Raku Izakaya (Brossard)

Hii followers! Today i'm gonna present my favorite japanese restaurant that is always surprising me "Raku Izakaya". The chef is always offering new creativities and the most fresh fish or seafood ever. This is why you always want to go back and try new things. The chef put customer's satisfaction #1, meaning he is using the most fresh and the best quality for the ingredients. He has a lot of experience, i think he has worked in Kaisen, and some other high class sushi before and he even went to Japan for 2 years I think. And after, he opened his own japanese restaurant. But one inconvenient is that is a little far, it's in Brossard, so if you don't have a car, it hard to get there. I highly recommend this restaurant is you passed by there.

For the lobster season, we decided to have lobster sashimi => it's my 1st time eating raw lobster!!
How was it? umm it wasn't what I expected. Usually the raw lobster stinks right? But losters in sashimi is so yummy, it's fresh because we ordered in advance and the chef found us and big one and the texture is a little like the raw cuttlefish...and you taste the sweetness of the seafood. You dip it in a special sauce prepared by the chef.

With the lobster's legs, he made use a lovely salad. And hedeep fried the lobster's  head, it's crispy and yummy, but it hard to eat, you have to find the little meat hidden. The price for the 3 set of lobster dishes is also reasonable. So guys, go try it out, but remember to order in advance.

The rating for the lobster (sashimi, salad and fried head) is a 5/5 (Must try)

Beside the lobster, we had a sushi boat, i think it's called the Love Boat, i'm not too sure for the name. In this boat, we had tempura shrimp and some specialties makis. They have different combo of sushi boat^^ Or you can order "à la carte". They offer a vast varieties of sashimi and some seasonal ones.  Remember to ask what are the "special fish of the day", they will suggest you the most fresh ones.

Love Boat - 4.5/5

Red snapper japanese, seabass,... - 4.5/5

We tried the Chu-toro, it's the tuna belly (fat). What is special about this? You don't find it everywhere and anytime. When they have delicious part like that, they post it on their facebook and you can reserve. Chu-toro, the first time I tried it was in Japan and I felt in love with it. Back to Montreal, I could't find much places offering that. It a piece that melt in your mouth, you feel the good oil lol... it wasn't exactly the same, but the chef promised that next time it will be better, I guess because we went there late, so the best pieces were already gone ><

Chu-Toro - 4/5

The appetizers are something not to miss. We try the Chukka Idako (baby octopus) with a sweet sauce on top of little spicy salad. Usually the baby octopus is spicy, but here is sweet and you can dip in the little spicy of the salad dressing,

Chukka Idako - 4.5/5

Their beef sashimi is also a must! They use filet mignon, which make the beef sashimi more tender and tasty. In addition to their sauce, it is delicious!

Beef Sashimi - 5*/5

Another specialty, the Saikyo Miso was pretty good. It's salmon, really juicy and a little raw in the middle. This is the way I like it. But the marinade is really sweet. It depends if you are more of a sweet person or salty one hehe =)

Saikyo Miso - 4.5/5

Even that we are so full at the end of the dinner. We will always have a little place for this famous homemade Sapporo ice cream. I don't like beer, but the combinaison of beer in the icre cream is really good. So enjoy!

Sapporo ice cream - 5/5

Raku Izakaya

8080 Boul. Taschereau, 

Brossard, QC J4X 1C2

(450) 671-7386

Kyoto

This japanese restaurant, Kyoto, is near my area. I remember I went there few times when I was in College. The maki were just okay I guess, maybe that's why I never really went back. I didn't find it special until recently when I finish class and I was really craving for sushi. I ordered a sashimi combo (15 pieces) for take-out. It was so good, every sashimi is fat, melting in my mouth and surprizing the size of the pieces are pretty big, I was amazed and happy to discover  their yummy sashimi. I even said it's the best sashimi ever!

