If you want a hot restaurant experience with cool people then I highly recommend Jatoba.
You will dine in a newly decorated contemporary and spacious room. The place is buzzing with well healed
MTL foodies and young professionals. So hats off to the owners because they definitely got the crowd in this difficult restaurant town. (Probably more restaurants per capita than anyplace on the planet).
Its the combination of location,eclectically good Asian inspired food and great space thats" bringing them in".
As for the menu its a sharing concept and we shared:
Apps of sautéed oyster mushrooms in a foamy cheese sauce, asparagus vinaigrette and gyosas; all were nicely plated but did not excel which is what you
want in a place as nice as this.
The mains of Sautéed scallops, miso roasted octopus
And a sushi roll were also well plated and for the most part good except the octopus was an overcooked misfire and the sushi roll was quite pedestrian. We had a side of duck fried rice which was super good.
This may sound like a of food for a table of four but the portions are fair but a bit petite. So there was abdominal space left for desserts which just happened to be the highlight of the evening. A chocolate bombe
that was the bomb;and a rendition of the ever popular red velvet cake which was more like a heavenly mousse than a gateaux. Bottom line: it looked and tasted sensational..ly. Hats off to the pastry chef.
Jatoba has a very extensive and pricey wine list from which we chose an excellent Oregon Pinot Noir(hard to find in Montreal where there is a huge but understandable bias toward French wines. I would have liked to see more bottles in the $40-60 range because the next steps up appeared @ $80 -$100 and way more$$$.
All in Jatoba is doing most things right and its a great place for a fun , festive and may I add pricey
dinner.
5 stars are waiting if they kick they food up a notch or two.