Jardin Iwaki

in terms of effort it was all there, hard working chef own restaurant and with so many dishes for a 35 $ set menu is very impressive, i can’t say i wasn’t hungry after, if i was on a diet or on a cleanse i will go back in a heartbeat but giving the fact i had to go get food after is a msg to any restaurant owner to take that into consideration, oh and we were 4 small asians felling the same way, enough said.

I thought hard about writing this review as it seems like the business is struggling, but decided to go ahead as I think that the use of store-​bought fishcake (oden) as a main course was insincere.
We were extremely disappointed by the fact that the chef chose to serve, as a main course, oden with steamed bok choy. I grew up in Japan and this would be almost the same as serving instant mashed potatoes as a main course. The oden was obviously store-​bought. It was floating in dashi that was made from the store-​bought granules– it was not fresh dashi stock. Check out any Asian grocery store that carries Japanese products for frozen oden– I promise you that you will find what they are serving here.
The rice course was mussels floating in broth with rice. It was tasty, but it should not have been spicy. I am 100% on board with fusion, the use of bok choy, creative interpretations of culinary traditions, etc., but I was disappointed that this strange spicy rice concoction, served in a bowl for Korean stews, was presented as the apex of Japanese cuisine when it seemed to me that in actuality the chef was trying to maximize profit by introducing a dish that was seemingly impressive but composed of very cheap ingredients and not thrown together with particular care. The dish had nothing to do with Japanese food.
I was reminded a lot of the flavors I grew up with, but we ate at La Salle a Manger the next night and for the same price, we had something that was genuine, creative, where you could tell that the chef was really thinking about the food and thinking about what it means to eat. Maybe when the chef started out, this was what he had in mind. But at this point, essentially, I think he is cheating people. He is taking people for a ride– after a brief stop in Japan, through the aisles of a discount grocery store. Maybe this is all that the neighborhood can support– I don’t know. What I do know is that we talked in Japanese and I believe that he should know better. How would you like it if you were interested in my national cuisine, and I fed you a hot dog that I bought from the supermarket, telling you that this was the height of my culinary art?

Amazing food! For what you get, it is an amazing price :)
Full 7 course meal with huge variety and all delicately made.

Great little restaurant. Very homey. It is a little hidden, but perfect place to hide away from the city. Good date spot too. There are about six tables and one or two people working in the restaurant. Make sure to call in advance and make reservation though.
The meal is a set course with many dishes including sushi, soba, salad, soup, grilled fish
The washroom is a little funny and hidden in their stockroom though.
Will definitely go again! The chef was a nice person.

Truly an amazing place. I’ve been here three times now, and each time I’ve had my mind blown, stomach happily filled and had a truly amazing experience.
It’s a petite place with only 5 – 6 tables inside, run by a small family. The menu is a prefix but they will cater to any allergies or dislikes, including «doesn’t eat raw food or fish» (as one of our guests) at a Japanese restaurant! Make reservations in advance, because they only take a few people but it’s truly a special place.
The food itself is beautifully presented and absolutely delicious. It’s such an excitement to see each dish come out. Again, this is a special place. Please go. Eat. Be merry. Repeat this. Again and again!

Good food! interesting format.
They bring a series of small dishes, most of which had some fish component.
Some were stars, other’s were groceries, but overall I would say this is a great place to spend a nice intimate evening

A 7 course meal for $ 29? Yes please! I’d be surprised if any other restaurants in Montréal offered this deal.
The restaurant is super small, so it’d be wise to make reservations beforehand. They also have another menu option — Edo menu ($ 35) — which you need to let them know the day before. The restaurant, while small, is cozy and quiet. Service is also very good– my cup was never empty.
The plate of assorted appetizers was all very tasty. The soba noodle salad was delicious as well — the noodles were perfectly chewy and also flavourful. I loved the tuna tataki– the slice melted in my mouth and was super good. The mini okonamiyaki was very tasty as well. The main dish, salmon, was also very tasty. I particularly liked the soupy rice dish– it was much more flavourful than I expected, and having a warm bowl of soup on a cold day felt very cozy. The ginger ice cream was also very good, and the ginger flavour wasn’t overpowering. Overall, their courses were all very delicious.
Just a warning, the trip to the bathroom is a little scary. The server gives you a key before you head down the stairs to the bathroom, and you need to unlock a lock with the key before you get to the bathroom. The bathroom is very clean though! Just a strange location.
Anyways, this place serves amazing food for such a good deal! Can’t wait to come back :)

