 Mikado
Mikado is the first Japanese restaurant I knew of in Montreal, but I never went for fear of dents in wallets. Its name is constantly on the lips of Montrealers, bringing to mind one of The Maven's preferred themes: 'Just because it's trendy, doesn't mean it's good.' We put Mikado to the test, and it passed with flying colours. That there was a line-up on a Monday night while most other restaurants in the city were doing business at a snail's pace speaks to the popularity of the place. When one says 'I ate at Mikado last night,' people recognize the name and maybe wish they had been there too, though they might not be sure why. But surely there must have been a few folks in line among the trendy who well knew there was something within worth waiting for. Mikado both made me aware of a condition from which I suffered and cured it — sushi envy. The vegetarian sushi fanatic has resigned herself to eating round pieces — some big, some small, but all round. Meanwhile her friends, or in this case, family, feast on more exotic fare in all shapes and sizes. The enticing presentation makes me wish I could partake. Sushi envy. Who knew?
I excitedly
ordered two types of sushi I'd never tried before: tamago (described
simply as an 'egg cluster'), and inari (marinated Japanese tofu and
ginger). Pre-meal concerns about waiting long in a full restaurant
proved unnecessary, as the sushi arrived without our once craning
our necks toward the sushi bar.
I was thrilled at the view before me. Sure, my collection of rounds
were there (simple avocado rolls and two vegetarian rolls; descriptions
to follow), but so were two beautiful golden-brown dumpling-like
lumps (for lack of a better term), and two pieces of the sushi that
looks like it's wearing a belt around its middle, with the great
slab of protein across the top and a smaller 'belted' clump of rice
below! I almost didn't want to eat them, being so enamored of their
design. Even the Sushi Maven exclaimed, "Yours looks better than
mine!" (Reverse envy!) We were impressed.
Tomato, carrot, cucumber, daikon, broccoli and lettuce make up the vegetarian roll. The last two ingredients made me skeptical about the overall taste; I thought it would be more salad than sushi. Wrong. The broccoli made the whole thing. It worked. The taste was balanced and vibrant and, at room temperature, a world away from a chilled salad. To make things interesting, I asked if the chefs would make me a vegetarian roll with tempura in it. They complied, combining tempura with cucumber, broccoli, carrot and lettuce. Again, it was delicious, the flavors lingering on my tongue until I popped the complimentary mint into my mouth. The most notable thing to me at Mikado was the seaweed used to roll the sushi. It was very thin, not at all chewy or tough, and almost devoid of the saline-ocean-fishy taste I thought was mandatory even in non-seafood sushi. If you've ever found sushi to be too salty an experience, Mikado is for you. The pieces were perfectly bite-sized morsels that, together, made quite a meal. It was pleasant, and that's not meant to sound Little House on the Prairie. It was lovely. Quoting
the Maven: MIKADO, 368 Laurier West, Montréal, Québec, 514-279-4809.
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The gorgeous lumps were the tamago — thin, cold omelets wrapped
around a small bed of rice. They have a light, sweet, syrupy flavor.
Magnificent. Dessert sushi. Extremely out of the ordinary and wonderful.
The belted sushi was the inari, with a great texture and delicate
flavor — almost too delicate. The inari was definitely the
lesser of the two, but still worth ordering next time. 
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Japanese
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