A step up for Mile End’s izakaya

We tried the Frenchy Japanese bistro fare at Thazard, a reasonably priced, late-night resto by the ramen specialists at Iwashi.

Ramen with vegetables & tofu (640x480)

Ramen with tofu and vegetables

A few years ago, the average Montrealer hadn’t even heard the word izakaya. Given the enormous popularity of Kazu downtown, we’ve been awash in new Japanese restaurants (that aren’t sushi shops), and bistros in particular. Mile End eatery Thazard, which opened in November, doesn’t technically add to the disproportionately high number of izakayas in this town (I’m guessing we now have one per Japanese person) — it’s an expansion of Iwashi, which was formerly run out of Café Sardine on Fairmount.

Sushi
Sushi

Thazard isn’t the place to go for the authentic Japanese experience (that’s still Kazu, so get in line); it’s Japanese and Japanese-inspired cuisine with heavy French and Québécois accents, and that’s really what sets it apart from the izakaya bandwagon. It’s also open till 2 a.m., a bonus for a neighbourhood that’s not exactly flush with late-night options.

Wasabi Caesar
Wasabi Caesar

Our group was eager to get our drink on, casting our eyes on the vast liquor menu — fancy cocktails, wines, sakes and beers. We opted for a wasabi Caesar, an old-fashioned and a Tokyo toddy. The old-fashioned was a solid, standard blend of whiskey, bitters and orange zest on the rocks. The toddy’s boozy heat and hints of lemon and ginger were a treat on a cold winter night — the Japanese twist here was green tea and sake instead of the traditional black tea and rum. And if you like your Caesars spicy, the wasabi infusion in this cocktail was a sinus-clearing pleasure bomb to the face.

As we read the menu, a waitress explained that we could supplement our meals with small off-menu dishes from a cart  that was circulating from table to table — a little French flourish. We ordered marinated vegetables, kimchi with crab meat and cubed vegetarian sushi, and each dish was notable for its strong flavour. This was no shocker when it came to the kimchi, the staple Korean spicy cabbage (which somehow managed not to drown out the crab completely), but even the veggies had a tart kick you could feel in your eyeballs. The sushi consisted of layered rice, seaweed, a mysterious veggie blend and a sesame crust, the latter dominating with a flavour that evoked some forgotten nostalgia for Sesame Snaps.

Miso poutine
Miso poutine

We were also advised that anyone wanting a hearty meal should order two dishes. As with le Gros Luxe, the portion size of most à la carte items falls somewhere between appetizer and main, aside from the ramen dishes, which are complete meals. The ladies in the group opted for the ramen ($12), hers with pork and egg, mine with tofu and grilled vegetables, while the men ordered the miso poutine ($6), an octopus and pork hot dog served with super spicy chips ($12), and a warm salad of seasonal veggies.

Hot dog and chips
Hot dog and chips

The warm salad was hearty and satisfying, as was the poutine, though the table was split on its thick, yeasty miso gravy — an acquired taste. I’m told that the hot dog bun was great, but the long, thin sausage it contained wasn’t anything special — its octopus content provided little if any of the flavour (and probably much of the price).

But the ramen dishes, which were the signature of Iwashi, were both excellent. The texture of each ingredient was perfect, their flavours drawn out by rich broth, infused with leek oil. Broth can go so wrong, in the extreme: either a sodium overdose (à la store-bought ramen) or flavourless slop in need of tons of Sriracha and soy sauce. But no, Thazard really got it right. ■

 

Thazard 

5329 St-Laurent, 514-802-8899