Finally somewhere awesome to eat and hang in the somewhat seedy area of St Laurent and St Catherine's. Located in the SAT (upstairs), the Food Lab is innovative, interesting, laid back and as sharp as its location. Able to experiment, create themes, the wonderfully run open kitchen is amazing. And affordable. I was there during the Japanese Izakaya theme, and shared most of the plates, though you want to get your own - because portions are great for one, and you won't want to share once you put what they got in your face.
So, we started with the homemade silken tofu app - with chili oil and nori that melts in your mouth. Alongside this was the insanely amazing shitake salad with succulent dried persimmon. For a main we both went with the rice bol - with not fried, but baked (and still tasted like crackling) chicken skin, a poached egg, seaweed and braised pork. Come on people. Pure flavour overload.
After that - because we needed to try more - we backtracked to the apps again to go after the dashi. Seafood, in a beautiful little broth. Hard to share, as we both wanted to stick our faces into it.
And with 2 good wine recomms, this was a hit in my stomach. Very laid back, you order at the counter, the chefs serve you, and you leave wonderfully satisfied after a little taste of divinity.
So go.