So I've had Japote on my bookmarks forever. I love little independent food court vendors! However,…read moreJapote is only open Monday-Friday and only 11:30am-2:30pm, and these days if I'm in Montreal, it's usually just for the weekend. Or I might arrive as early as a Friday evening, so I hadn't been able to try this Japanese food court vendor with an apparent cult following...until recently! I was on a weekend getaway with my mom and we decided to get into Montreal on a Friday morning. So lunch at Japote it was!
So the place is in the food court inside the Scotia Tower/Tour Scotia. It's in the basement, along with Subway, Lily & Cie, and a few other vendors. It's the one with the longest lineups, lol.
I got the medium #8 Katsu Don (fried breaded chicken with egg on rice). It was around $6. And my mom got the small teriyaki chicken (#3 Tori-Don). It was around $4.
So I'm giving it 4 stars for being good for food court food, but it wasn't like super duper. The small was really small. Unless you just want a snack (which my mom did because she just had a smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz's like an hour earlier, lol), I would recommend at least a medium.
I enjoyed my Katsu Don. The breaded and fried chicken cutlet was tasty and the egg was really soft. The white rice underneath was slightly sticky, but not mushy. I had some of my mom's teriyaki chicken and I found the sauce too sweet. However, the chicken itself was lean, like my dish, and was still good.
I also got a scoop of matcha green tea ice cream for dessert ($1.50). The ice cream was really rich and creamy and full of matcha flavour. It was a tiny scoop, but just the right size for a little after meal dessert. It is pre-scooped and placed in the freezer in a bowl. I had never seen this before, but I guess if it's busy, this makes the line move faster.
Service was very friendly and efficient.
Definitely a good place for an inexpensive weekday lunch. I've heard so many people raving about it so I was expecting it to be mind-blowing, which it was not, but it was still excellent for the price and for the fact that it's in a food court.