Japas Bistro
552 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC

I have mentioned previously that a perk of food blogging is that you get to met new people. Whether he/she is a new blogger or somebody who has just started, or even readers – sometimes it is different from dining with people you have met previously. Of course, to get to have a good meeting, a small dinner is better than a larger one but I digress. Anyway, in this case, I got to meet Elaine (or, as I have been referring to as Elaine2 to avoid confusions with Elaine of Parker Pages), who writes O My Sweet Tooth!. And, given I am meeting another food blogger, that usual “discussion” is guaranteed to ensue: Where? When? Etc. etc. After some emails going back and forth, we decided to go to Japas Bistro.

OK, here is a small reason why this place was selected: Elaine2 had a coupon for Japas Bistro and this was a chance to use it. How much impact this has in our dining experience I can say, I don’t know. Now, as for on-line coupons (you know who they are), well, I can write a long post about it. But, for this visit, it is what it is.

Putting that aside, after we sat down, the usual "fight" ensued: What to order? Granted, visiting an izakaya-type place means usually sharing small orders and visiting in a small group, namely, two people have challenges of its own as well: You can only order that much. And, given what Elaine2 mentioned about not wanting to order much… Well, it creates a compounding effect. Sorry, Elaine2, restaurant/food blogging will require you to eat! Anyway, after that small debate and ordering, our dishes started to arrive.

Bacon mushroom spring roll. The mushroom, in this case, was enoki. While it had qualities of its own (hey, bacon!), I won’t necessarily say I really liked it. It felt quite greasy and the bacon and mushroom was barely present. I mean, you could taste it but couldn’t really "feel" the texture. It was more fat and the wrap more than anything else.

Cream cheese crab parcel (sp?!). If you had called it ravioli, that would be basically it. It was crispy, I would say thanks to it using wanton wraps, and the filling was indeed creamy. However, crab taste was almost null. Had they called it cream cheese fried ravioli, it would have been (more) accurate.

What is one of the most well known izakaya dishes in Vancouver? Ebi Mayo and this is Japas Bistro version. Shrimp? Check. Mayo? Check. What did not work here was how the shrimp was prepared: it had a thick batter, more than what I was expecting. While the shrimp itself wasn’t bad, it was that mushy feeling it end up developing at that end that made me enjoy it less.

Avocado tempura. I will admit I ordered this out of sheer curiosity. While fried butter it ain’t, you can’t help but say this is fried fat. OK, OK, exaggerating: Yes, avocado is high if fat but, at least, it is vegetable fat, rather than animal fat. As for this here, it was ripe but not much of an avocado taste was present. And, again, the batter… Fortunately, and at least, it was lighter than the ebi mayo’s. The highlight of this dish happened to be jalapeño side sauce. It was slightly creamy with a hint of heat. It is funny that, at times, you praise more the side sauce rather than the main dish itself…

At this point, the waiter made mention that most of the dishes we have ordered were fried ones. In a sort of futile attempt to change that pattern, I ordered grilled sea eel (anago). The really strange twist in this dish, aside from the olive, is the pesto (or, as listed in the menu: "basil sauce"). To put it bluntly, this dish was a complete let down. From the eel itself, with it being almost not seasoned at all, to the bones, to the basil "sauce" not really working here… Well, it was a sort of a disaster on a plate. Had it been grilled a bit more, or even pan fried rather than "grilled" (which, ot a certain extent, I was starting to wonder), I think I would have liked it.

We end up falling back to the fried stuff in the end, this time, chicken karaage. Actually, this was good in its own ways. Not necessarily the best but the chicken morsels were well fried. Can you really go wrong with these? You get the idea…

Mentaiko udon, one of the dishes ordered initially but took its time to arrive (something that was a pattern during the meal). The udon noodles were a bit overcooked but, for some reason, I was OK with it. Probably because the sauce made it slimy? Still, I found it a bit too simple compared to the offering from other izakaya.

At this point, we were almost full but decided to order one more dish in the form of grilled toro pork. I am not sure about you but it doesn’t really look grilled nor it tasted like pork belly. At this point, I wasn’t caring much anymore for this… :/

Finally, as part of the coupon, we were served this scoop of ice cream. I found it a bit icy but, again, didn’t care much…

While I did have some fun with Elaine2, as for the food itself, I can safely say I have had better, specially at the $7 per dish price range. What certainly didn’t help was the fact the food came out slowly, at times too slow. Service was good but it can only help that much. Would I come back? If I don’t want to go to the know ones, in the usual beaten path location, maybe. But a big unlikely maybe (as I might instead suggest somewhere else). Now, one thing that some have metioned is that lunch fare seems better. If that’s the case, well, that’s one thing; dinner didn’t work.

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…

Kingyo
871 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Izakaya places in Vancouver are places I have seldom gone because you need to go in a small group; something I rarely have opportunities to do. Hmmmmm… I guess outside of my food bloggers circle of friends, I need to find other friends more willing to eat out… (OK, PO aside, who has been a good sport; in fact, he was a partner in crime on this visit!). Sure, you could go by yourself but that does not necessarily work that well, as you can only try that many things. But this post is not about the regular izakaya fare; rather, it is about lunch, something that might be an oxymoron if you are having it in an izakaya (unless you work graveyard shift). And, given my previous lunch experience in an izakaya (check my visit to Guu with Garlic and Wanoma ), my expectations were all over the place. Oh, well, I was about to find out!