After around a week, I went back, but this time for lunch, they offered a lunch menu. I chose the sashimi and maki set, but this time I was quite disappointed. It wasn't as good as the previous time, not fat at all and not that fresh. So I decided to give another chance, I went back last week. The sashimis wasn't that fresh and even the cuttlefish sashimi were so raw that it was hard to masticate and to swallow. When eating something raw its freshness change everything, from good to bad. So I guess if you're lucky you get the yuumie sashimi and if not you'll be disapointed. Beside that, the service is pretty good. So here I won't give any ratings because its quality is not stable...

Hakata Ramen

Hi my lovely followers!

Today,I went to try the new ramen restaurant, Hakata Ramen. They just opened on May 18th. I saw it on the chinese newspaper, which said that they have a japanese chef. I'm not sure if it's mtrue because, the people who work there are chinese. But there'a a girl that welcomes you in japanese, I wouldn't know that she is chinese if she didn't speak to us in chinese. The service is pretty slow, they are 3 waiters, but only one was running all around, but she was giving a really good service. She excused us for the slow service because there was only the owner running the kitchen at the time we were there, around 2pm. She also offered us a smoothie and 10% discount. The ambiance is zen, the place is big. They also have two TV for the amateurs for hocker games.

We had the BBQ Pork Ramen, I think it the best ramen noodles I had, it is comparable to Aijisen Ramen for the noodles. As for the soup with mixture of seeweed and corn, it was good. The egg is quite special, it is not the common japanese ramen orange egg; they cooked the eggs white and cut it in half, and add the raw yolk in the middle.

BBQ Pork Ramen - Stars: 4.5/5

The Shrimp cake burger is too salty, too thick. Not recommended. If you want shrimp cake burger, I recommend the one from Kazu.

Shrimp cake burger - Stars: 2/5

This is the Strawberry Smoothie they offered us. This smoothie is light because I think they mixte sprite in it. And the little bubbles in the smoothie are quite special, it a bubble with flaovour that have a texture like caviar. When it pops, the juice "explose" in your mouth. I really liked it.

Strawberry Smoothie - Stars: 4.8/5

The special bubbles (strawberry flavour)

Hakata Ramen

1216 Stanley, #200, 2nd floor

H3B 2S7, Montreal

(514) 759-6688

Les Glaceurs

Another of my favorite dessert is Cupcakes, but only the ones from Les Glaceurs. The cake is soft melting in your mouth, while the icing is pretty sweet (I'm the sweet "type"). They offers many flavours, depending on the time of the day I guess. My favorite are the Red Velvet and The Green Tea. I tried the ones from Les Gateaux twice, their cake base is dry and hard, not recommended.

I love Les Glaceurs, they also offers ice cream from Le Bilboquet, the ice cream is so rich and yummy. I prefer the regular size cupcake than the mini cupcake. They have a Duo combo which come with an Cupcake and an Ice cream, that's a good deal if you want to try both.

Lemon, Red Velvet, Vanilla, Cho-Mint - Stars:5*/5

It can also replace a birthday cake. But you have more candles to blow out, depending of how old you are getting hehe...I got it for my 24th birthday last year...so 24 cupcakes for me to share, so everyone is happy =)

Les Glaceurs

453 Rue Saint Sulpice
Montreal, QC H2Y 2V8
(514) 504-1469

(metro Place d'Armes)

Imadake

This is another izakaya style restaurant. One of the thing you should not order is the ramen. Why? All the people that tried it says it taste like instant noodles. Last time, when I went to Imadake, I really wanted to try because they said that they made their own noodles, there was limited quantity, so we had to wait maybe an hour for the ramen. Luckily we didn't wait, because it is not worth it. One more thing, we went on a Friday night around 8pm, it was full, we had to wait. So I suggest if you don't want to wait go earlier.

As for the appetizers dishes, the ones we tried were pretty good. My favorite is the Black Cod. It's a fish with a rich flavour, the meat is sweet and oily. It melts in your mouth: it is light and fresh!

Black Cod - Stars: 5/5

Another must try is the cow tongue. When you hear the name you don't feel trying. But this part is tender and delicious. The presentation on a grill is also pretty nice.

