Pushap: Our favourite vegetarian Indian restaurant
Pushap is a small address in the northwest of Montreal that offers authentic and delicious 100% vegetarian Indian cuisine! With its very affordable prices, the restaurant is one of Montreal’s best cheap eats.
Daljit Mohan is from Punjab (a state in northwestern India) and he arrived in Canada with the wish to open an Indian restaurant offering the kind of authentic food that many Indians enjoy eating: vegetarian. In 1986, he opened Pushap restaurant with his wife Seema Sharma.
Pushap is located at the corner of Paré and Mountain Sights, next to the Décarie Autoroute and Jean Talon. The restaurant is very welcoming and seats about 30 customers. Upon entering, you head to the counter (which displays their famous sweets) where you order to eat in or take-out. The decor, while simple, charms with the yellow, white, green and red walls, covered with numerous paintings.
The dining room is bustling and the service fast, with many regulars who come to enjoy a meal with a book, have coffee after lunch, come with their families for dinner or pick up take-out between work shifts.
A labour of love
“Pushap is the name of Daljit’s mother and the restaurant’s name is a tribute to her”, explains Sonia Sharma, Seema’s sister, who has also been working in the kitchen for some time.
Daljit greets the guests and manages the place, while the two sisters prepare these good, small dishes in the kitchen. “Everything is homemade and prepared on-site. The menu at Pushap is very traditional.” Their thalis are very popular, and the menu is entirely vegetarian. For starters, choose from samosas, Aloo tikki, Chaat Papri, Bhel Puro, Pakoras, dal soup, dal-sabji and more. For the meals themselves, the menu lists a variety of light meals with naan, and other light meals of lentil curries, vegetable curries, and a few specialties like Shani Paneer, Mattar Kofta or Mailai Kofta. You can also savour raita, papadum, dahir and rice, of course. Pushap built its reputation with its sweets; they offer over a dozen traditional homemade desserts that are truly one of a kind! The dishes here are tasty, original and plentiful. To drink, they offer soft drinks, juices, lassis, chai tea, green tea and coffee.
“Everything is good here and everything is fresh! I gained 20 pounds since I started helping here! We make our own cheese and our own sauces.”
What a pleasure it is to know that Pushap – a family business – readily extends a special family welcome to everyone, and that customers are served and treated like family. What’s more, the food is delicious, the prices are unbelievably low, and the quality is superb! Pushap is undoubtedly one of our favourites.
© Photos Alison Slattery — Instagram
Written by Élise Tastet
