Pass up on this new Izakaya wanna be restaurant: Kinoya

It has been one year already since the last post. I have decided to do something I haven't done in a while which is to explore a new restaurant. Since I was dining alone I would have to eat a bit more and not share the rewards or disappointments.

Kinoya bills itself as a contemporary izakaya which is promising but with all the recent Japanese joints we had in Montreal, there is still no true good izakaya as in Toronto/Vancouver (Guu) or New York City. I didn't have very high expectations on this place based on the confused menu with a bit of everything in Japanese cuisine.

As I sat down I asked to skip the cold water and go for the green tea for this cold winter night. It was an ordinary green tea although it turns out to cost me 3.50$ for the pot! It's like a slap in the face after a disappointing meal. Many restaurants may list a price for the pot of tea but I have never been charged for one so far.

They gave me an amuse of "chicken salad" which has tasteless sliced boiled chicken, a thick piece of cucumber and a peanut sauce. It was blah. I ordered from the front of the menu, getting a bit of every section and not reaching the rice dishes or the noodles dishes. At the end of the meal I was given a card for a free appetizer on the next visit.

Takoyaki - 4 pieces for 5.75$
Typically cooked in a specialty iron pan, these are not prepared as such. It looks a lot like the frozen ones you can get at Imadake and the octopus was rubbery as you would expect from frozen seafood. The Worcestershire type sauce and shavings of dried bonito were authentic.

Agedashi Tofu - 3 pieces for 4.50$
This is a terrible dish both on taste and quantity. The tofu looked good with soft inside and crispy outside but biting into it revealed it was lukewarm and not freshly fried. I tried to cut through them with my chopsticks but the outside skin was too rubbery and would not cut cleanly. The sauce was too sweet for this preparation. Small points are awarded for the nori strips, grated daikon and minced ginger. This dish is best prepared at Furusato.

Kara Age - 5 pieces for 5.50$
This dish is best prepared at Imadake where you get real chicken wings with bones, tasty meat and crunchy skin. Here it's slightly better than the chicken nuggets at Azuma but they were still nuggets with a soggy skin. I think this is another reheated dish like the tofu. I was saddened by the side of mayonnaise in the bowl and the thin slice of lemon which didn't squeeze very well. The shichimi helped a bit but could not save the bland taste of the chicken although it was leg/thigh meat and not breast meat.

Yakitori special - 3 double skewers for 10.05$
The specials card says you can get up to 3 choices of yakitori but there are only 3 choices to choose from: Momo (chicken leg with sweet tare sauce), Sasami (chicken breast with same sauce), Tsukune (japanese sausage with same sauce). The Sasami was so bad I didn't finish the 2nd skewer. It was tasteless even with the generous drizzle of sauce on top. Clearly this was cooked ahead of time without any marinade or sauce. In NYC (Torishin & Taisho) the yakitoris came to me piping hot and tasty. The Momo was tasty because of the leg meat and the sausage was tasty too but I was getting full and it wasn't good enough for me to eat the 2nd skewer.

Kinoya roll (eel, fake crab, avocado, crispy rice with extra slices of avocado and eel on top, sweet sauce) 11.50$
This roll's quality is comparable to what you can get from Sushi Shop or Sushiman. The rice was dry (old?), the fake crab was cold, the eel was cold and chewy, the ginger tasted funny and was extra strong (old?). The crispy rice was soggy and tasted spicy. My tongue was burning from it and it was a good thing this was the last thing I ate because I couldn't taste anything after. For the best eel preparation in town go to Furusato for their eel/avocado roll or eel in rice bowl.

I felt sad by the end of the meal and was tempted to go to A&W to wash it all down with a good Mozza Burger. I would have to be accompanied next time to try the rice dishes and the noodle soups. You can have my free appetizer card.