Iwaki is unreal! This is so unrelentingly good. Fresh produce coupled with the knowledge that this classically trained Japanese expat chef wields, inherently produces a palpable yet nuanced vision which invokes an almost minimalist avant-​garde fusion whilst maintaining true authenticity; Iwaki thus easily dispels any cliché. This is excellent food done well and with great value. This is just good and inspired food. The Japanese concept of unconditional love and hospitality coupled with wholeheartedly selfless service in honour of a guest is おもてなし or «Omotenashi» … we all speak the language of taste and at Iwaki … delicious means loving compassion. This is obviously an excellent dining experience. This must be one of the least expensive haute gastronomie restos in Montréal! A week prior, I ordered the vegetarian seven course table d’hôte prix fixe «Edo» offering for two people. Chef Edo is part Hanaya Yohei, part Escoffier, part Ferran Adrià, part Jiro Ono but 100% James Bond and Bruce Wayne of the MTL Japanese cuisine scene. Say it out loud: cuisine scene. This is classic Japanese fine dining in New France. Japan is here in my mouth. Advise the chef that you will require a vegetarian menu at least a week in advance. To start, we were served five intricately and delicately arranged amuse-​gueules. I went absolutely insane and this was just the first course. Secondly, the salad with freshly hand pulled Soba buckwheat noodles. Fresh noodles are unlike any noodle you’ll ever have the pleasure of savouring. Then the mini Okonomiyaki pancake just made me drunk with power and I started to levitate in a beam of light; just floating there above myself with the Earth glistening below me I was able to slow down time wherein I pondered the vastness of existence. The fourth course was even better. Then came a clear translucent broth which seemed like water to my novice eye but in the end was very much not water. It had the taste of some sort of savoury and fortifying elixir; akin to mana if I had to guess. I don’t know what happened there but I’ve never not seen so much flavour. Wherever could all that flavour be hidden? My guess is as good as yours. The penultimate offering consisted of excellent assorted sushi. The rice was perfectly made in the prescribed tradition. Starch, sugar, vinegar and salt in perfect union balanced on a grain of rice. Dessert rounded off a pleasant evening with great fashion and style. Excellent saké was served as well. As much as I can try … my words cannot do due justice to Chef Edo’s mastery. I implore you to take yourself here. Get thee to Jardin Iwaki. Take everybody you know.

I am a huge foodie and love trying new restaurants. I read all the amazing reviews and was very intrigued to check this place out.
Unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations at all. The food was not bad, but it was very average in my opinion. I’m visiting from Miami and I could name many restaurants that serve similar tasting food back home.
I would give those restaurants a 4 star rating since the portions were bigger and food comes out quicker.
I wouldn’t mind waiting and eating small portions if what I was eating was very unique or somehow special.
But basically I had a two hour dinner with average food and my friend and I ate a bunch of protein bars cause we left hungryyyyyyy

Delicious food. Very long wait time. Inexperienced server. Hilarious bathroom. We will definitely go back and recommend to others.

Jardin Iwaki was a delicious apogee, a glorious apex to our first day in Montréal. It was the owner cooking and serving us in his restaurant. It was a true privilege. I was honored to be there and it was a dream to eat his food.
It was dish after dish of art. Each one was beautiful and each one was delicious. Delicious is too mild a word for this loveliness.
I felt a little weird being at Jardin Iwaki being served by such an artist as the owner. He was working so hard and being so gracious to us. I don’t know how he prepared so many sequential dishes. I know I’m saying this again, but this was a real honor.
He streamed jazz from a computer. The décor was homey. The bathroom was in the basement and accessible with a key to a padlocked door. It all felt more like being in his home. It was very intimate. It was a beautiful experience.

I’ve never used the phrase «hidden gem» before, but it describes Jardin Iwaki to a tee. Located in a somewhat farflung part of NDG along Sherbrooke, this could very well be the most authentic– and tasty– Japanese restaurant in Montréal. The chef hails from Japan, and has lived in Montréal (with sojourns back to Japan) for some three decades. He clearly not only has been honing his culinary skills for decades, but has a natural talent for making delicious and artistically inspired cuisine.
The food here at least rivals, and in many cases exceeds, that of the super popular Kazu on St Catherine. More attention is put in to artistic detail, and often the flavors are more nuanced. The chef prepares a 7 course tasting for each person. One chooses either the ‘regular’ or ‘fish’ tasting– both have fish dishes; the latter is comprised almost entirely of them.
The pace is leisurely and relaxed. Our group of three was there for about 2 hours and 20 minutes, and would have lingered longer if we didn’t have to catch a film afterwards. The price is very reasonable– maybe half of what one would pay at Kazu.
We were there on a Sunday night, and the only customers. This was astounding, considering the quality of the food. If this place were in Manhattan or Brooklyn, people would have caught on quickly and there would be lines out the door day and night. On one hand, it’s great that this place is still undiscovered, and one can get in quickly. On the other, come on people… this chef, and this food, deserves the patronage its quality commands.
Highly, highly recommended! I hope this restaurant flourishes.
PS — Almost forgot. The restaurant is gluten-​free friendly. One of my friends has a (true) gluten allergy, I let the chef know when I made reservations, and he was very amenable about making her tasting menu without gluten. He did so very thoughtfully, such that there were few noticeable substitutions, and the dishes were equally delicious.

