Kinka Boots the Izakaya Competition in Downtown Montreal

The casual restaurant critic for the Gazette combs the surfeit of izakayas in the city and finds a 'Good to great bet' in the Faubourg. "Kinka opened a few months ago, right when scene-watchers might have thought that Montreal was maxed out on isakayas. This place comes with a pedigree, however: it is from the same owners as Guu, a pioneering chain that started in Vancouver in the late 1990s and now has several locations there as well as in Toronto," notes Sarah Musgrave in her latest review.

The plates that hit the critic's table impress, for the most part. Presentations are "polished," a dish of baked oysters is "sex on a half shell" and a unique take on kabocha korokke "intriguingly delicious." Verdict: "It’s jaded to talk about isakaya fatigue when just a few years ago we had one or maybe two places offering anything close to this side of Japanese cuisine. Kinka does it really well, and the high quality and high energy will certainly keep you awake."