Guu Garden

Guu Garden
M101-888 Nelson Street
Vancouver, BC

Every once in a while, I notice new food bloggers dropping by and, well, since I am always up to meet more people, what better way than breaking bread with them? Of course, barring some wacky circumstances like feeling under the weather business trips, hey, I am always up for it! This time, it was Mariko “Mare-Bear” who writes 604 On the Go, who by sheer coincidence, lives relatively close to my workplace. Well, that means trying somewhere nearby, right? Wrong! Initially, we were planning to go to Kosetsu – a newly open izakaya in Robson and Cardero (as if we needed yet one more…); however, when we arrived, we found out they weren’t open yet. That was a bit of a curveball because the sign outside contradicted the waitress who was refusing us entrance. Oh, well, we said, how about we walk to some other place in Downtown? In a random turn of events, we walked by Guu Garden and, well, why not!

The name should imply one thing: they are part of the Guu “chain”. While there are some unique characteristics, at times I can’t help to wonder… Aren’t they cannibalizing their own business? I mean, with all the Guu locations concentrated in a less than 3Km radius (not to mention other izakaya), there is only that much population to sustain the business… But, still, they opened this location which means something.

Another thing that I have noticed is that they are more open to embrace non-Japanese customers (OK, Mariko, this was a stab to me…). Unlike, say, Korean restaurants where there seem to be a disconnect and the dual menu in Chinese restaurants, for the most part, there doesn’t seem to be anything “hidden”. The bartender, waiter/waitresses could communicate in the local lingua franca so that should count for something. Granted, they are not alienating their own either, as during dinner, I noticed some Japanese customers from afar. Has izakaya reached that level of cultural acceptance?

For drinks, we both said “tea”. Not sure if it is a trend, odd expectation or what not but, in a lot of places, charge for it. Should that be the case? At least, they only charge us for a single pot rather than per person. As for the tea… Well, I am not the greatest fan of green tea (not been on that bandwagon) so let’s leave it at that.

We started off with kabocha korokke, kabocha being a type of squash. At first, I thought it was just an over sized fried dumpling. It wasn’t until it was cut that reveal a surprise: a hard boiled egg! However, that egg was overcooked (see the gray ring between the white and the yolk?)… As for the squash, it had a smooth texture and light sweetness but, fortunately, not too much to consider it a sweet dish/dessert. The mayo-like sauce didn’t do much for it, though.

This is a dish I wanted to order almost no matter what: ankimo or monkfish liver. I know a lot of people might bring their pitchfork and demand my head but…

Anyway, monkfish liver is consider such delicacy that some call it foei gras of the sea. While I like liver, I am not necessarily a fan of foei gras. For example, I would go for chicken liver, cow liver and so on. Skillfully cooked it taste actually quite good but most people don’t eat it just because it is liver. Anyway, as for this one, I wasn’t particularly impressed. It wasn’t necessarily smooth and the fishiness was more noticeable than what I had expected. Still, it was interesting but I expected something more.

For some reason, I ordered spiced chicken wings. Probably I was expecting something really agressive in terms of heat/spiciness? While the chicken wings by themselves were OK, I can safely say I have had better. However, I give them credit in the sense it didn’t feel generic.

Given it is still spot prawn season, I saw no reason NOT to order this. Here, the middle shell was removed but that was about it. It had a fresh taste, almost to the point it was borderline sweet (as in savoury type sweet). I can’t deny I really like this but, alas, had it come with the shell itself… I guess if they did that, it might as well give them to your raw from the tank!

Yup, that is another reason why I like spot prawn: nothing goes to waste! Here, after we ate the shrimp, they took the head and fry it. The end result was a really crunchy, crispy morsel with still a hint of that shrimp taste I learned to love…

Mariko went ahead and ordered several pieces of oden. Here, the daikon, ganmo, chikuwa, egg, scallion and, finally, fried egg. While all of these had interesting notes, it is not something I would have ordered if in a group. Don’t get me wrong, on its own, they are interesting and served to balance the fried items we ended up having. But, just that it is something I would eat if I was by myself… Sorry, Mariko! But, back to the different piece of oden. Each of them had some unique characteristics and complimented each other if served in a big bowl. For example, almost blank palette in the boiled egg, fluffy with the fried egg, rubbery in some other pieces, soft for the daikon and so on.

Now back to the more regular dishes to share, we ended up having the miso squid. I will have to say I wasn’t really impressed with this one for one reason: it didn’t taste like “fresh” squid. That’s because, in addition to a slightly rubbery texture, it had a smell similar to that of Chinese dried squid. It is possible it could have gone unnoticed if you didn’t pay too much attention; in my case, I did so I wasn’t as excited about it as others could be…

So, Melody and Sherman aren’t the only ones who like tongue. Mariko likes them as well! OK, that didn’t sound “good”. But, wanting to try tongue, we ended up ordering the beef tongue chazuke, which is rice with a broth (or tea) poured on top. In this case, the rice was actually seasoned but, alas, the piece of meat wasn’t that exciting – I thought it could have a softer texture… Regardless, if you haven’t tried tongue in the past, I think this one would work really well as a starting point.

Finally, I wanted to try something that is also consume in parts of China/Taiwan. Here, chicken knee cartilage. I will have to say I had some fun watching Mariko eat this – It seemed she was trying to avoid the actual cartilage pieces! But, back to this dish, unfortunately, if I were to compare to the version offered in Taiwanese places BBTW-like places, it would be a real loser. The fry job was really strange, as it didn’t have that much of the characteristics similar to that of tempura. However, since this is not tempura per se, should I have had different expectations?

Overall, the food was mid of the pack. Probably my (mis)conception of izakaya would have led me to expect something more. Or, Guu does not necessarily want their different locations to be homogenous hence this one has some offerings/dishes different from the other Guu locations. What is even more strange is that several of the dishes were single serving types. For example, as mentioned above, the oden would have been something I would eat by myself (same with the kobocha korokke). Of course, that result in that interaction of sharing the food, which, in its own ways, creates an experience of its own. So, would I come back? In a way, it is sort of a depends. For some reason, my experiences with the other Guu was “better” but, then again, we order another set of dishes. Probably will come back to try even more dishes and then go from there…

Tagged under: Downtown • Izakaya • Japanese • Vancouver