CANADA’S second-largest city may be the second-largest French-speaking metropolis on the planet (after Paris), but the attention lavished on its Frenchness — Bistros! Baguettes! People saying “Bonjour”! — tends to nudge aside the many other ethnic communities within Montreal’s remarkably diverse urban sprawl. Italians, Portuguese and Lebanese have a very visible presence, and the city hosts annual festivals dedicated to everything from Asian-American films to Caribbean food. Throw in a pulsing alternative community and creative scene (this is a place that engendered talents as diverse as Saul Bellow, Arcade Fire and the irrepressible William Shatner), and a whole new Montreal opens up. Whether your passion is Syrian cuisine, contemporary art or vintage shopping, Montreal is serving it up with aplomb. C’est vrai.

Friday

5 p.m.

1. LOOK IN THE WINDOW

Inaugurated in February, the avant-garde glass building known as Le 2-22 (2, rue Ste.-Catherine Est) puts Montreal’s vast cultural scene at your fingertips — literally. The atrium-like lobby houses La Vitrine (514-285-4545; lavitrine.com), a high-tech information center with touch-screen computers that provide listings of exhibitions, performances and other events around the city, including the coming African music celebration, Festival International Nuits d’Afrique (July 10 to 22). Upstairs, a bookshop called Formats (514-842-5579; formatsbookstore.org) sells art tomes and local magazines, while Vox gallery (514-390-0382; voxphoto.com) hosts art exhibitions.

8 p.m.

2. LITTLE LISBON

The neighborhood around the intersection of Boulevard St.-Laurent and Rue Rachel is a sort of Little Lisbon, thanks to innumerable hole-in-the-wall Portuguese grills whose windows are filled with roasted chickens. At Portus Calle (4281, boulevard St.-Laurent; 514-849-2070; portuscalle.ca) the chef Helena Loureiro ups the style factor — exposed brick, candlelight — while placing beef, seafood and Portuguese wine at center stage. The sardine fillets have crispy skin and pack in all the sun- and sea-soaked tastes of the Iberian Peninsula. But the star is the steak. Topped with a delicately fried egg, the disc of filet mignon sits atop a haystack of matchstick fries larded with chorizo chunks and slathered with piri-piri sauce. A three-course meal for two costs about 100 Canadian dollars, about the same in U.S. dollars.