We had a nice walk on Mont Royal and took plenty of pictures of the newly fallen snow. Winter might just be my favourite season because of the fluffy white snow and mainly because I just don't like hot weather haha!
We decided to have dinner at Kazu which was a restaurant we both really wanted to try and heard plenty about. Located on Sainte-Catherine Street West, it's the perfect spot for business. It's a tiny restaurant with only a few tables and a small bar. Along the wood panelled walls, were all sorts of specials they had. All the waitresses were Japanese, as well as the cook. It's really hard to find a Japanese restaurant that is actually owned by Japanese people or have a Japanese chef here in Montreal, so I felt pretty good and didn't worry about it's authenticity when I heard random Japanese words being spoken every so often.
Essentially, Kazu is an izakaya. I have never been to an izakaya before, and I've never been to one in Japan. But I've always seen it in dramas and episodes where Anthony Bourdain would go to Japan (*squeals* I'm sort of a Bourdain fan girl. He would be freaked out by me)! An izakaya is sort of like a casual bar that serves drinks and a variety of foods like soup, ramen, rice, and plenty of snack foods like dumplings and what not. I don't think they serve sushi, but they did have sashimi.
We arrived at Kazu at around 7:30pm and there was a line of people waiting to get in. We didn't wait that long though, and got a table next to the window. The waitresses were really cute and fast paced as the place was just so busy! The whole place was bustling with people, the cieling was lined with giant paper laterns, and everyone seemed to be enjoying their food. I felt like I was transported to Japan the moment I walked through their doors.
We decided to have the Okonomiyaki because I literally have always wanted to try it. I have never tried the real thing, but it tasted exactly as how I imagined it. I guess the only way for me to find out if it was authentic or not is for me to go to Japan and try it!
It was served with a huge pile of salad on top with pickled ginger and bonito flakes. All the pictures I've seen of okonomiyaki have always been the okonomiyaki without salad, but I was happy I got my serving of greens. It was delicious and I especially liked the pieces of shrimp and cabbage. I loved the sauce they put on it...whatever sauce it is... I believe it's okonomiyaki sauce or some sort of vinagry barbecue sauce.
We then had the 48 hour pork rice bowl. It was good, but W and I came to the conclusion that it tasted and looked like something our moms would cook at home. It looked like thinly sliced pork, stir fried with onions and some soy sauce. I'm not sure if their pork was really cooked for 48 hours, but it was very tender, so I'll give them that. Overall, it was ok and wasn't that special. But I have to take into account that an izakaya serves food that's pretty much home style food/street food?
Kazu was pretty good, the prices are reasonable and portions were big. I would really like to go back and try their tuna salmon bowl, pork neck, and their homemade tofu (only on Sundays). Tonight, we preferred the okonomiyaki and regretted that we didn't order the the pork neck that the waitress recommended.
As for service, it's ridiculously fast! The waitresses also don't come up to you constantly to ask you how everything is. I'm not one for people coming up to me every few minutes while I'm eating to ask how I'm doing. That's just me. I'm Asian through and through, and I like fast service, water when I need it, and no small talk! Kazu just serves straight up good humble food. No pretrentiousness.
It was nice to catch up with W today. We did some last minute Christmas shopping afterwards :)
P.S: I'm off to Hawaii this Saturday! New food to try! I'm so excited!
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