On the Menu: Koko Restaurant + Bar

Koko Restaurant + Bar may serve plenty of tourists as the restaurant inside the swanky Opus Hotel Montreal, but it’s also a nod to the city’s well-traveled residents.

Executive chef Felix Turianskyj oversees the restaurant, whose menu was developed by Opus Hotels’ executive chef Don Letendre. When Opus was conceptualizing the restaurant for its Montreal property, which opened in 2007, the eatery could have easily been another French bistro, like the restaurant in the company’s other hotel in Vancouver. But Montreal, one of the world’s largest French-speaking cities, already had plenty of bistros and cafes.

“French has been done to death here,” he says.

Instead, the restaurant was able to fill a niche in the city, whose residents are fond of traveling. Turianskyj says Montreal offered few places where people could recapture a taste of their Asian travels.

“Montreal had no high-end Asian restaurants, except for Japanese,” he says. Koko’s menu is influenced by the cuisines of several Asian nations and prepared with a modern Western twist. For example, edamame is served with sea salt and a citrus glaze and has become a customer favorite. To make the dish, whole edamame beans are boiled in salt water and then tossed in a mixture of lime juice and lime zest, sugar and shichimi togarashi, a Japanese spice blend.

Another Japanese-inspired appetizer, ahi tuna sashimi, is served with apple and cucumber salsa and a ponzu emulsion. A variety of sushi rolls also are available.

AT A GLANCE

Location: 8 Sherbrooke WestWebsite: http://www.kokomontreal.comSeats: 200 inside, 300 outsidePer-person check average: $43*, with drinkCuisine: modern Pan-AsianBest-selling item: miso-marinated black cod with sesame and sake spinachSlowest-selling item: sorbetOwner: Opus Hotel MontrealMenu makers: Don Letendre and Felix Turianskyj

*All prices approximate and converted from Canadian dollars

The appetizer menu also features tastes of Asia in the form of beef satay, which is accompanied with a spicy peanut and coconut sauce, and a Peking duck salad that features shredded duck confit tossed in a Peking-style glaze with watercress, arugula, watermelon, pickled pineapple and cashews.

Koko’s menu is divided into the traditional categories of appetizers and entrées, but most dishes are designed to be shared. The entrées are listed in two sections: fish and seafood as well as meat and poultry.

Among the entrées, a misomarinated black cod has proved to be especially popular this summer, Turianskyj says. To make the dish, black cod is marinated in white miso paste and then roasted until the paste caramelizes. It’s served with a Japanese spinach salad and a soy-mirin reduction.

Meat entrées range from chicken Makhani, made with chicken marinated in yogurt and garam masala and cooked in tomato masala sauce, to a sliced Angus rib steak brushed with a glaze of reduced beef jus and Korean barbecue sauce. Specials on the summer menu include tandoori-spiced lobster, wild sockeye, crab maki rolls and Peking-lacquered foie gras.

Koko’s sprawling 9,000 square feet seats about 200 inside and has additional capacity for large cocktail receptions and other events. In the summertime, however, the restaurant’s seating capacity grows with a 300-seat outdoor terrace, the center of which is glass covered. The restaurant won the 2008 Best Conceptual Design Restaurant Award from the International Restaurant & Hotel Awards for its design, which Opus officials describe as “urban glamour.”

Located near Montreal’s bustling Boulevard St. Laurent restaurant and bar scene, Koko draws the city’s night owls in addition to its locals who are interested in food. “The restaurant is the flagship of the hotel, but the locals give it legitimacy,” Turianskyj says.— [email protected]