Sushi Pro

Everyone knows I'm a sucker for some good sushi. I'd even say that I'm a sucker for OK sushi. But do not fret, I know how to recognize it. I mean, as some of you may know, I rolled sushi for a good five years. For some people, that's, like, a quarter of their life. WHAT! I had a sushi craving the other day, so I hauled my ass supes close to my house to Sushi Pro, on Centre. Basically 200 meters from my place. You know, a long walk :o

I called to order because I was being super lazy: what's better than to order in advance so that everything is already packed and ready to go when you get there? I was ordering an avocado roll, a spicy salmon roll, a salmon nigiri and ---. That woman crushes my sushi dreams when she said 'no avocado roll, we are out'. How? How is that possible? Do NOT tell me that there aren't any more avos! So yes, basically their supplier had brought them unripe avocados. And they were paying the price. I remember, when I worked at Sushi Taxi, and I was ordering our supplies... the avocados were a very tricky game. How many do I want ripe, how many do I want almost ripe, and how many do I want green. They were supposed to have all three but it wasn't rare that they, themselves, didn't have any ripe ones. I had to do all the grocery stores in the area to find avocados. THAT was a pain in the ass.

The nigiri. Since when are nigiris sold separately (by Maden!)? By separately, I mean by unit. Who gets ONE nigiri? Well, except me, hahaha! Didn't they all used to come in a pair? Anyhoot. The salmon was ubes fresh, and the nig was well... nigged :p You could see she knew what she was doing.

The spicy salmon roll. I loves me a good spicy salmon roll! As with the nigiri, the salmon in this was melt-in-your-mouth fresh. And it had just the right amount of spice. I likes me some spice, but sometimes, it's like, dude, don't ruin it with too much.

The salmon kamikaze. Salmon, tempura, avocado, cucumber, goberge (apparently "pollock" in English?!?!), tobiko, some house mayo. House mayo= probs just mayo + sriracha or sambal. Maybe a bit o' yogurt. There wasn't nearly enough salmon in there. If you're not gonna put salmon in it, don't call it a SALMON kamikaze. Geesh! The flavours were all awesome together, and it was well rolled, i.e. it wasn't falling apart like some sushi I buy at the bio grocery store in Galéries du Parc.

And now, le score!

Food: 7

I'll go back next time I'm home and I have a craving, but I would prefer other places!

 

Tri Express AND Wizrd

There are more and more food delivery services in Montreal: Uber, Foodora, Just Eat, À la Carte Express, and the new kid on the block, Wizrd. I was contacted by email because I'm, like, a super freaking great and popular blogger. Hahaha, just kiiiidding! But seriously, I guess I do have some kind of reputation, being one of the number ones in Montreal. Ugh, I wish I could say THE number one (I'm tied with Montreal Food Divas).

 

Anyhoot, I had to choose a restaurant to get food delivered from. This was hard. Why? Because I have about 100 restaurants on my go-to list. I decided on Tri Express, having heard that it was one of the best sushi in Montreal (I still maintain that it's Furusato on Parc).

 

The way it works is that you text 1-855-659-4973 with what chou want from where you want (seriously) and when you want it. They answer you in less than 1 minute, I swear. They ask you what they can bring you, and then you say I would like 1 miiiiillion dollars. OK, that's what I thought about saying. But I'm special. You send them items from the menu and then they ask you to sign up online with your name, address, and credit card number. It was just not working but the Wizrd dude totes got on it and fixed it within 5 minutes. I felt like this was awesome service (and no, they didn't pay me to say this 😊). I asked for a delivery at 7h30pm. They text you when they pick it up so you know it's on the way. The -pretty freaking hot- dude arrived at 7h25pm. Great timing. He gave me the food and said ok thanks bebye. They charged my credit card and so no need for tip or what have you (trust me, I tried). The delivery and the food goes straight to yo card. BAM. BOOYA. All in all, a great delivery experience. I'm not one to get delivery, like ever, but if I feel the need for it, I'll totally be calling Wizrd.

 

The resto: Tri Express is located in Le Plateau, right at the limit (or a bit passed) the delivery territory for my apartment. As afore mentioned, I had been meaning to try this place for a whhhile. I ordered Omakase I, a combo that includes 4 nigiri and 10 maki, the syake maki (salmon--and YES, I'm fluent in Japanese) and the scallop and grapefruit salad.

Let's begin with the Omakase. The nigiri were all super fresh, as if the chef had just gone on a boat and fished them out of the ocean. They literally melted in my mouth. My mouth appreciates the melting. Mmmm, melting. OK, no more melting talk. The maki were also very fresh tasting but I found that salmon was a bit too present. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some salmon in ma sushi, but this was salmon + salmon + salmon. One the rolls had asparagus in there which was bang on what I like but it was so small, we couldn't even taste it. I also found that there was a bit too much tempura in there. There was another roll with apple, which is another LOVE for me, but it was not that well rolled, and so the pieces were comin' right out. Not a fan of super tight rolls but definitely not a fan of super loose rolls either.

The syake roll was very flavourful: there was just the right amount of green onions. And just the right amount of fish. This was a YES!!!!

The scallop and grapefruit salad. I ordered this because a: I loves me a good scallop, b: I loves me a good grapefruit and c: hello, what a combo! The grapefruit was very nice in this green salad. It was very fresh! The enoki were perfect and the wakame was... wakame. Ugh. I always ALWAYS forget to say NO WAKAME when I order Japanese food. I just do NOT like that texture. Just can't dso it. The scallops were very good but few and far between and they were cut in half but not totally. How weird. The salad was on the bitter side o things but putting the Tri Express sauce on it saved it a bit.

