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Too many meals, not enough self-control 🫠 by @chouchou.jia

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2 months ago

@restaurantchouchou.mtl by @chouchou.jia

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2 months ago

Turning 30 feels strange to write.

For a long time, I tried to understand where I belonged as a cook.

I trained in French kitchens, but no matter how much French food I learned, my mind always returned to Chinese flavors — the tastes and memories I grew up with long before I stepped into a professional kitchen.

Maybe that’s why what I cook today naturally became a conversation between both worlds. Not because I wanted to make “fusion” food, but because this is honestly the only way I know how to cook.

When I was a kid, I watched Ratatouille and believed deeply in one idea: anyone can cook. Maybe it’s also a coincidence that I was born in the Year of the Rat.

At 24, I moved to Canada and started over to become a chef. No safety net, no clear path forward, no guarantee that it would work.

As a woman, I’ve spent years being questioned. Four years ago, people doubted me because I was a young chef. Today, I’m no longer questioned for being a young chef — now I’m questioned for being a young business owner.

Over the past six months of building Restaurant Chouchou, I learned lessons that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The process was uncertain and emotionally overwhelming at times, but I was lucky enough to find an incredible front-of-house team and a strong kitchen team that stood beside me through it all.

My partner and closest friends often remind me why I wanted to open a restaurant in the first place.

It was never about pleasing everyone or proving that I was successful.

It was about creating freely — cooking the dishes I truly wanted to cook.

It was about building a place where people could feel at home.

And maybe most importantly, it was about creating a space where I no longer had to pretend to be someone else.

I also simply love eating too much. Part of why I started cooking was because I wanted to understand how much work, care, and thought could exist behind even the simplest dish.

Restaurant Chouchou built from all of it — memory, doubt, ambition, loneliness, love, and the desire to turn life into something people can taste.

Thanks to everyone who helped me make the dream of opening my restaurant before 30 come true.

Chouchou Jia by @chouchou.jia

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2 months ago

Say hello to @restaurantchouchou.mtl, the newest modern Chinese restaurant led by @chouchou.jia, who formerly worked at the acclaimed @restaurantileflottante. This cozy 35-seat restaurant blends nostalgic Chinese flavours with refined French techniques and local, seasonal ingredients.

Here is what we ordered:

• Black tea egg mimosa, black bean fermented dace, parsley chive mayo
• White asparagus, snow pea, sunchoke chips, young ginger sauce, ginger-scallion oil, shrimp oil
• Grilled leeks, stracciatella, maple onion crisps, chili oil, soba noodles
• Pork dumplings with lemon and sesame sauce

📍 Restaurant Chouchou, 201 Rue Beaubien E.

#chinesefood #mtl #Montreal #mtlfood #mtlresto taken in Montreal, Quebec by @chouchou.jia

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3 months ago

Un premier mois intense.
Merci à tous ceux qui sont passés, revenus, et nous ont soutenus 🤍
Rien de tout ça sans cette équipe. On continue.

A strong first month.
Thank you to everyone who came, came back, and supported us 🤍
None of this without this team. We keep going.

📷 @audreyeve.beauchamp by @chouchou.jia

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3 months ago

Char siu grillé au charbon
Sauce piment grillé ,hollandaise à l’oignon

Char siu, charcoal-grilled
Charred pepper sauce,onion hollandaise

炭烤叉烧，烧椒酱，洋葱荷兰酱

📷 @audreyeve.beauchamp taken in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie by @chouchou.jia

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3 months ago

Presque deux semaines depuis l’ouverture.
On apprend encore, tous les jours.
Merci à tous ceux qui sont déjà passés nous voir.

If you’re here for the ice cream, you’re really here for @vicethechef 🍦

📷： @audreyeve.beauchamp taken in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie by @chouchou.jia

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4 months ago

CONGRATS @chouchou.jia on your new restaurant @restaurantchouchou.mtl ❤️

(Photographed at @restaurantileflottante 💙) by @chouchou.jia

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4 months ago

Ouvert du mardi au samedi
17h — 22h30

📷 @audreyeve.beauchamp taken in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie by @chouchou.jia

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4 months ago

TOFU TARTARE

burnt scallion oil vinaigrette · tofu skin · sucrine · radicchio · celeriac · sesame

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小葱拌豆腐

烧葱油醋 ·豆腐皮 · 生菜 · 红菊苣 · 芹菜根 · 芝麻

📷 @audreyeve.beauchamp taken in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie by @chouchou.jia

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5 months ago

Ouverture en douceur cette semaine Restaurant Chouchou
Jeudi–samedi
Sans réservation · 17h–22h

Soft opening this week at Restaurant Chouchou
Thursday–Saturday
Walk-ins only · 5–10pm

📷 @audreyeve.beauchamp taken in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie by @chouchou.jia

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5 months ago

清补凉
Some refresher I madd from my February event that I forget to post 😂

Mung bean,adzuki bean mixed and cooked in coconut milk. Fresh mango and cooked tapioca covered by “milk skin”, simply made by milk and gelatin. Purple sticky rice ice cream, idea from last visiting in Guizhou

photo by @donnemoipasdesucre by @chouchou.jia

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a year ago