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    The Main

    Montreal's Cultural Directory

    Help us improve! Share your thoughts on how we can make your experience better.

    Leave feedback

    For partnerships and collaborations:

    partnerships@themain.com

    Content

    • Articles
    • Food & Drink
    • Arts & Culture
    • History Lesson
    • Bulletin
    • Events

    Guides

    • All Guides
    • Best Restaurants
    • Best Cafés
    • Best Bars
    • Best Brunch
    • Best Bakeries

    Explore Montreal

    • Browse Directory
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    • Bars
    • Cafés
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    The Main Media Inc. 2026

    ✦ Built By Field Office

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      --°C|Monday, June 8, 2026|
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      --°C|Monday, June 8, 2026|
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      EN/FR
      The Main Logo
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      • Arts & Culture
      • Beyond Montreal
      • Design
      • Food & Drink
      • History Lessons
      • The Bulletin
      Explore
      Popular Guides
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      • Best Cafés
      • Unique Boutiques
      • Romantic Restaurants
      • Best Bookstores
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      • Le Plateau-Mont-Royal
      • Mile End
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      Ohayo Café is an ode to yoshoku, Japanese dishes based on Western food, which has become a genre emblematic of a certain type of Japanese cuisine. | Photograph: Scott Usheroff / @cravingcurator

      The Main is reader-supported. Subscriptions are what keep us independent. Five dollars a month — the restaurants, the guides, the weekly bulletin, and what to do each weekend. Support us today.

      Montrealers know Hiroshi Kitano as the purposeful solo chef in the kitchen at Kitano Shokudo, his soulful Japanese bistro in the heart of the Plateau. 

      But what they might not know is that twenty years ago, he left his home in Ise City, Mie prefecture on the southern Japanese island of Honshu with a dream to play basketball in America.

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      Photograph: Scott Usheroff / @cravingcurator
      “We found the best place for me and my family to live. We’re super happy here.”
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      Food & Drink

      Ohayo Café: Saying Good Morning to Montreal with Japanese Yoshoku

      Rice, sandos, knives, basketball—this is chef Hiroshi Kitano’s journey from Japan to Montreal, and the restaurants he’s created for the city.

      ByIvy Lerner-Frank

      January 25, 2024 · 6 min read

      Ohayo Café: Saying good morning to Montreal with Japanese yoshoku
      Ohayo Café is an ode to yoshoku, Japanese dishes based on Western food, which has become a genre emblematic of a certain type of Japanese cuisine. | Photograph: Scott Usheroff / @cravingcurator

      The Main is reader-supported. Subscriptions are what keep us independent. Five dollars a month — the restaurants, the guides, the weekly bulletin, and what to do each weekend. Support us today.

      Montrealers know Hiroshi Kitano as the purposeful solo chef in the kitchen at Kitano Shokudo, his soulful Japanese bistro in the heart of the Plateau. 

      But what they might not know is that twenty years ago, he left his home in Ise City, Mie prefecture on the southern Japanese island of Honshu with a dream to play basketball in America.

      Now the co-owner of the light-filled, brand-new Ohayo Café right next door to Kitano Shokudo, Hiroshi’s passage to Montreal—and away from basketball—makes perfect sense. 

      “We found the best place for me and my family to live,” he says. “We’re super happy here.”

      Photograph: Scott Usheroff / @cravingcurator
      “We found the best place for me and my family to live. We’re super happy here.”
      Free account required

      For readers who care about Montreal

      Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.

      Independent. Local. Reader-supported.

      or

      Already a member? Sign in

      Comments

      Welcome to The Main's comments section!

      Share your thoughts and join the conversation. Please be respectful and constructive.

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      The Main

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