Gravlax with apple and kumquat. The salmon was perfectly gravlaxed (new word alert!) and the kumquat gave such a nice punch of flavor! The apple, I could've done without. This was sent as an extra! I love not paying for food!

Since I got this delivered, I can only say good things about Wizrd. On top of it, they are Montreal based, open from 5pm to 2am (hello, students!) AND they deliver from ANYWHERE. Literally. Check them out here: https://wizrd.me/ Oh, and by the by, they also deliver advil for your headache, maxi pads for that time of the month, shampoo because you forgot to buy some and, well, EVERYTHING.

And now, the scores!

Wizrd: 10
Food: 8

I had heard AMAZING things about Tri Sushi. It was good, yes, but not nearly as amazing as I've heard.

 

Sushi Taxi NEW CONTEST ALERT!!!

 

CONTEST ALERT!!!!! ***more shares=more chances to win!***

 

Many people have said it's THE best sushi in Montreal. Sushi Taxi is your Québécois version of awesome sushi. Fo realz! Share my blog FB page (https://www.facebook.com/EatingOutMontreal/ or click on the blog title)  OR the pic on the page AND like it! Oh and why don't you go ahead and love my fb page and Sushi Taxi's page while you're at it. In 7 days, a sushi lovah will win a gift certificate of 50$! Yes, that's right. You're feeling like having a good avocado roll, a yummy homemade spring roll or one of their uber original rolls? You'll get it at Sushi Taxi!

 

Avez-vous déjà mangé des super sushi? Sushi Taxi est un resto Québécois qui sert ces super sushi!! Partagez ma page FB (https://www.facebook.com/EatingOutMontreal/ ou cliquez sur le titre en haut) OU cette photo sur votre mur et aimez celle-ci! Et pourquoi pas aimer ma page FB et celle de Sushi Taxi. Dans 7 jours, je vais dévoiler le gagnant d'un certificat cadeau d'une valeur de 50$!!! Je ne vous niaise MEME PAS!!

KYOZON

I was invited to try this self-proclaimed hip New-Asian restaurant on Crescent. It was going to be big. Oh-so-big. I invited my boss, V, because a: she's super duper fun and b: she knows her sushi. Media was at 6 so as per our usualness (that's a word, I swear!), we got there at 5:55. Kyozon joins the Nacos Group family, including Weinstein and Gabinos and Newtown on Crescent (my fave is Atelier d'Argentine in Old MTL).

The place looked really big from the outside and even bigger when you enter. Holy bejesus!!! It was HUGE! You get in and there's a huge mother freakin bar on the first floor along with many tables. Then, on the second floor, you have the kitchen, in full view behind a window and the kaiten belt. I had never experienced 'the' belt so that was fun and new for me! 

There was a huge sky light which added a certain charm to it all. So in one word it was damn huge. Ok, two words.

Anyhoot, we got in and were nicely attacked by some waiters carrying drinks around: red or white wine, proscecco or their specialty drink for the evening, the Shojo Sour. We started off with the Shojo: Bombay Sapphire, Midori, lime, simple syrup, egg white and the kicker, 3 drops of sesame oil.

It was very tasty and special (and dangerously not tasting of alcohol) at first but after a couple drinks and burping sesame oil, it became less special... Let's just say that the next day, at my sushi restaurant, I did not want to hear anything about sesame oil (my chef made a lovely joke telling me he had switched the oil in the fryer for sesame oil). And just one whiff made me want to you know whhhhaaaat.

The ambiance was great, as it usually is at media gatherings where everything, including alcohol, is free. Abeille was spinning for most of the night and it was loud! We saw many-a-people making out and almost just getting right down to it at the bar.... twas quite hilarious!

And now, food!

We were two of the first people there so we went upstairs pretty quickly to see what all the fuss was about with that belt! Turns out... no fuss. We were sitting in an arm's length of food that we could pick out so that was cool but the food itself...

-Rice not too good and this is coming from someone who knows her sushi rice

-Fish on top a bit too fishy

-This literally tasted like nothing even if, as you can see, there ARE ingredients!

-This one was my favourite

-No rice

-Salmon and tuna tasted great

-Calamari in a cone

-Great taste and crunch

-BBQ type sauce fit really well

-Not too salty, great panko crust

Sorry about awful pic

-This spring roll was just awful Sushi Shop quality

-Fake crab meat with tobiko and a tiny piece of avocado dson't make a good quality roll

-First dish with lots of flavours

-Salmon well cooked and moist (oh how I hate that word but sometimes, you just gotta use it!)

-Lobster maki

-Was there really lobster in there?

-Pork bun

-Taste was there but the pork was way too fatty and the bun was slightly undercooked

-Looked good but tasted like nada :/

-This was a great papaya salad

-Good flavours

-Very refreshing

-Popcorn shrimp

-Again, loved the panko crust

-Juicy on the inside, crunchy on the outside and just a tad spicy... just what you want!

Bah, pink ginger... really? That is all.

OK, now, I can see it now: 'Marie, you're so tough, you're so harsh...' Well I feel it's my duty to tell y'all the truth!!! Also, when there are huge openings like this one, the capacity of the kitchen to deliver the good stuff is always limited and stuff starts going awry as the night progresses. I would like to go back and experience the real deal though. As the Nacos Group promo/marketing dude told me: 'Ce soir c'est pour faire le party mais il faut y retourner pour la vraie expérience!'.

And now, let's talk service! It was great!!! Nothing bad to say about it! Not one thing. They were all smiles and they were always there with a drink or passing food around when you needed it. The barmen and women were always there for you (just like Friends!) and we stayed that much longer because our bar dude told us that 'we were fun and we should stay'. Damn him!!!

OK, and now, the scores!!!

Food: 6

Service: 9

I definitely want to go back for the real experience. You'll see it's hard to keep this chick away from asian food!!!