Jennifer P.
Yelp
Opiano is another restaurant that I've had on my bookmarks for a while. They are closed on weekends, and not living in Montreal, I'm usually just in town for the weekend, so the timing hasn't worked out for me. However, I recently had a weekend getaway to Montreal with my mom and we arrived early Friday morning, so we were able to eat at Opiano that evening!
We had dinner there and it was fantastic! Portions were huge and the food was tasty.
So Opiano is inside the Cartier building. The same building as Super Sandwich, or as it was known when I was living in Montreal and a regular customer, Depanneur Super Sandwich. Opiano is a very casual eatery. It's actually located in the atrium of the building and only partially cordoned off (I could see the entrance to Super Sandwich from when I was sitting). You order and pay at the counter and they write a number on your receipt. Then you sit wherever you want. When your order is ready, they call out your number and you go and retrieve your food. When you are done, you bring your tray back to the counter where you got your food. It's not a glamourous place, but the food was excellent and definitely a good value for what you pay.
I got the beef bulgogi bibimbap ($10) and my mom got the beef bulgogi Dosirak (which is like a Bento box) ($13.25). Hers was a better value, as it was a lot of food.
I really enjoyed my beef bulgogi bibimbap. It had beef bulgogi, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, radishes, sliced omelette, and nori (seaweed). I was also given a bottle of hot sauce. I used some of it and it was pretty good. The bibimbap was served in a regular bowl and they didn't have the option of a hot stone bowl (dolsot), which I prefer, as your meal remains really hot throughout. Even without the dolsot though, I still really liked my dish. The meat was lean and flavourful, and not too salty. The vegetables were perfectly cooked and the combination was delicious. The hot sauce had a nice kick to it too. My meal came with a miso soup, which was ok, but only lukewarm. It would have been better if it was actually hot.
My mom's Dosirak had beef bulgogi, rice, salad, 6 pieces of vegetable kimbap (like sushi), 2 pieces of sweet potato tempura, and miso soup. She loved her meal. I had some of the kimbap and it was fresh and tasty. The tempura was crispy and I liked that the batter was not too thick.
We requested no sesame seeds on our food and that wasn't a problem at all.
I was stuffed to the gills after dinner, but I really wanted to try the Bingsoo, so my mom and I shared a small mango Bingsoo ($5.50). I thought that it would be tiny, but it was quite sizeable. I loved the shaved ice/snow. It was creamy and not too sweet. The mango were not quite ripe, so they were still a bit firm and sour. I didn't mind this, but my mom likes her mango much sweeter and more ripe. The sliced almonds gave the Bingsoo a bit of a textured crunch. I loved it so much.
Staff were nice and pleasant.
We bought bottled water ($1 each for Kirkland brand from Costco, lol) but then we realized that they had a water dispenser of tap water.
Delicious inexpensive food with friendly staff, what's not to like? If you don't mind the lack of table service and very casual atmosphere and you like Korean food, you need to try Opiano!
Street parking only.