Have you ever tried Japanese curry? If you’ve watched enough Japanese anime, you’ll recognize it right away. You can’t miss it because it pops up literally everywhere. Curry is featured in almost every single Japanese cartoon ever made since the beginning of time. A fried cutlet sitting atop a sauce mixed with vegetables with a side of rice. With the plethora of Japanese restaurants in Montreal from sushi to izakaya to ramen, there has never been a place that specializes in this dish. Until now! From the same team who bring you the trifecta of iconic powerhouse Japanese eateries, Imadake, Ichigo Ichie and Yokato Yokabai, come Taiga Karé. Montreal’s newest and ONLY Japanese curry house.
Curry
One of the least represented cuisines in NDG/Westmount is Thai. Why? A question that will stand the test of time along with “why isn’t there any pho in the area?” and “why is it only here that people feel the entitlement to cross the street diagonally?” along with the classic, “why is there a Lululemon uniform for old ladies in NDG/Westmount?” I recently went to try and answer these age old questions starting with the lack of Thai food representation in the area. I noticed this place a while back and was skeptical, Pick Thai – located on de Maisoneuve and Northcliffe, across from the Vendome Metro station and in the shadow of the new super duper hospital, I was skeptical but impressed. Skeptical because it was the first of its kind, the one to try and set precedence to say that this area needs a taste of the Southeast and impressed for exactly the same reasons.
I’ve always said that the best part about south-east Asia, is not the beaches, the cheap beer, or ladyboys… but the FOOD. This week’s recipe is one that I’ve been working on for a while that even upon the smell of the marinade, throws me back to sweltering nights sitting on the side of the road or public parking lot turned street food hub chowing down on plate after plates of these chicken satay skewers served to us by an Indian hawker who insisted we called “Little Brother”. My buddies and I were such great customers what when we sat down, he’d greet us as “Big brother” and immediately asked “how many plates?” – in Cantonese.