The 2023 Best of MTL issue is here!

The 2023 Best of MTL is here!

And the city has spoken.

Over the past four months, Cult MTL readers and other citizens who are invested in civic pride voted for their favourite Montreal things in the annual Best of MTL poll.

Most Montrealers have spent the past year emerging from their homes and their bubbles post-pandemic, enjoying the things that some people said would never be the same again. Some things have changed, some people are still in self-imposed isolation, but as Montreal has come back to life, this poll has served as a cheering section, a reminder, a connection to what we missed and what we’re experiencing again after a lot of time away. So many of the things that make this city great have returned over the past year, and the upcoming festival season holds the promise of even more to celebrate — as summer in Montreal always does.

Here at Cult MTL, we’re grateful for all our readers and all the voters who took the time to think about everything they love in this city to fill out this poll. As always, it’s our mandate to salute the artists, promoters, organizers, reporters, restaurateurs and retailers who keep Montreal’s heart beating.

The Best of MTL poll is open and democratic, with no editorial influence or interference. We are always glad to see so many people make an event of voting via social media campaigns, and while we love seeing third-party get-out-the-vote tweets, we remain neutral during the polling period.

Ballot-stuffing is automatically weeded out by our survey software. This year there were loads of votes for columnist and social media personality Murphy Cooper, comedian/radio host Julian Bernatchez, local label On A Roll Records (and friends), jewellery company Inchoo Bijoux (and friends), comedian Zak Kik and jack-of-all-trades Rocko Paolo in way too many categories.

Cult MTL has been running the Best of MTL readers poll for over a decade, but it bears mentioning that the survey follows in the tradition established by the city’s defunct but fondly remembered alt-weekly newspaper the Mirror. Respect.

Our website cultmtl.com will feature all the individual categories in this poll over the course of the year, showcasing every winner in all the Top 5s.

We thank everyone who voted and promoted the poll. Participation continues to grow every year, making the 2023 results more representative of the city than ever.

(Anglos, if you’re wondering why you don’t recognize some names in these lists, it’s because the other 70% of the population is now voting in a bilingual poll. Francos, désolé, les résultats sont unilingues.)

To all the winners: congratulations. 

We’re proud to bring you the Best of MTL.

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To view the readers poll results, please click here.