The Peel Basin has been transformed into a Japanese street market in Montreal’s Griffintown.
Until Sunday, thousands of people are expected to gather here for four days of Japanese street culture at YATAI MTL. From food booths to cultural programming and activities, it’s a chance for Montrealers to explore Japanese flavours and traditions all in one spot.
Some food lovers stopped by on Friday to try takoyaki — a ball-shaped Japanese street food made with octopus and batter — something that’s not easy to find in Montreal, according to this chef.
“Here it’s very rare to find them because it’s very hard to make it, as you can maybe see. It takes a lot of experience to make it, practice. The ingredients are hard to access,” said Noburu Yoshida.
Nearly 40 merchants are offering a wide range of Japanese products, from kimonos to matcha and ceramics.
Kuniko Fujita, known as Madame Saké, even found a modern take on a kimono made from denim. For her, both the products and the food bring back memories of her time in Japan.
“The level of all the participants is quite high, and even for Japanese it’s really authentic,” said Fujita.
Reina Sako, the president & owner of Sakao, said, “I was born in a tea family, and when I first came to Montreal, there was nothing, it was just like a tea bag of tea, and it wasn’t like really a tea for me. That’s how I started my business. I wanted to share my culture and family tradition, so that’s how I started it; that was already 13 years ago.”
Adding, “the matcha now is a crazy thing now, so everyone knows what it is, but when I first started it, people gave me weird looks, because people didn’t know what it was, it’s a green powder. But now people are just crazy about Japanese culture, green tea of course, and the matcha, so it’s been just great adventure.”
Several activities and workshops will be held in an indoor space at the Haleco building near the Peel Basin.
“With a reservation, we have matcha workshops, sake tasting workshops, Japanese pastry workshops. So those kinds of workshops,” said Thien Vu Dang, the general director of YATAI MTL.
Tickets are available on Asiasie’s website for $5, and admission is free for kids, seniors, and anyone wearing a traditional Japanese dresses. The festival runs until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and until 8 p.m. on Sunday.
Other events organized by Asiasie are also coming up.
“Pocha, next week, going to be the Korean Street Market with a celebration of K-pop. And we end the year with a celebration of one of the most popular meals around the world, which is the ramen,” said Vu Dang.
