Restaurant GIWA serves a curated selection of authentic Korean dishes that bridge traditional preparation with a modern, contemporary aesthetic. Diners encounter plates centered on balanced flavor profiles, featuring essential staples like seasoned banchan, flame-grilled meats, and hearty fermented stews. The kitchen prioritizes precise heat application and high-quality ingredients to maintain the integrity of classic recipes within a streamlined, polished environment. Every composition on the menu reflects a commitment to cultural authenticity while presenting the food through a cleaner, more minimalist lens. The space focuses on efficiency and clarity, allowing the vibrant colors and bold textures of the primary proteins and pickled vegetables to define the sensory experience. This approach provides a focused exploration of Korean culinary fundamentals for those seeking consistent quality and standard-setting techniques in their meal.
Restaurant GIWA offers an elevated and authentic Korean dining experience that distinguishes itself from standard eateries through a focus on precision, seasonal ingredients, and meticulous presentation. Patrons frequently praise the high quality of dishes like the signature sotbap, Korean fried chicken with unique cheese foam, and creative, fusion-inspired desserts. While the menu is intentionally concise, the deliberate care taken in crafting every element, from the handmade banchan to the raw seafood platters, is consistently highlighted as a major strength. Most visitors describe the service as attentive, knowledgeable, and passionate, often noting the cozy, intimate atmosphere of the space. Although some guests have pointed out minor issues regarding pricing, temperature control, or service charges for groups, the overwhelming consensus is that Restaurant GIWA provides a sophisticated and memorable culinary experience that stands out as a unique gem in the Montreal dining scene.
I have no pictures of the food & the vibe of the place, but trust when I tell you this restaurant is a must! 💯
The service was good, the food tasted authentic & delicious, & the portions were perfect for us! Don't go there expecting oversized North American portions. But you'll definitely leave feeling full & satisfied.
We had 2 appetizers (seaweed rolls & fried chicken), & we had the braised short ribs for our main. It came with rice, radish, & kimchi on the side.
FYI, the kimchi was fire! Loved it 😋
We were way too full to order a dessert, but we'll be back!
First off, I have to mention how cozy the place is. Very homey vibe; you're literally walking into an apartment, but it's setup like a resto. It does feel a bit small, but I enjoyed that aspect. Feels a bit more.. private, I suppose.
Next up, food & service. The food was absolutely amazing! We had ordered the seafood platter to share, along with the banchan sides & a few extra appetizers (yuhkwe(beef tartare) & dakgangjeong(fried chicken)). Every bite was incredible & fresh; by the end of the meal, I was soo stuffed, but I still wanted more, hahah.
Service itself was great! Servers were attentive, & explained the menu clearly. We barely had to ask any questions. Although, we did have a slight timing issue with the food.. but that was easily resolved. Everything made it to our table in the end, & satisfaction was achieved!
Thanks again for the food! We'll definitely be coming back. 🤤
Feb 16, 2026
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Restaurant Giwa is not a'Korean restaurant' in the way that term has come to mean lately. It is something far rarer.
The focus here is ?? (sotbap): rice cooked to order in an individual heavy metal pot, layered with carefully chosen ingredients, then finished so that the rice develops structure & contrast (soft grains at the top & a crisp, nutty crust at the bottom). It's a dish that demands precision & there is nowhere to hide mistakes. This is one of the reasons sotbap is uncommon even in Korea & almost never the central focus of a restaurant.
I lived in Seoul for over a decade & only encountered sotbap in one neighborhood (ie Seoul's Seongbuk-dong) where it tends to appear in restrained tradition-minded kitchens, rather than the mainstream spots that one can find anywhere. In my lifetime of actively seeking out quality Korean cuisine, I have never seen a restaurant outside Korea with sotbap on the menu, let alone a place dedicated to the dish, & I would be genuinely surprised if anything comparable exists even in major Koreatowns like Los Angeles.
