Hi my dearest readers!

School has started, and i have a very very early schedule this semester.. Only 2 days, and I feel I am exhausted..but in 2012, I will try my best to blog as regularly and often as i can! =)

Today's post is another one about lunch. This time, it's at my favourite Raku Izakaya. The pictures are really not that nice and probably won't make you drool..However, my other Raku pictures from my previous posts should assure you about the restaurant's quality ; )

Since Brossard is so far, I usually don't go to Raku for lunch. The only time I enjoyed a lunch there was during summer. Recently, I noticed that there has been some changes in their menu.. Take a look! Prices vary from 7.50$ to 15$. You can get a decent lunch for around 12$.

This was the salad that was included. It was a plain green salad. Now, if you want to have a salad with your lunch, you have to pay 1$, so maybe the salad you get will be a little fancier.
Curry Katsu Pork Rice. It is a cutlet of pork, deep fried, served with rice and curry sauce. The Japanese curry is not very spicy. The same is thicker and has a light sweetness. A good Pork Katsu should have the deep fried "batter skin" stick to the pork, and this is an example of a successful one.
This was a yummy sushi platter, with maki and nigiri. You see that Raku is not a restaurant that tries to give you cheap avocado or cucumber maki. Instead, a delicious spicy salmon maki was served on the plate. Otherwise, the big roll was a California roll, and the 4 pieces of nigiri were mainly classic sushi. On that day, we had tuna, shrimp, saba, and slightly "grilled" salmon sushi.
This one is my favourite chirashi. It does not include as much seafood as the dinner chirashi. If I remember correctly, the price for lunch is about 10$ lower. Yet, I could still enjoy my succulent sea urchin.
In the end, a scoop of green tea or red bean ice cream to perfect the lunch.
For more updated information, please check:

http://www.rakusushi.ca/menu-midi.pdf

Raku Izakaya

Hello everyone!

One of my 2012's resolutions is to try to blog more often and more regularly =)

Tonight, I want to share with you guys some delights from Raku Izakaya again! Towards the end of the year is the anniversary with my sweet boyfriend. It did not take long before we decided to have our meaningful day at Raku.

For appetizer, we had something light and simple: korokke. It is deep fried mashed potato, served with a slightly spicy mayonnaise. I have had korokke with corn at Raku before. I like the latter better because the corn brings a sweetness to it.
If you have been following my blog for a long time, you know that I had raku lobster once for Valentine's day at Raku Izakaya. For some reason, the owner removed this succulent dish from the menu. Nevertheless, he is very nice and would try his best to satisfy all the customers. We are welcome to call them in advance and pre-order anything we want to eat. He tries to get the freshest ingredient to prepare the delight we want. This is how my boyfriend and I could enjoy the wonderful Raku lobster =)
To prepare the baked Raku lobster, it was not necessary to get the fresh alive lobster. The owner said that even the frozen one would do. So last night's meal included only the lobster tail (if you order lobster sashimi for example, the owner will buy a whole lobster and prepare delights with different parts of the lobster).

The first time, my palate was not as developed..hahhaha I couldn't really tell what exactly was used to make this yummy dish. But this time, my sense of tasting has improved hehehhe In the Raku Lobster, I could taste egg, miso, mayonnaise, a little bit of cheese. All this baked and finally topped with some red caviar that pops in your mouth. I found it was so delicious!
Sushi is definitely a must at a japanese restaurant. These are what we ordered:
Carnivore maki includes beef filet mignon sashimi, ginger, tempura flakes. It is 13.50$ and comes with only 5 pieces but it is amazingly delicious!! If you find this maki too pricey, a great alternative would be Raku's beef sashimi.
666 is a maki from Raku that for the first time, I did not really enjoy. It is a spicy roll, with spicy fish, spicy sauce..mixed with avocado and tempura flakes are a combination that I usually like. However, the cajun powder on the rice was too strong for me, and this was what I disliked.
Gozilla was a nice maki roll, but it is not the best from Raku Izakaya. Inside were grilled eel, caviar, cucumber, tempura flakes. On top of the maki were bonito flakes, seaweed flakes and spicy mayonnaise. I would say that when I put the maki in the mouth, it was as though I was eating a takoyaki.
We can never forget about my favourite uni, sea urchin sushi at Raku. We ordered 4 nigiri and again, my boyfriend was sweet enough to eat only 1 and leave the rest of the sushi for me. Sometimes, I wonder if it is truly because he is this lovely or is it simply because he does not love uni as much as I do.. d=
Lastly, we also pre-ordered the milk pudding that was no longer in the menu for a while.
Again, it was very soft, but this time a little sweeter for my taste. The presentation was so cute! I remember that the first time we had it, the pudding had a layer of green tea milk on top, this time it was just plain...I think green tea milk would have made the dessert perfect!

