KanBai

KanBai is an authentic Chinese restaurant located in Chinatown. We ordered General Tao Chicken, Fried Pig Intestine and Sour Pickled Fish Soup.
Food: I think the food could be better. It met my expectations but my taste buds weren’t overly excited. If you are down to try the pig intestine — do it! It was my favourite dish of the night. The soup sizes are generous and I was surprised we finished the huge bowl of Sour Pickled Fish Soup. Their spice level on their dishes is up there so if you can’t handle the spice — ask for less spice.
Price: We went in a party of two and it only costed $ 50 for two. We had 3 full dishes and a rice. I even had packed the left overs away and plan to bring it to work tomorrow. Apparently the portions were bigger than the KanBai in downtown St Catherine’s.
Ambience: It was similar to other Chinese restaurants within Chinatown and there wasn’t anything spectacular. However, I enjoyed the overall cleanliness. I also feel that the location is quite specious so it would be perfect for bigger groups and parties.

Food: For sure the menu offers a variety of Sichuan dishes and some variations from other regions. However, the typical Sichuan spices fragrance is missing, not spicy nor «麻», everything toned down probably due to high amount of tourists in the area? Unfortunate of how misrepresented Sichuan food, with everything bathed in oil and starchy sauce. No no, Sichuan food unlike that, really~
Service: Euh… very… Chinese-​like? — -«
Price: Somewhat overpriced for the quality of the food
Ambiance: Yes clean Chinese restaurant, we like that~ Lots of lights and well spaced between tables, at least rest assured you will dine in a comfortable setting.

Nous avons dîné ici avec des collègues de mon chum (nous étions 5 en tout).
Ils ont tous les 3 choisi un plat parmi le menu midi, mais mon chum et moi voulions quelque chose de moins classique. Il y a beaucoup de choix sur le menu, et les plats sont classés par type de viande. Après avoir hésité pendant 10 bonnes minutes, nous avons finalement choisi l’agneau épicé (#301 si mes souvenirs sont bons), accompagné d’un petit bol de riz (il faut commander le riz à part). Pour les plus téméraires, j’ai vu qu’ils servaient de la méduse!
Le restaurant était relativement plein mais nous avons été servis très rapidement et nous avons donc pu savourer notre repas sans se presser.
Notre agneau était absolument délicieux. J’avais peur que ce soit trop épicé mais c’était juste assez relevé. Les portions sont vraiment généreuses pour le prix, j’ai même eu du mal à finir mon assiette, mais pas question d’en laisser une miette!
Le personnel est serviable et efficace, que ce soit au moment de prendre les commandes, vous servir et vous apporter votre facture. Ils né parlent pas français mais ce n’est pas vraiment gênant, au pire des cas les plats sont désignés par des numéros (comme dans de nombreux restaurants asiatiques).
C’est une place un peu bruyante, mais la nourriture est délicieuse et très abordable. Un vrai bijou!

I went there super excited, because I was waiting for a legit szechuan restaurant to open in montreal! expecting some taste of my childhood, but the food was really superficial, and not finely prepared and it was over saturated with sauce, cant even taste the real flavour of eggplant or tofu, and I felt like every dishes have been served with the same sauce thus all the dishes we ordered tasted like the same…:((szechuan food does not mean all hot sauce all the way, it is a mixed cuisine of many tastes and often used the food’s natural as base, and kanbai really missed out the key point of szechuan cuisine:(really dissapointing:(moreover the 3 times I went there, the waitress always had horrible attitude, the first time I just assume she was having a bad day or she was tired because it was a busy friday night, then I went again on a wednesday and thursday, and different waitress had the same bitchy attitude, despite us giving her a adequate tips (15%)truly dissapointing, would not recommend

I love this KanBai. I love the prompt, funny, helpful service. The folks who work here will seat you seriously and then give you a little smile and gently fill your beer glasses as you down the kirin or tsingtsao, and they will even crack jokes quietly about how spicy it is and how much food you’re ordering if you get a little friendly report going with them.
Last night we ordered: the spicy red pepper fish filet (which previously I ate with people who like me thought this was a soup and wondered why my eyes were weeping hot oil and my insides crying. Turns out it’s not so much a soup: eat the fish and mushrooms and peppers out of the oil, don’t drink it unless you like weeping burning oil tears and lighting on fire from the inside. Either way it’s freaking delicious.) We also ordered the house fried rice, the spicy cabbage, and the eggplant with minced pork. This was a perfect amount of food for 4 people and with beers and tip was close to $ 100 total so that’s nice.
The restaurant is tucked up on a dim block of Clarke, around the corner from the pretty lights of the heart of our small Chinatown. It’s up a few steps, it’s a warm nicely decorated room in red and black and gold with one big window, clean and comfortable and an excellent way to (h)eat up the winter.