What makes Giwa exceptional is not rigid adherence to recipes or performative authenticity, but care. The menu is deliberately narrow, which is exactly what you want for a dish like this. This restraint signals confidence & quality, particularly when compared to the'all you can eat meat' restos of dubious quality or the'every Korean dish our chef is willing to cook' format. The sotbap itself is outstanding across the board. Every version we've tried has been excellent, from the vegetarian mushroom to the cod, & the rice is granted the role it deserves, as the true foundation of the meal, rather than as some sort of neutral filler or side.
The level of technique throughout the meal is striking. The appetizers are prepared with a precision on par with the sort of well-reviewed ??? restaurants in Seoul (formal Korean dining where a sequence of meticulously composed dishes replaces the idea of a single'main.'). The execution feels closer to high-end French or Japanese kitchens than to the casual Korean dining most people expect. There is clear thought behind every element. & there's also some creativity here: a doen-jang crème brûlée should not work on paper, but it does & it's memorable, it's the dish that some friends are still talking about a month after our last visit.
The banchan (side dishes) deserve special mention. In Montreal, banchan are nearly always an afterthought: bulk kimchi, nuclear-yellow danmuji & barely-seasoned bean sprouts that are interchangeable & forgettable. At Giwa, the banchan are clearly handmade, clearly intentional, & clearly cared for. You're served a generous spread, I think 10-12 items, & each one feels considered. This alone puts Giwa in a different category from nearly every other Korean restaurant in the city, if not the country. (We drove to Tofino & back last summer, & ate as much Korean as we could along the way, so I feel fairly qualified to say this.)
Context matters. Montreal is full of Korean restaurants right now, many of them middling, many not even Korean-run. Most seem to be lazily riding the rise of the K-food/K-pop/K-whatever trend without any sort of commitment to quality. Giwa cuts through that noise completely. It is traditional without being rigid, refined without being precious, & ambitious in the best sense.
This restaurant is genuinely unique in Montreal & arguably one of the most serious, thoughtful presentations of Korean food you can find outside Korea. The fact that it hasn't yet been written up properly in the local media is baffling. Giwa deserves attention, not because it's trendy but because it's excellent.
Small menu but everything was so tasty, well prepared, authentic flavours & beautifully presented. I was a bit apprehensive coming here after having read the bad reviews, I worried for nothing. From their appetizers to their creative desserts, every dish was so delicious. The fried chicken was the best I had in years, the sauce not drenched with cheap syrup, so perfect. The galbi jjim was flavourful, not oily, so tender, filling as it came with rice & banchan. The beef sotbap was so good too. Beef was tender, rice cooked perfectly, & the sauce seasoned just right. The noodle soups didn't disappoint either. Don't forget to be blown away by their desserts. Loved their chocolate brownie, the chef creation, & sorbet. If any thing to be improved I'd say is their service. Never been to a restaurant where we were not greeted upon entering nor leaving. Also it took awhile before the waitress brought us water & asked us if we had any questions. This is not Korean hospitality. But we will be back for it's the best Korean restaurant in town.
I had such a wonderful dining experience at Giwa! The food was absolutely amazing. The appetizers were delicious; especially the dakgangjeong. The cheese sauce on top perfectly complemented the sweet & spicy chicken, making it so addictive! The beef sot-bap was also incredible, the meat was full of flavor, & the side dishes paired perfectly with the meal.
& the dessert... wow! I loved how it wasn't overly sweet but still so satisfying & delicious. You can truly taste the time, care, & love the owners put into every dish.
Hidden gem. If you're tired of the typical korean restaurant food in Montréal, this is the place to go.
Also if you like marinated crabs, shrimp or whatever, this is the best place to go in Montréal. All appetizers were bomb (especially the gochu twigim & mulhwe).
Their main dishes ofc is also nice since they bring a bunch of side dishes along with a soup & it changes every week apparently. The portion was also filling. They also got soju & korean rice wine as well.
I want to love this place more than I did! The seafood platter was a very tiny amount of food for the cost (MP, $85) & the flavours were underwhelming - It left both of us totally unsatisfied & had no sides or accompaniments. The appetizers were delicious but also very small
re: portions. The dessert was fantastic, & the service was decent, but overall I wasn't impressed & wondering what I'm not getting as everyone else is raving about the place.There are lots of great Korean restaurants to go to in Montreal, so I'll skip this one next time.
