Welcome to GIWA, where authentic Korean flavors meet modern creativity. Enjoy shareable plates, local wines, and fresh, seasonal dishes in the heart of Verdun. Join us for a unique dining experience!
Giwa stands out in Montreal as an elevated Korean spot with a cozy, intimate vibe and a small, thoughtfully curated menu that rewards attention to detail. The room feels private and homey, while the focus on precise sotbap rice dishes provides a foundation of texture and a crisp, nutty crust at the bottom, and the banchan is handmade to accompany each course. Dishes such as the seafood platter, beef tartare, gimbap, and dakgangjeon, along with a seasonal marinated seafood platter, are praised for freshness, balance, and presentation, with desserts that push Korean ingredients in creative directions. Desserts like perilla oil ice cream, gochujang brownie, and inventive sorbets receive enthusiastic notices. Service is described as friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable, though some reviews note occasional timing hiccups, reservation issues, or warmth and lighting that affect comfort. The small menu is a deliberate choice that signals confidence and quality, delivering consistently high flavors that feel traditional yet refined, more like a high end kitchen than a casual spot. Overall Giwa is described as a hidden gem in the city, offering a cohesive, memorable experience, elegant plating, and a sense that every dish is thoughtfully crafted for those seeking thoughtful, elevated Korean cuisine.
Went there for the first time before Christmas, it was so delicious, generous portions, nice presentation & friendly service. Very cute place & top quality authentic Korean food. I'll be back for sure!
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.
A Korean gem to have in Montreal! If there's one thing to emphasize it's their showcasing Korean ingredients & flavours not found elsewhere: omija in a cocktail, mugwort in their tiramisu dessert, marinated egg yolks for the rice dishes, perilla oil ice cream! The menu is small & well thought out, every dish showcases strong elements of Korean favourites & has great variety. The sot-bap (rice dishes) are beautifully presented & come with tasty banchan. The gimbap is airy, crunchy & packed with flavour. The fried chicken is a MUST, the smoked Gouda foam sends it through the roof. & do ask what the chef's dessert is because he's always coming up with a creative combo of Korean ingredients. Sharing some pictures from their holiday special set menu, features regular menu items but in a smaller format for this special menu.
Made a reservation here for someone who loves Korean food on their birthday; the food was surely the highlight of our night. Each meal was served with sides, & you could clearly see the chef's creativity shine through with the unusual ingredients they chose for their dishes; they all complemented each other perfectly well, each bite tasting different. The Giwa was perhaps one of the best desserts I've been served since a very long time: with matcha mousse, chocolate & vanilla ice cream hiding a biscuit cake underneath it all. All in all, I would go back without a hesitation.
We came here soon after it opened & was impressed. As a Korean, I am very critical of Korean food. This was a lovely treat. The gochu twigim is quite delicious, so we ordered a second round! We also loved the seafood sharing plate.
Nov 22, 2025
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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.
We came as a big family & was fully satisfied. Great service & excellent menu. They really did a great job & helped us experience a unique Korean menu. Will recommend, very intentional.
Sep 30, 2025
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This restaurant is truly a gem, & unlike anything else in the city.
The raw marinated seafood was one of my favorites - so thoughtful & intentional, especially the raw marinated crab, which is usually hard to eat with the shell but here felt effortless. The other seafood dishes were just as memorable.
The korean fried chicken was beautifully elevated, & the cheese foam complemented it perfectly. I also loved the sotbap with mackerel, made with seasonal ingredients that kept it fresh & special each time.
Other standouts were the beef tartare, the refreshing & beautifully presented watermelon salad, & the gimbap, which felt elevated & refined.
A special mention goes to the desserts. I'm usually not a dessert person, but their korean-fusion creations completely won me over.
Ultimately, Giwa is worth a visit if you're in Montréal. It's elevated Korean food with intention behind every dish.
Great spot for authentic Korean food. I'll definitely return! Our waiter, Sean, was amazing: attentive, knowledgeable, & went above & beyond to make the whole experience enjoyable.
Cozy little restaurant tucked away in Verdun; a hidden gem around Montreal. Service was amazing & the food is nothing else like I've tried here!
The menu is very well curated with each dish being delicious & purposeful. The sotbap, gimbap & dakgangjeon tasted so yummy & comforting while dishes like the hwachae & yukhwe were very bright & refreshing. The haemul jang is extremely unique & the way it's prepared makes this type of dish easy to enjoy-allowing you to focus on all the complex flavours. The desserts are also delicately prepared & the hodumaru is to die for; perfectly sweet with a little bit of umami spice.
Giwa is a modern take on Korean classics & they do it with lots of care & finesse. Wanted to try everything on the menu because it was all so amazing.. I will be back again!
This place is amazing & unique to other Korean restaurants. Everything was seasoned perfectly & the presentation was absolute art. I got a bunch of items on the menu but forgot to take pics of some of them because I was busy devouring it. Truly a hidden gem. I highly highly recommend.
I came here after learning that the head chef here was trained under the famous canadian chef, darren maclean. The food won't disappoint.
Aug 29, 2025
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One of the most memorable Korean restaurants I've had as of late. If you're especially a fan of raw seafood, this is the spot for you. Honestly, just get everything on the menu. All the meals were excellent. Some notable ones were the shared seafood market platter (the crab, scallop & salmon were perfect), the mushroom sot-bap, the chicken gangjeong & the stuffed green pepper. The staff was super helpful in determining quantities & very friendly too. The restaurant is good for groups of all sizes but would recommend coming as 4+ to be able to try a bit of everything.
In addition to Korean BBQ & Korean fried chicken, we can now enjoy authentic Korean food in Verdun. Giwa's menu is not large, but every dish is delicious. We went there twice & tried almost everything on the menu. Our favorites were the gimbap, beef gimbap, & chocolate brownie.
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.
Amazing elevated Korean restaurant. Staff were very attentive & the food was spectacular. Flavours were impeccable & each dish had a symbolic meaning explained by the staff.
Fantastic experience!
We had an amazing time at this new Korean restaurant! Even though it's only been open for a month, everything felt smooth & welcoming. The service was exceptional-Shaun took great care of us, explaining each dish in detail & even guiding us on the best way to enjoy them. It made the experience feel personal & authentic. The food was fresh, flavorful, & beautifully presented. You can tell a lot of care goes into both the cooking & the customer experience. We'll definitely be coming back-& bringing friends!
The only downside was that it was a little hard to have a conversation because of the noise.