The worst service I’ve ever seen in my life. Servers are rude, nonprofessional, extremely impolite. On top of that, they purposely sit non-​Asian customers separately from the Asians. I’ve never seen anything like that. At first I though it was a coincidence, but as people were coming in they continued to sit non-​Asian customers across the room away from the Asians.
The food was good and the service was fast. Not fantastic, but good Chinese food. If you feel like chow mein with a dash of racism and a hint humiliation — go to KanBai.

La bouffe d’ici est plus en plus po bonne! peut etre a cause le propriete a change… et le service est comme si comme ca… les serveurs qui parlent meme po en francais. la toillet est po propre non plus…

There is nothing more satisfying than having a craving for a particular treat, going someplace on a whim and having the dish perfectly prepared at a reasonable price.
This is exactly what I experienced tonight at KanBai. I came to Montréal specifically looking for lobster, chinese style. I was staying around the corner and this was literally the first place I came across.
It was early on a Tuesday night — just barely 5PM, but there were a couple of tables occupied already. Once I saw they had several lobster dishes on the menu (at Market Price), I agreed to be seated.
I had to decide between steamed lobster with ginger and scallion or lobster with spicy chili pepper sauce. For a moment, I considered asking for it done with black bean sauce, since I wasn’t sure about the chili sauce and it’s hard to go wrong with Black Bean Sauce.
Happily, I went with my gut and ordered the Lobster in Chili Sauce, which the waitress said was 22 $. As anyone who has been in these «big table» family style Chinese restaurants knows, the portions are usually large and made to share, so I refrained from ordering anything else besides tea (comes with anyways) and a small bowl of rice.
The lobster was PERFECT. It was, I imagine, quickly deep fried because many of the parts that would normally be inedible were rendered bits of crunchy deliciousness. The sauce was a mouthwatering blend of salt, whole peppercorns, scallions and dried red peppers — lots of them! I tasted a bit of sweet, but not too much. Overall, there were several really well balanced complimentary flavors. The lobster was succulent, lots of meat in the claws, body and of course tail — and it was split in all the right places to make getting the meat out that much easier. The sauce was so tasty I found myself wanting to eat the head and tail as well, which I have never done before, but happily did tonight.
Finally, I understand the Chinese concept of nose to tail (or perhaps antenna to back fin in this case) dining. I simply couldn’t get enough of this dish. My only regret was that I didn’t have friends to share and ooh and ahh over it with. If you’re a lobster fan, head on down and order this dish. Don’t worry — even though it’s a chili pepper sauce, it’s not that spicy. It’s just spicy enough to pop that flavor up a notch. The peppercorns were a tasty surprise and definitely added a lot to this dish.
It seemed like an excellent value for a really high quality meal served in a nice setting.
They DO take Visa — just not MC or Amex for some reason.

The Sichuan eggplant was not good: sweet, one-​dimensional. The sliced fish poached in oil, a great dish usually, was OK, but I did not detect any Sichuan peppercorns, and it was not spicy enough. Other dishes were between mediocre and good.
Service was friendly and attentive.
There are several other better Sichuan options in Montréal.

Came here by fluke, were actually looking for another place. Attractive looking place, service very quick, efficient, and happy to see you out just as quickly and efficiently. We were a party of 2, ordered the General Tao chicken, and the beef ribs in honey sauce, along with vegetable fried rice and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. A pot of tea arrived lickety split, followed by the wine, and then our dishes. The General Tao was standard, the beef ribs in honey sauce, little better than rubber erasers in some nonhoney sauce. The vegetable fried rice… standard as well. We hadn’t even finished our meal and the waitress was already clearing our table! What, they were expecting some VIPS, party of a few hundred perhaps? Better to check out other restos in the area, much better food with same or better prices, and no one eager to see you go.

very decent Chinese spicy food. I recommend the spicy deep fried chicken. I also like the lotus root, fried one and the juicy one.

We were looking for a restaurant to celebrate the year end. There were over 20 of us, and our budget was only $ 400 (i.e. less than $ 20 per person). With this budget, all other restaurants we enquired at could only give us something really simple and unimpressive. Eg, a bento set from a Japanese restaurant or a pasta from a western restaurant. Then we found Kanbai.
Food here is good. We had two tables and ordered about 8 dishes for each table. The total bill was below $ 400 (excl taxes and tips). Memorable dishes included the Water-​cooked Fish (a numbing-​spicy dish), deep-​fried garlic Shishamo fish, the Ma-​Po Toufu, roasted duck, eggplant, four-​seasons beans etc. There was even some food for us to doggy-​bag.
Service is as you would expect in such a restaurant — pretty efficient though harried servers (and hence don’t expect small talk or niceties from them). Can’t complain, really.
Ambience is above average. It is new, and clean. However when it is crowded, it gets really echo-​ey… something to do with its acoustics.
My main peeve, if I have to name one, is that the floor tiles are extraordinarily slippery when wet. We came after a snow fall, and like other customers we were trailing snow into the restaurant, and slipping. Think ice. Indeed, would be hazardous for older folks. For a Montréal restaurant at street level, I should think they ought to have the common sense to choose floor tiles that afford better traction even when wet.