Raku Izakaya
8080 boulevard Taschereau
Brossard, Quebec
J4X 1C2
450-671-7386

My favorite food from Raku Izakaya

I miss sushi, I miss Raku, I miss the friendly people there too! Because of its location (in Brossard), I cannot visit the restaurant as often as I would like to. I haven't enjoyed any delights from Raku since my last end-of-semester busy final exams period.

This post is about nothing more than my favorites from Raku Izakaya =)

My #1 is... uni sushi!! It looks amazing, does it? Only those big sea urchins can "stand alone" on its own. Usually, uni sushi is presented in gunkan, meaning that a seaweed is wrapped around the sushi rice, forming a type of basket to contain the sea urchin. Raku Izakaya serves my uni sushi as a nigiri, sea urchin on top of the sushi rice. I was informed by the chef that only those high-quality sea urchin with a rich texture can be served as nigiri.. like this one! The sushi rice is also mixed with toasted nori (seaweed) to form the best uni sushi. I LOVE IT!
This one is Raku Prince. I am sorry I do not remember the ingredients inside the sushi roll, but on top of the maki are shrimps and mayonnaise. It looks and tastes a little like melted cheese. The pink sauce that forms a heart is strawberry syrup. Cute?

There is a Prince, so of course there is a Princess too! Yes, you guessed it right! This maki is named Raku Princess. Shrimp tempura, avocado, apple, cream cheese, caviar.. on top are "the princess fruits" strawberries, mayonnaise and tempura flakes. One of the secret ingredients listed is "sweety".. so maybe this is why, just like a princess, this maki roll tastes sweet! =)
It is sweet, but not too sweet to be considered as desserts. I like!
Have you tasted beef sashimi before? I have tried this cold appetizer in perhaps 10 restaurants..and Raku Izakaya's is so far the best. The beef used is filet mignon so it is tender, but in the same time, you have to chew it a few times, so it is not those difficult-to-accept raw meat texture.

What differentiates Raku's beef sashimi from the other ones is the sauce!! yummy tasty sauce! If I remember correctly, it is a mix of soya sauce, plum, lemon juice.. probably more than these 3 ingredients.. Worth a try!
Curry katsu pork with rice. The japanese curry is never too spicy and has a pleasant sweetness. From the presentation to the taste, this dish will satisfy you! Succulent!
If you are a follower of my food posts, you know I am a crazy sashimi fan! Chirashi is no doubt one of my favorite dish in the japanese cuisine. Chirashi is simply seafood sashimi on a bed of sushi rice. As I mentioned before, Raku Izakaya serves you a different chirashi everytime, by putting only the best seafood of the day. This one was fantastic! Sweet shrimp, slightly spicy tuna tartare, salmon, tamago (japanese omelet), seaweed salad, yellowtail, scallop... The only treasure missing was...sea urchin!
A plate of different sushi chosen by my boyfriend and me.
Starting from the row behind, from left: red snapper, smoked salmon, tsubugai (a type of clam), sea urchin (yes, it is the gunkan sea urchin sushi).
In front are big sweet shrimp and scallop.

Again, I highly recommend Raku Izakaya to all of you who are sushi lovers!! I know Raku has a lunch menu with much lower price. If you like to go on the week-end, you simply have to call them and you can enjoy yummy food at lower price during lunch hours (Yes!! lunch specials are available on Saturdays and Sundays at Raku Izakaya!!). Give it a try if you have time and tell me what you think ; )

Miss K

Raku Izakaya
8080 Boulevard Taschereau
Brossard, Quebec,
J4X 1C2
(450) 671-7386

Raku again!

