Montreal Is Getting A New Casse-Croûte Promising Juicy Burgers & A Comfy, Neighbourly Vibe

"House party in a restaurant" is the perfect, and perhaps the only, way to capture the vibe of a new comfort food venture from the creators of the popular restaurant La Belle Tonki.

La Belle Tonki began as a spinoff of La Belle Tonkinoise, whose original location is set to be turned into a burger-iffic local casse-croûte called Mange Dans Mon Hood (MDMH). La Belle Tonki (LBT) has taken home wins in Poutine Week 2019, 2021 and 2023, and has a sizeable cult following.

This new casse-croûte venture started as a series of popups, according to co-creators Michel Nguyen (a.k.a. Mitch) and Chef Michel Lim (a.k.a. Boombeast). The old location for La Belle Tonkinoise holds a certain nostalgia for the pair, who didn't want to let such a "magical" spot go to waste.

Their affinity for comfort food met a desire to create a "pandemic-proof" food spot, which was "just as cool" as LBT but "much easier to manage." The Mange Dans Mon Hood name comes from those pop-ups that were Chef Lim's baby prior to LBT, and the team hopes the new resto will allow him to pursue new flavour combinations and branch out from their standard Asian fare.

MDMH will bring juicy smash burgers to the Villeray-Rosemont border, sitting on the south side of rue Jean-Talon. The menu seeks to bring some of the co-owners' nostalgia for the space into the food, reminding the pair of "the smell of beef fat and fries, which our immigrant parents brought us as a treat."

So what can we expect on MDMH's menu? Juicy two-patty ground beef burgers with a side of thin fries cooked in tallow, for one thing, and warm welcomes intended to make folks feel like "they're coming to our home, like it's a house party."

Fun food, good vibes, a terrasse around back and crunchy, juicy burgers — what more could you want?

MDMH is open as of April 5. It will operate Wednesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., so keep an eye on the space between Villeray and Rosemont, where you might just find your next favourite comfort food joint in the city.