Cow tongue - Stars: 4.5/5

The Takoyaki is not comparable to the one in Asia, or in Japan. What is Takoyaki? Tako means octopus is japanese. It is a ball of flour mix with octopus, grilled in a pan with lots of small holes (see picture below).On the top on the octopus balls, they add mayonnaise, takoyaki sauce and flakes of dried bonito.They don't make it the same way here I guess, they just fried it at Imadake so it feels more oily.

Takoyaki - Stars:3/5

The beef sashimi was a little cooked, but the middle is still raw. I think this gives a good texture while masticating the meat. The sauce was also light, a good combinaison.

Beef Sashimi: 3.5/5

For dessert, we had the Green tea cheesecake, the cheese's taste is so strong. We don't even taste the greentea. I didn't like at all.

Greentea cheesecake - Stars: 2.5/5

While the Sesame ice cream we had was yummy (most of japanese restaurant do offer this sesame ice cream): it's of a completely black color. The Sesame icecream worth a 5/5.

Sesame icecream - Stars: 5/5

 Imadake

4006 St. Catherine West
Montréal, QC H3Z 1P2

(metro Atwater)

Hwang Kum

I went there just last week but it was crownded. Where lots of people are and there is a waiting line, we can say that the food is amazing. It became one my favorite korean restaurant. Each place has their best dishes. I recommend the Seafood Pancake (for those who are vegetarian, they have the kimchi Pancake). It is really difference from other korean reataurant, the Pancake is more puffy and crunchy...yummy =)

Seafood Pancake - Stars:5*/5

A common appetizer, the spicy rice cake is a must try. It's not too spicy with a sweet taste. There are fish cake in the dish too.

Spicy rice cake - Stars: 4.5/5

As for the main dishes, the BBQ ribs is tasty, it's not too cooked, it's just perfect. One more thing I like there is the soup which you can add the potatoes noodles. I love potatoes noodles.

BBQ Ribs - Stars: 5/5

Soup with noodles - Stars:4/5

Maison du Macaron

Maison du macaron offers a french dessert "macarons" of up to 25 flavours. The place is pretty small, a take-out type. They pack them is nice little box: box of 6, 12. 24 I think. For people who like sweet things, this is the place. We got a box of 24 macarons...YUMMYYYY!

 Stars: 5/5

They also have frozen macaron, which the middle is ice cream. They have box of 5, 10, or 20.
We tried the green apple, rasberry and  peach & mango. They are really good. Who can resist from those little goodies? =)

Stars: 5/5

They also offers bigger size of macarons and different desserts made with macaron. It's so nice. Here is the display counter.

 

Maison du Macaron

4479 de la Roche (angle Mont-Royal)
Montréal (Québec) H2J 3J2 

(metro Mont-Royal)

Kazu (lunch)

You want to feel Japan Izakaya. You want real japanese food made by real Japanese.Kazu is the place to go. The place is quite crownded, around 4 tables of 3 to 4 people and a counter that can accommodate uo to 8 people I think. Because it is small, its popularity has brought so many food lovers to wait in line. It can be hours of waiting outside in the cold. But as summer is coming soon, it will better to wait while the temperature is warm. So if you want to try their homemade "ramen" (pork or chicken), you must be there before the opening which is 12:00pm.

For lunch, they have a lunch menu. The little appetizers I tried were the pork cheeks and homemade tofu.

The homemade tofu is cold with a salad on top.

Stars: 3/5

 The pork cheek is okay. Stars: 3.5/5

If I compare the ramen noodle to the one in Japan, it is just okay, but in Montreal, it is actually one of the best. They have bamboo in the soup, I don't like that flavor, but the soup is still yummy. The egg is semi-raw (the color is orange), I love it that way.

 Stars: 4/5

Or you can maybe try my favorite : the Salmon Bowl (lunch) or Salmon/Tuna Bowl (dinner). The combinaison of different sauces makes it so tasty and unique.

 Stars: 5/5

The Sea Bass grilled (fish) is also pretty good. No bone and tjuicy. They use the same sauce for the salad like the Salmon Bowl.

Stars: 4.5/5

Restaurant Kazu

1862 Sainte-Catherine Street West
Montreal, QC

(metro Guy-Concordia)