TRY THIS PLACE!!!
SERIOUSLY.
Just try it.
If I didn’t live nearby I would make the trip.
Please do not come here if you are in a rush. Please do not come here if you want to order a la carte. It is the chef’s menu and totally worth it. (Although they do ask if you have allergies when you reserve and adjust accordingly).
DO come here if you enjoy Japanese food made with care and authenticity.
DO come here if you want something other than just sushi, teriyaki or trendy Japanese styled expensive bistros.
DO come here if you want excellent food
and DO come with an appetite.
You that you will not be disappointed.
It is a nice change from tempura, sushi and sashimi that seems to be the main focus of many Japanese places… here you will find gorgeous presentation and complex and satisfying tastes… ingredients such as soba noodles, dried fish (Bonito?), seaweed, rice, tuna and other seafood, etc etc… in traditional style Japanese food made with flare. It is not trying to be trendy… and yet by not being «trendy» Jardin Iwaki manages to be modern and clean in taste while respecting tradition. There is the occasional surprise as well. For example I don’t think of bacon when i think japanese… but the small bite sized pancakes with bacon and dried fish… oh my. I am in danger of drooling at the memory.
Did I mention how pretty the servings are?
Very decent sake menu… wine and Japanese beer are also available… (not sapporo– for those wanting something different and very tasty). Their house sake is extremely decent for the price… and I recommend it hot… sooooo tasty.
Seriously.. why are you still reading this and not calling for a reservation?
As a side note… assuming you can handle the extra course you will need to reserve a day in advance if you intend to have the EDO menu which does include a sushi course. Part of me regrets that we did not do this… but we intend to make up for it … by calling ahead to order and by skipping lunch so we have room.
Also… it is a wonderfully tiny place… with extra space on a terrace… i would assume reservations would be a necessity on busy nights.
As for the service.. expect polite, kind and gracious service. Also expect a relaxed pace while still efficient… it takes time to savour 6 or 7 courses. And your hosts are delightful.
Domo arigato for the best Japanese meal I have had since Japan.

One of the best restaurant experiences we have had anywhere! Go before the owner/​chef/​waiter/​dish-​washer (all the same person) changes anything. An authentic 7 course Japanese meal for $ 28/​person!!! Fantastic!

I can never believe how lucky I am to have this absolutely awesome Japanese restaurant in my hood! An awesome restaurant that is ridiculously affordable.
There is no a la carte menu here. No list of sushi and sashimi to choose from. No tempura and wakame salad or sushi pizzas or anything like that. Instead you are given two options, a 7-​course menu for $ 27 and a Edo menu which includes a course of sushi (but this menu needs to be reserved 2 days ahead of time) for $ 32.
Just note that both are absolutely great options and both include some of the same items, but there are a few differences, so that the Edo menu is not just the 7-​course menu with an additional course of sushi.
The sake menu has a reasonable selection at affordable prices but there is no full bar and I doubt the waiter would understand any order outside of what is on the menu.
Yes, the bathroom is in the dungeon. It isn’t a great place for a bathroom, it is cold and a weird set up, but the place is clean and after a couple of cups of sake you’ll be a pro at navigating the stairs and opening the lock!
Iwaki is a great place for a date. The lighting is not too bright but not too dim, the atmosphere is laid back and intimate but not intrusive, the pace of the courses is slow and there are a few dishes to share.
I held my small birthday party here (there are only 12 seats, so it is easy and affordable to get the entire restaurant to yourself!) and we had a great evening!
This place is not good for people with mobility issues because of the bathroom access. Not good for children for the same reason, but also because the menu is pretty fixed.

Wonderful little place, a true gem hidden in the neighbourhood, wish we had more of these here in NDG… An authentic, delicious and very affordable Japanese treat! A must try!!!

Such charming service. Such a beautiful presentation. Such subtle, refined and delicious food.
I love that the choice is the chef’s (and am reliably informed that this is an option in many restos in Japan), and everything was amazing. There was a smörgåsbord of entrees including jellyfish and other seafood, followed by a soba noodle salad, salmon, tuna, rice soup and dessert.
I’m coming back. You should try it.

Where are all the reviews for this gem? Let me be the first in 2014 to say this place remains an intriguing little restaurant. On the night I visited with one other friend (must call in advance and reserve) the chef was the only one there operating front of house, taking orders, and preparing course after course for us and two other tables. While the dinner itself took something like two hours total, it suited the format of the 7-​course meal. no one wants to gobble up delicious food like this so quickly and be out the door in fifty minutes!
There’s no sushi at Jardin Iwaki but you won’t miss it with the beautiful presentation and delicious glimpse into other kinds of Japanese cuisine.

Simply a delight! Each course (there are seven) provided truly wonderful tastes. The seared tuna, drizzled with sizzling spicy oil, was something past sensuous. I simply don’t have the words to describe it.
I’m thrilled to have a restaurant of this caliber in my neighborhood, and will definitely be going back soon.