We love getting take out from this place! I have to say they are very authentic and the food is not over sauced and salted like a lot of other restaurants. Our favourite dishes are the fish sauce eggplant and the cumin lamb. I have to say that they are a must try if you like eggplant and lamb.
We are definitely going to go there again or do take out!
Recommended!

This place is way better then the Kanbai located near Concordia.
The food is excellent, well prepared, and perfectly seasoned. I would like to point out that for the numerous times I’ve had the pleasure to dine here, the food was consistently that good and tasted great. For a Sichuanese restaurant, consistency is something extremely important yet so often undervalued.
The Yuxiang Eggplant is truly amazing here, the eggplants are not soggy, full of flavors, and the amount of sauce is just right. The Sichuan Boiled Fish is also extremely delicious, the visual presentation is stunningly beautiful: huge pot filled with spicy soup, topped with a handful of dry chili peppers.
The restaurant offers some Cantonese dishes as well, but the stars are really the spicy goodness. You don’t come to this place to eat General Tao, you’re here because you want to excite your pallets!
The interior décor is really nice, the place is neat and clean, but not spacey enough to accommodate the large volume of diners it gets every night.
I only have two issues with this restaurant:
1. It does not accept Credit Cards.
2. The waiters just sort of ignore you during dinner service; I get it, it’s a busy place with lots of hungry diners, but that’s not a valid excuse.

So delicious and so real Chinese food!!! I’m grateful that we found a such good Chinese restaurant in Montréal. They offer Sichuan, Cantonese, and Hunan cuisines. I’ve been here so many times and I must say each dish was very tasty and yummy!
Oh, btw, this location was another restaurant called «new dynasty»; Now «Kanbai» take the place and did a renovation. It’s very clean and beautiful now. And I have to say: foods in Kanbai are much better than New Dynasty!!!

So we were told about this restaurant from the boss of «New Dynasty» who used to occupy this location.
As the previous person wrote probably the cleanest place in china town. But can this be the place I have been looking for in montreal. A real szechuan place. none of this General tao crap… Looking at the menu at the window what do I see??? General Tao!!! But thanx to some chinese people leaving they told me it was good. So I said why not…
I ordered the potato strips, Szechuan noodles, cumin lamb and spicey chicken (No bones).
Noodles and Patatos come first… OMG its the real think I said. It was awesome. First time ever I eat this in Montréal… then the lamb comes… home run again. Awesome… I am waiting for the climax, my favorite dish which I even asked the waiter iis it like china. Just as I was to climax from the food the walls came crashing down when the dish arrived, this was not like china but a General tao version of my LaGiJi…
I complained but he told me I should have ordered with the bones. There was a miscommunication over this dish. Do not order no bones…
I still gave a 4 star as everything else was good. I will be back to try the chicken with the bones and I will rate again.

Another KanBai!!! in chinatown this time.
It’s located on clark where the now closed New dynasty used to be. Completely renovated, it is now the cleanest joint in chinatown, from the dining room to the toilets, it’s all modern and clean.
The menu is similar to its sister restaurant KanBai on Ste-​Satherine, szechuan cuisine with some Hunan and Cantonese thrown in there for good measure.
We ordered seven dishes for 6 ppl, and couldn’t finish everything, comes out to 21 $ per person and that’s a damn good deal!!! plus I ate so well. I would say the chef here is better than at the Ste-​cat location, same dishes better taste!
We ordered shrimp, cabbage, calamari, tofu and eggplant, bamboo stew, fish in hot broth and beef soup.
The soup came out first, it’s chopped beef in egg drop style soup, it’s light and subtle, save some for later you will need it. Often the dishes wil be oily and sipping some soup on the side will help balance out the too much oil feeling.
The shrimp was very good, it’s stir fried in soy sauce and sugar, and the sugar caramelizes the shrimps. It is shrimp with the shell on, so be warned. I like the shell on, gives it more flavor, but that’s an acquired taste. The dish is on the sweet side, but with a bit of rice and soup it goes well.
The bamboo shoots are different, they are not the kind you get at the supermarket, and it comes in a mini wok over a flame so it’s keeps warm, very good dish. The bamboo shoots are springy and woody so they are fun to chew, and the flavor is very well balanced, tasty.
Calamari and tofu eggplant are standard fare, still very good though, but the stand out discovery of the night was the cabbage!!! It’s so simple I would never order this, but my friend did and boy am I glad he did.
It’s just cabbage stir fried with some salt, light brown sauce, and hot peppers, and some other secret powder ingredients. Eventhough it has peppers in the dish it’s not spicy at all, and the cabbage looks plain stir fried but when you eat it, it is somehow infused with so much flavor.
I’m happy :)