Through Oorja, we aim to create a restaurant inspired by the flavors of Hakka, primarily Indo Chinese cuisine, where the emphasis is placed on fresh ingredients and great service. We take pride in the food that we create, and it is our ambition to bring this vibrant and culturally rich cuisine to Montreal. As both a restaurant and a cocktail bar, our objective is to shape a fun and dynamic environment centered around a unique culinary experience. Our team will create dishes and cocktails made from quality seasonal ingredients sourced from local producers. Indo Chinese cuisine is surprisingly absent from Montreal, and we believe that its vibrance and imaginativeness will be very well received.
Overall, reviews of Oorja describe a vibrant Indo Chinese fusion spot with inventive cocktails, playful tapas style dishes, and a warm, stylish ambiance that can range from relaxed lunch vibes to lively evenings with live music. The food frequently earns praise for bold flavors and presentation, with favorites including momos, chicken lollipops, chilli chicken, duck wings and other tapas style plates, while some diners note portions can be small for the price and spice levels may be very high. Cocktails are repeatedly highlighted as well balanced and creative, with several guests enjoying standout options and seasonal changes. Service is a common point, with many experiences described as friendly, attentive and professional, though others recount slow or inconsistent service, missed items, or long waits. The setting is often praised as chic and cozy, with attractive presentation and a welcoming atmosphere suited for dates, gatherings, or casual bites. Overall, Oorja comes across as a notable destination for Indo Chinese fusion in the area, delivering memorable drinks and interesting dishes, but with uneven service and portion consistency that may vary by visit.
Went with my girlfriend for my birthday, the service was excellent. Hope ya'll remember us sharing a cake together! If you go, definitely try the chicken lollipops, by far the best dish on their menu. Next time I'll order it twice.
WOW. I live near this restaurant & always wanted to try it, & last night my friends & I walked by & decided to go. We were blown away. Cocktails were 10/10. Food was 12/10. The asian salad, lollipop chicken, dumplings, & main dishes we had (chicken something & braised pork) were literally all to die for. Our server was absolutely lovely, & we soon after found out he was the owner as well. The restaurant is also beautiful. Seriously mad at myself for not trying this place sooner, but we will be back 100%!!! Finally, a really good & reasonably priced restaurant in St Henri!!! Lastly I want to say they were very good about my severe allergies to nuts & fish. Thank you Oorja!
Sep 30, 2024
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Excellent place to share appetizers with friends. The main meals were also decent portions, so good value there. The lamb spring rolls were amazing, as well as the lollipop chicken. The only big downside is the dessert. They had only a red bean ice cream, no other options. The menu can be expanded a little bit. The drinks were definitely swanky, but not worth 17$ for cocktails. Cider & beer were 8 to 10$. Service was fast & efficient. Our server was attentive & relatable. He made the night really fun. The atmosphere was cool & posh, but still warm & welcoming. Good location as several places have closed previously at this spot. Hope it prospers
Probably my favourite meal I've ever had in Montreal, & I've been very fortunate to eat at most of the cities top restaurants. Fantastic ambience in a small but well thought out space. Great for a date or a meal with friends. Ask for the corner booth if you can, it's a real "chefs table" experience. Corey took excellent care of us even though he was alone on the bar & serving simultaneously, lovely person & very skilled bartender. Incredibly enjoyable meal, started with the soup & moved to sharing the Braised Pork, Chili Paneer, & Chicken Manchurian. All 10/10 dishes. Huge portions, very well priced (Dinner for 4 people, 2 courses, $160 pre tip) & the flavour was the closest to eating in South Asia I've ever experienced in North America. Don't be discouraged by a "small menu" as I saw a few people mention. This is the definition of doing every dish well, & I look forward to trying each of their mains in my next visits. There are many good restaurants in Montreal, but few that are truly exceptional. Oorja is exceptional & their chef should be proud. A Michelin star is inbound if they can maintain this standard.
