Kazu — Restaurant in Montreal

Went back to Kazu, one of the good Isakayas in town, with my friend Jerry who is curious about exploring all kind of cuisines. Jerry is not a foodie, and certainly not familiar with Isakaya food, but I believe that it is interesting to insert his feedbacks here for the purpose of balancing opinions.

KAZU, MONTREAL - roasted salmon belly. I ordered the $15 roasted salmon belly which continues to be the finest of its kind in Montreal, the quality salmon belly packed with the typical layer of luscious fat that made this dish so popular among Japanese isakaya fans, the timing of the roasting simply perfect, the seasoning judicious. As the years go by, plenty of Isakayas are opening in town and yet I still haven’t stumbled upon one single Isakaya that managed to get its roasted salmon belly as beautifully rendered as Kazu’s version. 8/10 by Montreal finest Isakaya standards. Jerry was less impressed as he prefers salmon in its raw version.

KAZU, MONTREAL - lobster salad - Jerry has opted for the $27 lobster salad which he seems to have preferred over the roasted salmon belly. The lobster was served both in its tail (topped by some sort of patty which nature has so far eluded both of us –I forgot to inquire about it) as well as morsels of its flesh, timely cooked to ideal palatable consistency (meaning with proper chew), Kazu is always proud of dressing virtually everything with their secret homemade sauce –it works as it is generally pairs well with most of their food, so I won’t complain –, the lobster certainly of good quality by Montreal standards. Jerry does not rate food, which I respect, but he said that he was surprised that such unassuming place would pull off food of this sort. My rating: 7/10 (Good).

We rounded the meal with Kazu’s soft ice cream covered with a layer of wasabi powder (for me), black tea powder (for Jerry). Jerry didn’t appear very enthused about it, observing that the powder was predominant with not much of the other ice cream’s flavor (the milk,for eg) within his grasp. I forgot to ask him but I also suspect that he prefers hard to soft ice cream. I personally like both hard and soft ice cream. The soft ice cream fared much better to me: In my experience, Kazu’s soft ice cream has not always been good (sometimes mushy in texture, sometimes the wasabi powder too subtle in flavor), but on this evening I found it, for my taste, to boast a spectacular depth of fresh milky flavor, the wasabi powder’s aroma fresh and enticing. In my tender childhood I used to drink fresh raw cow milk (milk pasteurization was an unknown notion in that part of the globe) , therefore my palate and brain have always recorded that taste as their ‘ preferred One’. The soft ice cream that I was enjoying this evening tasted of fresh raw cow milk, the sort of milky flavor that you’ll rarely get to sample in most parts of Europe and America nowadays. For me, a benchmark soft ice cream 10/10.

Conclusion: Despite disadvantages that could considerably weaken the spark of most restaurants (the inevitable line up, the hole-in-a-wall decor, cramped ambience, etc), Kazu manages to maintain itself among the decent isakayas of Mtl . It is not a perfect place (some items are cheap but those are the insignificant ones, most are a bit pricey …which defeats the point of eating cheapily at isakayas, portions are less and less sizeable), but few are delivering better tasting isakaya fares in Montreal. Kazu is bold, rustic, entirely Japanese Isakaya (Chef and staff are Japanese, the food benefits from contemporary touches — Kazu-san was working at restaurant Toque! before, so he brought some of their fine dining’s contemporary aspects with him — , indeed, but it is, in its essence, as Japanese as you’ll get from an Isakaya...

This restaurant is a must try!! It was some of the best food I've ever had!! It's a tiny place, they're only open half the week, and they don't take reservations. Because of this, I was warned about how busy they get so I lined up at 4:30/4:45 to get in. They were really nice and let you sit early if your whole party is there. I'm so glad I did because it completely filled up by just after 5, and there was a line out the door. They have tiny tables all shoved together so there's very little space. No high chairs but they do have a booster seat. There's a menu but most items are actually written on pieces of paper all over the walls. I recommend that you try a lot of different things, though honestly the portions are very generous for the price. We had the deep fried green beans with truffle mayo, the 48 hour pork with curry, the homemade tofu (only available on Sundays), the shrimp burger, the onigiri (see picture), and the salmon/tuna sashimi plate (can't remember what it was called, something zushi - see picture). Everything was really good, but the beans, pork/curry, and shrimp burger were AMAZING. Life changing. The only things I found disappointing were the onigiri (nothing inside, just rice balls with a layer of some kind of pate under them, I assume salmon - I'm used to onigiri with salmon or whatever inside) and we also had some ice cream for dessert which wasn't all that great (the one with cheese and cookie crumbs and the cherry blossom one - neither were worth the price though cheese on ice cream is interesting). The service was okay, they were very friendly but you could tell they were a bit overwhelmed and the ice cream took forever to come. Otherwise food generally came out quite quickly (we barely had enough room on the table for everything). The price was very reasonable for how good (most) of the food was. I will definitely be...

If you can have just one meal in Montreal... where should you go? To a Japanese izakaya joint - Kazu! It will never disappoint and it will leave you happier and fuller. I LOVE this place!

It's a small joint and the line ups start before the restaurant opens. We showed up around 4:40 to beat the lines and we were first. However, within minutes the line-up started behind us. If you can, definitely sit by the bar. It's lively, you get the watch the chefs in action, and if you're lucky, they'll even share some great food gems with you.

Lots of food choices in their regular menu, but don't forget to look at their specials, posted on yellow paper on their specials board. It's a great way to try what's in season and other specialty items.

Great price for literally everything and you can't go wrong with any of the choices. When we went my boyfriend and I balled out and got the following: Oysters - vinaigrette was very light and complimented the fresh oysters Pork Cheek - interesting texture and great sauces served with tortilla Chicken tortilla - the chicken was perfect and the salad served in the middle was amazing O-toro - thinly sliced and super fresh, can't go wrong with o-toro, ever Chicken, chicken skin, and pork yakitori - ALL AMAZING! MUST GET! Tuna belly - WOW! My boyfriend who doesn't eat much tuna couldn't get enough of this. Takes 30 minutes to make - definitely worth the wait and enough time to get a little shwasty on the sake Dessert - YOU MUST GET THE ICE CREAM WITH THE POP ROCKS!!! It's awesome and make sure you get your own cause trust me, you won't want to share this with anyone, even a loved one...

For Montreal locals, I envy you because I can't go to Kazu every week since I live in Toronto, and for tourists...