Quote from: DoubleAs on July 03, 2016, 05:19:10 PM
Thanks so much, spacecanada!  Unfortunately, the two pizza restaurants don't exist in Quebec.  I'll take your brand list with me for grocery shopping -- thank you!  There are two nut-free bakeries in Quebec, one of which is also egg-free, so that will be fun.  When we visited Toronto a couple of years ago, we bought the Quaker chewy granola bars because I thought they were safe in Canada.  I take it this has changed?  My son will be disappointed, but we'll look for the other brands you mentioned.

Anyone else from Quebec with tips for us as far as nut-free grocery brands or restaurants in either Montreal or Quebec City?  Thanks!

There's a pizza restaurant in the Petit Quartier Champlain in the Place Royale that was safe for us when we went a couple of years ago. My daughter has peanut, tree nut and egg allergies. We stayed at a hotel without a kitchen right off the Rue St. Jean (and conveniently located across the street from the hospital). We usually had breakfast from McDonald's (oatmeal). We had dinner one night at an Irish pub (our waitress had a peanut allergy). We ate one night at Chez Ashton; it's fast food (roast beef sandwiches and poutine).

In Montreal, we ate safely at Schwartz's, which has wonderful smoked meat. We ate at Hubert's chicken (I think; it's another chain) and the grabbed a pizza one night close to our hotel. Our room had a mini fridge, so we just had yogurt and cereal in the room for breakfast.

We really wasted our dining experiences there. I should have done more research beforehand.

We ate at Zero8 -- the Montreal restaurant free of the top 8 allergens.  It was an amazing experience for my son to order anything he wanted off the menu.  He ate mushroom veloute, duck poutine, steak frites, and chocolate cake.  It was delicious!  I wanted to cry tears of joy at how lovely our experience was.  I wish there were other restaurants like this.  The only disappointment was that they are only open Thursday through Sunday.  If you are ever in Montreal, make a reservation and GO -- you won't be disappointed!

Thanks for the tips. spacecanada, it is much appreciated!

Some items from Quaker are labelled peanut-free but I have never seen any that are labelled as tree nut-free. They don't label consistently for shared facilities with tree nuts, in my experience. I have had mystery hives when eating their oatmeal, and they wouldn't confirm the presence of nuts in the facility, only repeating the 'good manufacturing processes' disclaimer to me. We don't trust them any more; many people still do, however.

Tip: order stuff online and have it delivered to your hotel a day before you arrive.  Libre Naturals granola bars and granolas are yummy.

There is a grocery chain that has very good allergy customer service by phone.  The stores are called Superstore, No Frills, and a few other names... Their house brands are President's Choice, PC, and 'no name'.  They have very inconsistent may contain labels but if you call they have very detailed allergy information on everything they make: shared lines, shared facility, segregated within same facility, etc. for all top allergens. I call them at least once a week and always have good service.

Best of luck and have fun!

Thanks so much, spacecanada!  Unfortunately, the two pizza restaurants don't exist in Quebec.  I'll take your brand list with me for grocery shopping -- thank you!  There are two nut-free bakeries in Quebec, one of which is also egg-free, so that will be fun.  When we visited Toronto a couple of years ago, we bought the Quaker chewy granola bars because I thought they were safe in Canada.  I take it this has changed?  My son will be disappointed, but we'll look for the other brands you mentioned.

Anyone else from Quebec with tips for us as far as nut-free grocery brands or restaurants in either Montreal or Quebec City?  Thanks!

Quebec has stores and brands the rest of Canada doesn't, but here are some TN- free suggestions that may or may not exist there:
Panago Pizza (it is a chain pizza place, not sure about egg)
FreshSlice Pizza (again, you have to check the egg, but they have a great allergen chart in each store)
Granola bars: Libre Naturals, Made Good, Freeyumm (all egg free too!)
Dare brand cookies and snacks all have a tree nut free facility statement in bold and are found almost everywhere (again check the egg)
OREO cookies, the plain regular ones in the big package are free of dairy, egg, peanuts, sesame, and tree nuts.
Costco has Phillipines brand dried mango that is safe for egg and TN allergies
Made in Nature dried fruits are also safe for top ten allergens (no cc risk) and I have seen them in a few places including Costco
Craisins
Beware of regular baking flour, some have egg warnings (so weird)
Manny's soft tortillas are free of most top allergens except wheat.
Hershey's labels well
Avoid Quaker oatmeal a or bars as they don't have the best labels and use tree nuts on shared equipment without saying so.
Maynard's gummies are supposed to be safe but I haven't actually been able to get an answer from the manufacturer
SunRype fruit bars are priority allergen free, but I don't know about their granola type ones. They label well.
Camino chocolate chips and baking squares are top allergen free, but not their chocolate bars.  They label well.
Sobeys (store name) has shredded coconut that is safe for all priority allergens except sulphites, if coconut itself is ok.  The brand name is Our Compliments or Nos Compliments in French. I hoard this stuff when I can find it because no other brand coconut is safe in this country it seems.
Screamin Brothers ice cream desserts are safe for all top allergens, though they are made with coconut - check their website for locations.
Chapmans ice cream (dairy) makes many safe frozen treats for you and label them as tn-free.

Is there anything specific you are looking for? That could help narrow down the list. 

Please let us know what you think of Top8.  What an experience that would be!

Allergic Living had a bakery article not long ago that listed some allergy friendly bakeries, so you may want to look on their website.  At least one, but I seem to recall more, were in Québec.

I'll be traveling to Montreal and Quebec City with my son who is allergic to tree nuts and eggs next month.  We will have an apartment with a kitchen in Montreal and are still looking for a place with a kitchen in Quebec City.

I'd love tips on restaurants that would be safe (ideally that are tree-nut free) as well a Canadian food brands that are safe and which grocery stores they are sold at.  In Montreal, I know of Zero8 and can't wait to take him there to order anything off the menu!  But, looking for other options as well.  Thanks in advance!