Sushi In Montreal : Mikado
Our feature on sushi in Montreal will cover sushi available in a variety of forms at a variety of places: dining in, sushi-to-go, prepackaged sushi available at stores near you. So stay tuned, stay hungry and keep your chopsticks ready.
Not only will I not eat anything that ever had a heartbeat, I’m allergic to seafood, so some might find it odd that I’ve become entirely addicted to sushi. Sushi aficionados might say that I am not getting the real thing but they are merely the Grinch trying to steal sushi. There are many creative vegetarian options out there and they are ever so tasty. I crave the stuff and have to have it. It’s healthy, delicious and thankfully its becoming more and more readily available. As a result I’ve sampled the wares of many a sushi hut in Montreal (sushi hut is a phrase I’ve coined myself at this very moment, and would like to take this time to ensure copyright on it). And for the first time in my life I can proudly state that I am no longer chopstick impaired.
This week: Mikado
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.
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.
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:
Excellent. Delicious. There’s nothing bad to say about the sushi here. [A joke to the waiter as the ravaged tray was taken away] Excellent…except it was a little cold… [The poor waiter never knew what hit him. He looked ready to apologize for serving cold sushi.]
MIKADO, 368 Laurier West, Montréal, Québec, 514-279-4809.
