Kyo Bar Japonais

Kyo Bar Japonais was my third stop for Taste MTL. This place has been on my to-go list ever since they opened their doors this summer. There are not that many good izakayas in Montreal, apart from Imadake. Now, Kyo Bar Japonais is another izakaya that I highly recommend and revisit.

The event menu consists of two choices for each meal course. As a blogger, well... we ordered everything on that menu. All the dishes were colourful and plated with finesse. Let's start with the appetizers. The soy maple chicken wings were foodgasmic... How can these wings be foodgasmic you might wonder? The wings are first dipped in a corn-based batter before deep-frying, then coated with a generous amount of kushiyaki sauce. They were super crispy, sweet, salty, faint note of acidity with no traces of oiliness. Each bite of these chicken wings is like a symphony of flavours - like eating a bag of chips flavoured with soy sauce and maple syrup. These wings were gone within seconds. The plainness of the shredded salad helps cut down the saltiness of the wings.

The other appetizer was the tataki of salmon and beef - light, refreshing, nice acidity from the ponzu sauce.

The main was somewhat good, but nothing special. The maki platter is what you would find in an all-you-can-eat sushi joint. We were hoping something more elevated. The bento box consists of tempuras, soba noodles, spicy tuna makis and red miso beef. Since we shared our mains, we were very disappointed that the spicy tuna makis were found in both mains. The soba noodles were quite mediocre, didn't have any flavours and the tempura were not crispy at all. At least, the beef were moist and flavourful.

Finally, the desserts... If I'm in the Old-Montreal area and I just want to go for dessert in a high-end restaurant, this is the place to go. Both of their desserts were outstanding. The doughnuts were perfectly chewy, have a nice bite on the outside, soft inside. These were dipped in a yuzu condensed milk to give a rich and sour taste. Add a sprinkle of the black sesame powder to give a bit of nuttiness to the doughnuts.

The chocolate cake served with a matcha sauce is also as indulgent. This dessert is well-balanced both texturally and tastewise. The sweet and deep vegetal taste of the matcha sauce, the lightness of the chocolate cake and the smooth texture of the whipped cream will leave your mouth watering after each bite, anticipating the next bite. These are the perfect desserts to end the meal.

I'll definitely going to revisit Kyo soon, try their large selection of tapas and reorder both of these desserts.