Neotokyo Nakagin: The Izakaya Little Sister to Neotokyo Opens in Mile End

More than three years after the success of Neotokyo Noodle Bar in downtown Montreal, restaurateur Yann Levy (Biiru, Gokudo, Escondite) is extending his retro-futuristic Japanese universe into a whole new neighbourhood, with a whole new proposition: Neotokyo Nakagin, on Saint-Viateur East. Here, we leave the focused discipline of the ramen bowl and step into the looser playground of the izakaya.

The project was supposed to open nearly a year ago. “I thought it was going to be turnkey, and we ended up having to redo everything from scratch,” Yann recalls. Ventilation, gas lines, code compliance: the space, a former restaurant that had closed, required a complete renovation. This long-awaited project is the result of a lot of effort, and the wait was absolutely worth it.

What to expect from Nakagin menu: izakaya, sashimi, sake, and wine

The idea behind Nakagin was simple: keep the cyberpunk spirit of the original Neotokyo, but channel it toward an experience built for sharing, sake, and wine. “When you go to eat a ramen, you go to eat a ramen, period,” Yann sums up, describing what he wanted to avoid this time. Enter shareable izakaya plates, with a menu that bets on quality: serious sashimi, carefully curated bottles of sake and wine, without pushing prices upward. “The goal is to stay affordable and laid-back,” he insists. The menu was developed in-house, with a few dishes signed by a chef friend from Rosela Sushi in New York. A seasonal card and specials will roll in over the coming weeks.

A retro-futuristic universe, dialled down

On the design side, we stay in the Neotokyo universe, but in a more grown-up register: lots of concrete, plenty of green leather, and large windows that flood the room with daylight. At night, the lighting dims and the mood tips toward something more cocooning. “It feels less street than the Neotokyo on Viger, which looks more like a back alley in Japan,” Yann notes. He designed the entire space himself, as he does for each of his projects. The room seats around eighty, and a covered 70-seat terrace will open in the coming weeks.

Yann’s passion for Japan is nothing new: he has travelled to Japan every year since 2012 (!), and Nakagin is just one chapter in a much bigger story. Once the dinner service is fully dialled in, a quicker lunch menu will be added, tailored to the area’s office crowd, with ramen, mazemen, and rice bowls. A konbini-inspired mini-mart will open in the same space in the fall, a sushi-sake-cocktail speakeasy is planned for 2027, and a gyoza counter will follow downtown. Just good news! Mile End is lucky to be welcoming Nakagin. Bon appétit!

Written by Jean-Philippe Tastet
Photography by Alison Slattery

Updated on May 27, 2026

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