Kazu, because yes, it is that good.

I can’t believe it took me that long to go to Kazu.  It lives so lightly on the lips of Montreal food-knowers, spilled out and around to anyone who can hear – go to Kazu!  It’s superlative!  Try damned near anything and revel in the rice puffs and zillion sauces and teenyweeny space and the detailed taste of it all!  Don’t forget to go hungry!  Smile at life for making Japanese pub food easy to get!

It really is as great as advertised, really.  We didn’t even wait to sit – a concern for starving bellies – but going at lunch and on a rainy Sunday may have helped in that respect.  The greyness made the inside even cozier, and the tables were still moving so quickly they were empty for barely 10 seconds before the next contented diners claimed elbow space and cast their eyes up to the fluttering hand-drawn wall of menu items to select their awesome meal.  Geez, they even had a friendly list of Soju drinks!  sweeeeet bippy, I is home.

K, so we actually went at lunch so my dining friend could finally get his ramen virginity taken – he’d never had it before !!  (/shocked face).  I didn’t try much of his dish, but the little I did was nicely spiced and had a definite sensation of soft, fuzzy warm, like a sweater.  Probably so ideal once the weather gets cooler, an inner hug with pork in it!  I think the noodles are made in-house, too.  Seriously.

I ordered the superstar item – the tuna and salmon bowl – and there’s probably not much I can say about it that hasn’t been gushed about before.  It’s a textural wonderland, sweet, crispy, freshest fish creamy, aromatic and damn if that isn’t the best sushi rice I can think of in recent memory – all those things.  *wipes brow*.  Mmmmm I snapped it up SO happily, and I can see why they give you a spoon with your chopsticks – so you can place all the many components just-so and then enjoy each slightly different bite!

We also got some fresh tofu, available only on Sundays, and it was a delightfully light and wiggly dish to enjoy alongside.  It’s fresh but not flavourless, actually having a slightly bitter bean taste that made me all nostalgic for Taiwanese dòufu which is slightly sweeter and served with syrup, but

the savoury Kazu treatment won me over pretty quickly.  The top was scattered with these green translucent herb-squares that tasted of fresh field grasses, and the sauce they used was the perfect soy bath, rich but refreshing in a paradoxical and addictive way.

Criminy I was satisfied with this food.  Totally going back.  And now I can join every other Montreal blogger in having a Kazu post.  Kazooooo!  Geez I want to try that grilled pork neck and shrimp burger……. (there might well be a Part 2 to this post before the snow falls…)