Food 4.5/5 Service 5/5 Ambiance 4.5/5 Repeat & Recommend :Yes Went to Oorja Saturday night party of 3 for my first time. Atmosphere is very chill, the staff was genuinely helpful & friendly & the music was eclectic ranging from Frank Sinatra to country. There is also a terrace outisde in summer as a nice option. The menu isn't extensive which I like, better to do 5 things with careful & expertise than 50 items mediocre. We ordered cocktails to start all were visually & tastewise excellent. We ordered apps to start & went for the lamb spring rolls, Momo chili dumplings, Chicken Lollipops & Duck wings. All were quite good though my standouts were the Lollipops & the spring rolls. On to the mains my party has the Curried mussels, Chili Chicken & Manchurian chicken. We all enjoyed our mains, had trouble finishing them but that was more a result of overindulging in the apps. For the same reason we didn't try any desserts but thats just someting to look forward to next time. Overall I was really looking for anything to assign as a negative but I had no complaints. It's not cheap but it's also not expensive, I think its very fairly priced for the quality & service.
Amazing place to try out indo-chinese food. Fantastic! It was my birthday & they took us in last minute. Had an absolute blast & shout out to the server Alejandro who did an exceptional service. I really enjoyed chicken chilli & chicken lollipops plus the hakka noodles were bomb. Thank you for making my day!✨
Minced lamb spring roll & chicken Manchurian were okay, nothing special in terms of flavour or texture. The side sauces didn't help the rolls. Noodles for the chicken were okay.
May 9, 2024
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Amazing food & great cocktails! We had a great time eating at Oorja, we ordered the chili dumplings, the duck wings, & lamb rolls for the entrees & everything was delicious! The most outstanding being the dumplings with the delicious sauce 🔥 followed very closely by the duck wings. but don't be fooled, both dishes are spicy! We love spicy food & this felt super authentic to the Indochinese flavours so we greatly appreciate the chefs effort to showcase the true spice of the cuisine. We also ordered the fried chicken with hokka noodles as main & it was amazing. For the dessert we had the red bean ice cream & it was 10/10. The cocktails were good. We had the passion fruit & the cashews all around & both were good.
Their chicken fried momos, hakka noodles with Manchurian & dessert were awesome! 💯 However the place is extremely expensive, we paid 5$ for one can of Pepsi 🤯
My friends & I walked into this place on 23rd March in the evening. We were told that they are sold out that night & could not give us a table since we had no reservations. We totally understood. They agreed to service our takeaway order & we asked for 2 chilli chicken (which came with a portion of rice) & 2 chicken manchow soup & charged us accordingly, When we got home, we realized 1 order was missing. We were tourists in the area so dint see the point to uber back to the restaurant. We were off mood because of this miss & the portions were quite small too for the price we paid + the soup & the gravy tasted the same! We should have checked the order ourselves but - Oh well- dont think we will visit again.
The lamb spring rolls were really good! Manchurian chicken as well. I would recommend sharing many plates. Prices are alright but 18$ for a glass of wine is quite expensive.
Mar 23, 2024
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Being of Southeast Asian descent, I've always wanted to try Hakka which technically is cuisine from a region of China. However, it gets more complicated than that because Chinese from that region migrated to Southeast Asia, India, & the Caribbean, merging their cuisine with that of their host country. Oorja is a sophisticated spot to enjoy Hakka, which I consider fusion cuisine before there was fusion cuisine. It's an intimate place with a relatively small number of tables, & a significant part of the place devoted to a lovely cocktail bar. I sometimes like to eat & drink at a bar, so that's a bonus. This time there were three of us. Our cocktails were amazing. We were served by very helpful & competent staff. The best dish by far was the Momo appetizer. So many layers of flavors which I found familiar, but mixed together in a unique way that I hadn't tasted before. My companions had the Chili chicken with fried rice & noodles on the side. They loved it. The fried rice had that typical wok hei aroma & so was well prepared. As were the noodles. I had the braised pork belly. This in my opinion was the weakest of the dishes, but I'm willing to give Oorja the benefit of the doubt on this one. Unlike the Momo with its multiple layers of flavors, the dish lacked complexity. I've had several versions of Southeast Asian pork belly which involves pan frying it with the usual Asian aromatics plus lemongrass, with umami provided by fish sauce. So I guess I was expecting something of those flavors. I do know that Hakka involves braising, rather than the other techniques I usually associate with pork belly preparation. So it might just be me having preconceived notions. Nevertheless I still enjoyed my meal. All in all, my experience in Oorja was thoroughly enjoyable.
