Oorja — Restaurant in Montreal

A documentable experience awaits you. GORGEOUS place, it's only been open for 7 months but this baby indo-chinese hakka restaurant blew me away in every way imaginable. First, the ambience is everything, seats are cozy with loads of room for a couple's chemistry. The bar is expansive and colourful, soulfully lit up against orange hue lamps with decorative little birds inside. Cory tells me he hid 40 birds around the restaurant, bringing him to name one of their specialty drinks "40 Birds" - creative right? I ask him what his favourite dish is. He says exactly what my tastebuds are saying: the braised pork. Deal 🫱🏽‍🫲🏼 ! Which brings me to their menu. Cheran explains to me that the menu comes from his childhood growing up in India, where Hakka cuisine became popular and infused with his regular dining culture. He tells me about the restaurant's chef from Trinidad who perfected the dishes with him and his team, introducing her own Trinidadian taste to the mix. I couldn't be more blown away with the story of this restaurant's conception. They will soon be experimenting with more flavours and more options, but for now the menu remains a humble yet proud 3 page brochure that brings you on a journey of flavour and exquisite design. Starting with the crispy and rich lamb eggrolls with a dual dipping sauce, one sweet and punchy, the other more of a vinegrette with bold presence. Then the braised pork (WOW), portions nice and large, and the rich flavours holding true. Lastly, the red bean ice cream dessert... truly something else - it's nothing like I've ever tasted before. Entrée and dessert was split with my friend so all of this came out to under $40! It is a perfect place to bring a date twiceover, affordable, and the owners choose great jazzy and indie rock music to really pound that ambience in. Don't sleep...

Being of Southeast Asian descent, I've always wanted to try Hakka which technically is cuisine from a region of China. However, it gets more complicated than that because Chinese from that region migrated to Southeast Asia, India, and the Caribbean, merging their cuisine with that of their host country.

Oorja is a sophisticated spot to enjoy Hakka, which I consider fusion cuisine before there was fusion cuisine. It's an intimate place with a relatively small number of tables, and a significant part of the place devoted to a lovely cocktail bar. I sometimes like to eat and drink at a bar, so that's a bonus.

This time there were three of us. Our cocktails were amazing. We were served by very helpful and competent staff. The best dish by far was the Momo appetizer. So many layers of flavors which I found familiar, but mixed together in a unique way that I hadn't tasted before. My companions had the Chili chicken with fried rice and noodles on the side. They loved it. The fried rice had that typical wok hei aroma and so was well prepared. As were the noodles.

I had the braised pork belly. This in my opinion was the weakest of the dishes, but I'm willing to give Oorja the benefit of the doubt on this one. Unlike the Momo with its multiple layers of flavors, the dish lacked complexity. I've had several versions of Southeast Asian pork belly which involves pan frying it with the usual Asian aromatics plus lemongrass, with umami provided by fish sauce. So I guess I was expecting something of those flavors.

I do know that Hakka involves braising, rather than the other techniques I usually associate with pork belly preparation. So it might just be me having preconceived notions. Nevertheless I still enjoyed my meal.

All in all, my experience in Oorja was...

Indo-Hakka is actually Indian-style Chinese food. The so-called Indian Hakka cuisine is Indian ingredients and spices + Chinese seasoning cooking techniques. It is a "copycat version of Chinese cuisine" made by Chinese people far away from their hometown.

"Manchurian Chicken" is the signature dish of Indian Hakka cuisine. It is similar to General Tso's Chicken. It is a kind of chicken nuggets fried in sweet and sour sauce. I didn't order it! But I ordered fried chicken buns with spicy sauce (chicken chili momo by wok ). Of course, the name doesn't matter. Deliciousness is the king. It's still a good taste. Paired with white rice, it's very delicious!

The fried oyster mushrooms are also perfect. The big oyster mushrooms are crispy ,and paired with a special sauce, it's more delicious than meat!

Personally, I think this is the first Chinese restaurant in Montreal that doesn't have wonton soup/hot and sour soup. The duck soup has a strong pepper flavor, which is very heartwarming in this cold winter.

"Indian Hakka cuisine" is the product of Hakka immigrants. The Chinese who first arrived in India were the same as the Chinese who went to Southeast Asia. They were poor people in coastal areas of China. They crossed the ocean to avoid war or seek better life . From 1772 to 1911, the capital of British India was Kolkata, where the Chinese mainly lived.

Food allows people to glimpse the history and culture of different countries and ethnic groups. The food on the plate reveals the secrets of human past and present. I often learn about the world...