Izakayas - those amazing restaurant-bar-communal dining/drinking establishments that only the Japanese could have invented. My favorite type of establishment to eat and drink with friends when I lived in Japan... hard to recreate anywhere else.
Imadake ("only for now"), 4006 St-Catherine Ouest in Montreal, does a pretty good job of recreating that vibe. Welcomed by a deafening "Irrashaimase!!" (or "Greetings, welcome to our humble establishment and let us provide our services to you!!" (basically...)), the young and efficient staff get you seated in this cosy but lively, "nigiyaka" restaurant.
An izakaya is a bit like a tapas bar in a drunken party atmosphere. Lots of small plates to choose from - a
varied menu that gives you a taste of all sorts of different types of Japanese bar food from okonomiyaki, yakitori and gyoza, to their amazingly succulent grilled black cod (a must!), to fresh and tasty salads and belly filling bowls of ramen. The traditional seating arrangement is at long communal tables that give you the opportunity to get to know your neighbours and share all the tasty treats that keep coming... In Japan you would slip off your shoes to climb over people you didn't know to squeeze next to the rowdy drunks around the table...
And of course the drinks! Beers! Cocktails! Sake! Wine! You can't go to Imadake without having a Sake Bomb! Trust me, your whole table has to order this drink....
"IF I SAY "SAKE" YOU SAY "BOMB"!
"SAKE!!" "BOMB!!"
"SAKE!!!" "BOMB!!!"
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