We had the pleasure of dining at Oorja on our recent Montreal visit. It is a small restaurant but what Beautiful ambience. We had reservations for 5 people, but had an extra person join in at the last minute (a kid), & they were very kind to accommodate us. The menu is not elaborate, however it includes all the famed dishes from the Indochinese cuisine. Plating is gorgeous & everything was deliciuosly flavourful. My favorite was veggie Manchurian, which I was sharing with my sister. However it was so delicious that we ended up ordering another plate. Kids had lamb spring rolls & chicken manchurian, & even though it was a bit spicy for their taste buds, they thoroughly enjoyed it. My husband ordered chili paneer, which was very flavorful but the paneer was on the dry side. & lastly, I would travel back to Montreal just to have their red bean ice cream with bao bun. Everyone was skeptical in ordering a red bean icecream, but My gut feeling said it would be good. & I wasn't wrong. I was so full otherwise I would have eaten one more plate of that. Thank you for the wonderful experience.
This is a nice Indo Chinese spot in St Henri. We ordered the mango cocktail, chili baby corn, braised pork & chili chicken. The menu is small but good. The chili chicken with chowmein tasted very much like the street side chili chicken I've grown up eating in Kolkata. The braised pork was delicious. The crispy babycorn came with a nice sauce. The portions are quite filling. The atmosphere is very pleasant, with soft music playing in the background. This is a really cute spot for dinner.
Very good food. Chicken dish with fried rice was only slightly too sweet for my tastes but was too ultra hot spicy. Perhaps reduce a bit? Braised pork very tasty but too much fatty pieces. Chicken dumpling were delicious.
Dec 17, 2023
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A 5 for the expertly crafted cocktails. WoW! All were exceedingly delicious. Being an Indian/Asian fusion I'm undecided whether I like this combination. The lamb spring rolls were better, with two dipping sauces that were excellent. The duck wings while good were too sweet overall. Pork Braisé was plentiful yet again too sweet. Chicken & also Veg Manchurian's were ok. Opt for the fried rice, which did have delicious smoky flavor. Wait staff was very nice, however needs a bit more training. (Don't reach in front of a guest to deliver food to another. Ask if the meal is finished before removing sauce plates.) Would definitely return & enjoy cocktails & an appetizer or two.
Amazing food. The starters (Lamb spring rolls, Fried Momos, Manchow Soup) were really well made, especially the dips & the chutneys. Plating was superb. Tried the Chicken Manchurian with fried rice. The gravy was so close to indo chinese but the chicken was not as succulent & tender. Waiting staff were quick & delight to interact with. Everything was served really fast. Restaurant was a bit smaller & seating was not very comfortable as the tables are laid out very close to each other. Lighting was a little dim so could not read the menu. But overall a very nice ambience & is on the rustic side & the place was packed with people.
Service was perfection. Food was..... the most exciting meal of my year! Was an circus of flavours in my mouth. Amazing!
My only negative comment is that they brought my dumplings & manchurian chicken at the same time. Would have preferred one at a time. Otherwise it was the perfect evening! Bravo guys!
I truly enjoyed my experience at the restaurant, the service was exceptional, the cocktails were amazing & the food was delicious. If I had to be picky my only "complaint would be the chicken meatballs in the chicken Manchurian were a bit more chewy than I would had preferred. When I think meatball I expect something softer in texture. But they were still delicious
Had high hopes from this place, unfortunately, not impressed. The portion of the noodles for the 3 main courses we ordered fluctuated with each dish. Noodles were tasty though. The veg manchurian did not meet my expectations, the veggies didn’t have any texture. The chili momos were decent. Only the chicken manchurian had the perfect gravy to noodles ratio & was the best out of what we ordered.
I see this place is really popular, but the tables are too close together & it can feel over crowded. Not a family restaurant for sure.
We arrived 45 mins before our reservation & thankfully were seated promptly but the service definitely needs improvement.
