May is Asian Heritage Month. Yubari is a brand new restaurant located in Hotel St. Paul in the heart of Old Montreal.
The restaurant features authentic Japanese cuisine with a twist of Asian and French influences and fresh ingredients flown in from Japan.
There’s a special focus on the health-conscious aspect of Japanese food, the intricacies and the beauty in how Japanese food is prepared and displayed.
Annie Kwan is a sous chef at Yubari, she shares that, “You don’t have to like fly there just to experience. You can also experience here because we’re trying our best to like showcase that too.
“When asked about how she would describe her Chinese heritage, she laughed and shared a comment her friend had once made, “My friend was saying like we are like rice, we all stick together.”
Willy Do, is the head chef at Yubari, “I would say Japanese cuisine is a lot about technique, delicate technique besides that we use a lot of fresh ingredients.
“We use a lot of fish imported directly from Japan, from sea to earth with the YU as well, scallop.
“And one of the things that we do consider it’s very important to get the right ingredients.”
Chef Kwan compares the food from her Chinese heritage to Japanese cuisine, “It’s like a completely different cuisine compared to Japanese.
“We are more heavy, oily. We do a lot of frying compared to Japanese.
“It’s more simple food, fresh food. So as a Chinese chef to do Japanese cuisine, I get to learn a lot like different technique and how I can combine them, mix it and make it like different.”
Kwan goes on to explain that, “Japan it’s next to a shore right next to the ocean it’s catch and then eat.
“So it’s like fresh stuff that like a lot of cuisine sometimes they don’t have because they’re further away from the shore.”
Chef Do hails from a Vietnamese background. When asked what he was most proud of when it comes to his heritage he had this to say, “Our parents came from those kind of war place and giving us a chance to grow and having a chance to express ourselves.
“I want them to feel they are having an experience besides the food.
“It’s the whole package that I want to show to everyone that yes, you are having a good time with good food in a good atmosphere as well.
“It’s a combination of everything from the freshness of the food to the plate. All the details it’s well executed, well done, well worked on.”