Last week was my birthday so even though I am in my busy end of semester period, I still managed to go out and have some fun time with my friends. d= I have been talking about Raku Izakaya so much and one of my friends really wanted to try it..so here we are in Raku!

It was a busy night, so we ended up in the basement, which was still very nice and cozy. =) For appetizers, we had..
1) Raku tempura which includes cucomber, sweet potatoes, crab meat, scallop, and shrimp.
2) Sushi pizza. A deep fried rice "cake" as the pizza crust topped with slices of fish sashimi, red caviar, tempura flakes, and mayo. Perhaps I have tried too many sushi pizza, I found this one not bad but ordinary.
This maki is included in our sushi combo.
Tempura roll. Inside is salmon and it is served with a sauce that tastes like sweet soya sauce.
Chirashi! This is probably my favorite dish at Raku. A lot of sashimi and of great variety served on sushi rice. The chef selects the best seafood they have that day so everytime you order it,you enjoy a different chirashi. You get to eat the most fresh sashimi and also try some new stuff that you might have never ordered.

That night, besides the "regular sashimi", we had the chance to try jellyfish sashimi, wasabi tako (raw octopus is so rare!!), abalone sashimi, and a special caviar I forgot the name.
Dessert time! This is a very good mochi ice cream. The green one is green tea flavour and the red one is red bean.
As we became more like friends with the owner, he offered us to try his new dessert that may be added to the menu. Green tea macaron! It was my first time eating macaron, and of course, I liked it =)

Raku Izakaya
8080 Boulevard Taschereau
Brossard, Quebec,
J4X 1C2
(450) 671-7386

Romantic Dinner @Raku Izakaya

Raku Izakaya is one of my top favorite restaurants. Located in Brossard, Quebec, it is small but gives you such a warm and romantic atmostphere. The owner is so friendly and service is just impeccable!

Here are (a lot of) pictures of the delicious food my boyfriend and I had last night for Valentine's Day! =)

This is a mini uni (sea urchin) bowl. Rice + seaweed + sea urchin! So far, I find Raku has the best quality uni. If you never tried this seafood, I can tell you its texture is not firm like most of the fishes and clams. I do not eat it very often because it is very expensive (hahah) and not a lot of restaurants in Montreal offer it. And if you happen to eat a not good quality/fresh uni, it has a very unpleasant fishy taste and this is why some people who were unlucky to have those as their first try don't like it (like my boyfriend..) BUT if you try a sea urchin Raku serves? ohhh you taste the sweet freshness of uni!
This one is from the surf and turf combo. It is called Hokkaido cream cake. Outside crispy and inside soft and a little sweet because there is corn.

Lobster Raku! So much more delicious than what I expected! There is some mayo, some miso.. but I can't really tell what other secret ingredients the owner used..but the combination was just fantastic!
Surf and turf: Lobster and filet mignon. Presentation is amazing isn't it?
Some sushi.. this is called Raku Love. I usually don't like fruits in my makis.. but this one is soooooooooo soooooooooooooooooooo delicious! Sashimi outside, and there were apple, mandarins which made it a little sweet but in the same time, there was I believe some spicy mayo that gave some spicyness. Needless to say that the presentation surprised me!
Scallop and tsubugai (some kind of shellfish). It is worth saying that the owner buys the fishes every one or two days and a lot of the ingredients come directly from Japan. What can I say more? Fresh!
Dessert time! My boyfriend fell in love with this one and we were then told that it is the best seller of the restaurant in the dessert menu. Sapporo ice cream.
Milk pudding topped with green tea milk and chocolate syrup I think. The owner said he is still trying to buy the famous Hokkaido milk from Japan (I can't wait!! I heard milk over there is really special and really really good). This one is made of regular milk here..but still very soft and not too sweet which I love! =)
This was my wonderful dinner last night. If you are from Montreal or one day happen to be in town and are looking for a good sushi place, Raku Izakaya is definitely the place to go! The restaurant offers many authentic Japanese food and the owner continues to add other delights in the menu.

Raku Izakaya
8080 Boulevard Taschereau
Brossard, Quebec,
J4X 1C2
(450) 671-7386