth as topped with pickled onions. We were fighting over this one.
The al pastor tacos were a little dry but had a great flavor and were topped with cilantro and fresh cut pineapple. No canned pineapple here!
At the end of the meal I inquired about desert and, lucky me, a decadent Tres leche cake was on the menu. It was beautifully plated, fresh, and not too sweet.
I am one happy customer!

Yeah! Tasty Mexican! Modern décor and an old b/​w movie being projected on the wall while we were there. Neat. The menu is small, but you should be able to find something you like. There were some fruity looking drinks being served in Mason Jars as well. I was too chicken to ask what they were! We were happy to be able to get out Mexican fix even in Montréal.

La Diabla on St-​Laurent sold homemade tamales before they shut down (RIP). Although their moles and salsas survived the loss of their retail location and are still available around town, I knew of no replacement for their tamale fridge. La Tamalera is a worthy successor. Today they had three flavours (pork, chicken, cheese & jalapeño) and all were excellent. 2.50 each for takeout, 7 for a plate of two with a little bowl of beans and a tiny beer mug of seriously great cooked tomatillo salsa.
$ 4 seemed like a lot for their horchata, until a full litre of it arrived in a mason jar. The pink tint matched the bright décor, and the taste suggested added rosewater or hibiscus. More than enough for two to share.
We watched a parade of attractive food go by, destined for a large family seated at one of the five tables in this large, stylish but mostly empty space. The menu is scattered around a few (incomplete) chalkboards, and we needed some help to make sense of it (and discover the $ 7 tamales plate).
There were great-​looking brunch options as well. Will be back. Overall, the food is on par with Tachido but the physical environment may need work for this place to pull in customers. Don’t leave without checking out the bathroom.

Ô DIOS MIO!!!
So, about a month ago I was thinking to myself: «Man, those tortas at Tachido are amazing, it’d be great to have a tamale somewhere in Montréal as well! Maybe I should learn how to make them myself? I wish that I had a grandmother from Mexico to show me how…» and suddenly, whilst heading back from buying something or other at the Delphi, I noticed a cute little pink sign poking out of the place that used to be that librairie/café/n’importquoi that did incredibly well while Arts was shut for renovatios. I decided to investigate.
First impression: the windows were filled with catholicious candles and further in there were some repurposed wine boxes and cute little knick-​knacks from el pais viejo adorabling (=adorning+aborable) the walls. My interest was MUY piqued.
After strolling up to the bar, I checked to see if there were any TAMALES available and unfortunately they weren’t going to be ready for an hour… no probs, I assume that they were devoured by the teeming masses. I returned after a few hours and asked the delightful chef/​owner about what the tamale offerings were: spicy chili and cheese, chicken and salsa verde, and by the time I had dug into those I had completely lost my mind and forgotten what the third one was. It was delicious, I can say that for certain. Most insane thing: 6 tamales = 15 $, canadian. For perspective on this for those who are uninitiated to tamales, I used to pay $ 3 in 2006 in California and think that that was cheap. I’ll be surprised if they don’t bump up a little in price, but in any case they are certainly worth an extra buck or so. In addition to the tamales, I did notice that they offer some other delicious treats (pozole, tortas, etc) for what looks like a fair price.
I returned today as I am a glutton and was feeling peckish on the way home from the Y, so I picked up 4 more and as well as a concha and I was again shocked at how good her food is. It was sort of slow we had a little minute to chat and it turns out that she’s got a great deal of experience in her madre’s restaurant in Mexico and she went to culinary school in Mexico as well! I used to snarf down conchas in Watsonville any time I passed a Panaderia and this one was the absolute freshest and lightest one that I’ve had to date.
I haven’t tried it yet, but, horchata too!!! I am hooked.
Viva la tamalera!