Tuesday, October 28, 2014

My first true experience of sushi fusion was at Saint Sushi. Their $20 3-course meal was one of the most remarkable sushi experience. Boite Geisha is also another sushi fusion that serves sushi in a similar fashion, but their menu has more than 100 items to choose from. Both of these sushi spots were part of the top 10 new restaurants in Montreal on Urbanspoon for 2013. 

To get our palate started, we had the scallop and bluefin tuna gunkan nigiri wrapped in a thin cucumber sheet. This is our favourite item on the menu - fresh raw pieces of tuna/scallop, crispy tempura flakes, refreshing cucumber. Great play on various textures. Simply delightful!

Scallop and Red Tuna Gunkan with Cucumber Wrapper
Their colourful and eye-appealing signature sushis (langue de dragon and langue de feu) are a must order. The crispy component is composed of sushi rice sandwiched between nori paper then deep fried in tempura batter. Both are topped with tuna and salmon tartare. The langue de dragon gives a nice contrast of acidity from the seaweed and saltiness from the tobiko. The langue de feu is garnished with two types of caviar (ikura and tobiko) that give a popping release of briney yet sweet liquid on every bite.

Considering we were only 4 people in the restaurant during lunchtime, the sushi rolls took a while to get to our table about 25 mins. Also, we noticed the fish/avocado wrapping the rice starts to detach the moment we grab the sushi with our chopsticks. Despite this technical flaw, overall the sushis were good. Some noteworthy ones are the Miss Geisha which consists of shrimp, strawberry, apples and avocado. It is creamy elevated by the sweetness of the fruits. The other one is the Croque-Embouche. It is a take on the Vietnamese spring roll stuffed with mesclun, tempura shrimp and sweet potato. It has a good crunch from the tempura, balances with the tender sweet potatoes and the soft rice paper wrappers - the right balance of texture when one gets a croquembouche.

Boite Geisha has good sushi that plays both on texture and flavours. Some sushi were amazing, some were lacking the wow factor. If you happen to be in the Mont-Royal area, it is worth passing by this sushi joint. Note they have gluten-free options, and they do delivery and take-out.

Langue de Dragon - Tuna and Salmon Tartare, Seaweed, Japanese Eggplant, Tobiko on Crispy Rice
Langue de Feu - Tuna and Salmon Tartare, Ikura, Tobiko on Crispy Rice

From left to right: Bouchées de Crabe, Rainbow, Uni Nigiri, Miss Geisha, Croque-Embouche
Boite Geisha
1209 avenue Mont-Royal E.
Montreal, QC
H2J 1Y2
(514) 903-8118
http://www.boitegeisha.com/
Boîte Geisha on Urbanspoon
 
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