Last night, my cousin B and his GF P invited us to have dinner at Odaki. I love sushi, but I didn't know there were different all-you-can-eat sushi places in Montreal besides Kanda. Here's my attempt to compare both places.
Ambiance
Kanda is a family friendly restaurant. It has brighter lighting and much noisier. Kanda is also bigger. Odaki is a good place for a first date. :) It has a lounge feel. Even when busy, it remains relatively quiet and classy. The lights are dimmed. It's probably not the best place to take family with children.
Sushi and Maki options
Now moving on to the important section of comparison, the FOOD! ;p I found that I prefer Kanda over Odaki simply because Kanda has a sashimi section, Odaki does not. However, during our dinner, the waitress brought us a beautifully decorated plate of sashimi. "On the boss", she said. We still have no clue why we got that freebie. On that plate, there was white tuna, salmon, scallop, octopus, squid, shrimps...it was quite nice. I also found that I cannot properly judge the Maki selection because they had a whole section of special Makis that are only available for weekend dinner time. They had fancier stuff than Kanda. Although Odaki didn't have a sashimi selection, they did have mackerel sushi, which i absolutely love. Odaki also had beef sashimi, which I ate all on my own. If Odaki had sashimi, and the masago on cucumber, they'd win hands down.
Cooked Foods
At Kanda, my absolutely favorites are the mussels and the fried tofu. I was excited to see that Odaki had not one, but three different mussel choices (cheese, crab mixture, stir fry). I ordered two of eat to try. I was quite dissapointed. The cheese mussel was too cheesy and weird. The crab mixture was bland and crumbly. The stir fry was just a dollop of garlic black bean sauce on top of the mussel. Kanda wins in the mussel battle. The fried tofu at Odaki looked bigger, but the batter fell apart when i tried to eat it. The taste was okay. Kanda's bite size tofu is the perfect size, with the perfect batter, and the sauce is much tastier. Kanda wins again. However, Odaki wasn't a complete disappointment. They had yummy Wakame salad. And a very delicious fried soft shell crab. Odaki had a much larger selection of cooked food, with different Udon noodles, scallop yakitori, teriyakis...Odaki would be a better place for people who like Japanese food without the raw stuff.
The Verdict
I find it difficult to choose which one is better. Kanda is a safety zone for me. I know what I like there, when I go to a different all-you-can-eat sushi place, I want to have what I can have at Kanda and much more. When I realize they don't have what I like at Kanda, it's a bit of a disappointment. But things they have that Kanda doesn't, makes up for it. I guess the choice between the two would depend on whether you're going by car (parking issues), or on the company you are having (sushi lovers vs cooked food lovers). Kanda has opened many branches around the city. There's one 5 min drive from our place in the WI. Odaki hasn't expanded yet, the one on St-Laurent remains the only one in the city.
I believe one of the things that would contribute to the restaurants yumminess would be a dessert selection. That would probably seal some deals.
Next place to try is Ginza on St-Denis.
Odaki Restaurant Japonais
3977 St-Laurent Blvd. corner Napoleon
Tel.: 514.282.1268
Ambiance
Kanda is a family friendly restaurant. It has brighter lighting and much noisier. Kanda is also bigger. Odaki is a good place for a first date. :) It has a lounge feel. Even when busy, it remains relatively quiet and classy. The lights are dimmed. It's probably not the best place to take family with children.
Sushi and Maki options
Now moving on to the important section of comparison, the FOOD! ;p I found that I prefer Kanda over Odaki simply because Kanda has a sashimi section, Odaki does not. However, during our dinner, the waitress brought us a beautifully decorated plate of sashimi. "On the boss", she said. We still have no clue why we got that freebie. On that plate, there was white tuna, salmon, scallop, octopus, squid, shrimps...it was quite nice. I also found that I cannot properly judge the Maki selection because they had a whole section of special Makis that are only available for weekend dinner time. They had fancier stuff than Kanda. Although Odaki didn't have a sashimi selection, they did have mackerel sushi, which i absolutely love. Odaki also had beef sashimi, which I ate all on my own. If Odaki had sashimi, and the masago on cucumber, they'd win hands down.
Cooked Foods
At Kanda, my absolutely favorites are the mussels and the fried tofu. I was excited to see that Odaki had not one, but three different mussel choices (cheese, crab mixture, stir fry). I ordered two of eat to try. I was quite dissapointed. The cheese mussel was too cheesy and weird. The crab mixture was bland and crumbly. The stir fry was just a dollop of garlic black bean sauce on top of the mussel. Kanda wins in the mussel battle. The fried tofu at Odaki looked bigger, but the batter fell apart when i tried to eat it. The taste was okay. Kanda's bite size tofu is the perfect size, with the perfect batter, and the sauce is much tastier. Kanda wins again. However, Odaki wasn't a complete disappointment. They had yummy Wakame salad. And a very delicious fried soft shell crab. Odaki had a much larger selection of cooked food, with different Udon noodles, scallop yakitori, teriyakis...Odaki would be a better place for people who like Japanese food without the raw stuff.
The Verdict
I find it difficult to choose which one is better. Kanda is a safety zone for me. I know what I like there, when I go to a different all-you-can-eat sushi place, I want to have what I can have at Kanda and much more. When I realize they don't have what I like at Kanda, it's a bit of a disappointment. But things they have that Kanda doesn't, makes up for it. I guess the choice between the two would depend on whether you're going by car (parking issues), or on the company you are having (sushi lovers vs cooked food lovers). Kanda has opened many branches around the city. There's one 5 min drive from our place in the WI. Odaki hasn't expanded yet, the one on St-Laurent remains the only one in the city.
I believe one of the things that would contribute to the restaurants yumminess would be a dessert selection. That would probably seal some deals.
Next place to try is Ginza on St-Denis.
Odaki Restaurant Japonais
3977 St-Laurent Blvd. corner Napoleon
Tel.: 514.282.1268
1 comment:
My sister went to Ginza at least twice. She loves that place. I think she put up a review of it on her site.
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