Since most people go to Kingyo for after work, there was absolutely nothing for me to do a comparison on, not even the ambiance. Sure, ambiance is not something I care much about, but, if it was really dark, would you be able to notice this?

Fortunately, the menu was straight forward, with several yoshoku offerings and some drinks. I decided to skip drinks and went for tea. PO, on the other hand, went for a drink… To tell you the truth, I completely overlooked what was ordered. Calpis soda with melon? The only detail that was mentioned was that it was quite sweet. Sorry about being fuzzy on this one… -_-;;;

PO went for something “simple”, in this case, simple being Kanazawa Pork Cutlet Curry. I will have to admit it looked quite good and, had not order my dish, chances are I would have ordered it. Not really noticeable in the picture above is the gravy/curry sauce. According to PO, it was slightly spicy, which deviates a little bit of the norm, i.e., a more sweet gravy. Also, rather than just gravy, it had some pieces of minced meat. Finally, the cutlet was crispy and, in no way, dry.

As for my dish… I ordered their Assorted Delux (sic) Bento. While I could provide what was written in the menu, there is an “items change daily” note so what is written might not be accurate. So, without further ado…

A picture of the whole order

Egg omelette with eel – the piece of eel was barely there and the egg wasn’t really sweet.

Mackerel salad.

Japanese stew. Vegetables were soft but otherwise a hearty stew.

“Hamburg” steak.

Grilled salmon.

Chicken karaage.

Braised (?) pork

Sashimi, don’t remember the exact fish cut, though.

In addition to the small plates above, there were two pickled items, a bowl of rice and some miso soup. For the later it wasn’t the usual variety; instead, it had some pumpkin in it. As for the small dishes themselves, it was a bit of a mix, i.e., some I had mixed feelings, some were better, others were meh. For example, the egg one was just OK. There was a bit of fishiness from the mackerel (in the mackerel salad) but otherwise it was an OK salad. I liked the stew but, given the size, you could only taste that much. While it is called a hamburg “steak”, it look actually like a meatball. Taste-wise it was pretty much like one and the glaze gave a sweet taste. The salmon lacked the skin which was unfortunate. The karaage, being a fried item, was good, though far from being the best I ever had. The pork, as usual, is good. Finally, the sashimi was somewhat disappointing as it had a slight rubbery texture.

Despite my description seems to indicate there were mostly disappointments, actually that wasn’t the case. It had some redeeming qualities but it is difficulty to explain, as, after the second bite, you want to take a third one. Unfortunately, by then, that mini dish is gone! There was another minor problem: some of the dishes weren’t pipping hot, just lukewarm… In the end, I did enjoy all the combination of flavours and textures.

After the meal, I had to ask one question to the waitress: according to the menu, this dish is limited to 10 per day. Why? I partially understand their need to limit the amount as that limits the amount of food wasted in the case less people order (i.e., you just prepare 10 portions); however, some of them does not really matter that much as you can prepare it to order. In the end, the answer was on the line of a gimmick. By limiting the “availability”, people would be more encouraged to order it. Strange (but effective) marketing if you ask me…

Overall, it was an interesting lunch. At $16, it was expensive and the limited availability gimmick might be annoying. If variety is something you like, this lunch will certainly feel your boots. But, putting that one aside, the other dish ordered was seemed interesting as well. Given this experience with lunch, I can only say I look forward for an izakaya experience.

Wanoma Izakaya
867 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Nobody can deny the fact there has been a plethora of izakaya in Vancouver. Ever since that “explosion” in the West End, it is almost guaranteed you will see one open each year. The “new kid on the block” is Wanoma Izakaya which, in a really strange move, opened next to last year’s “new kid”, Kingyo. I admit I haven’t been to izakaya in a long while (Guu in Gastown last year, blogged here), I have been there for lunches (Guu with Garlic). While I know the lunch experience and the afterwork-”snack” experience is like day and night, at least such visit can give me a glimpse of what they can offer. With that in mind, I went to Wanoma Izakaya for lunch.

In an un-typical way compared to visits to other Japanese establishments, my colleague OP and I arrived slightly after noon and we were standing at the entrance for a while. There were two other customers in a table (which I will put as a question mark, as the chef was sitting with them while we were eating our meals) and nobody noticed us for around one minute or so. I mean, more often than not, the hospitality is more noticeable as soon as you walk in. Hmmmmm….

Anyway, after we sat down, things started to improve (though, I will wonder if me snapping pictures have something to do…). Now, in another “strange” fashion when the waitress was taking our order, she kneel down, the same way a lot of waiters/waitresses do at TGIF. Hmmmmm….. Anyway, to the food, starting with…

Now, I know, this might be your “usual” miso soup… Wait, actually it wasn’t as “usual”. Notice the colour? Yes, it is more orange-y than your usual one, not to mention there were chunks of pumpkin! Well, that should tell me I shouldn’t take things totally for granted with this dish and once in a while there will be variations. In this case, it didn’t have that strong salty/savoury taste, rather a pleasant slight sweetness.

Here, OP’s dish: Akegatsu Mori: deep fried pork, shrimp and seasonal vegetables in panko crusted (sic) served with green salad, miso soup and rice. No, please do not ask what is that dark dressing on top, I was a but “busy” chatting with OP to ask. Sorry! Not included in the pictures, there was a small jar with a brown-ish sauce which I assume it would be a miso dressing, but, again, I did not ask. However, when asked about the food itself, OP mentioned it was quite tasty and, in a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being *really* good), OP gave a 7. And, I will admit, I wish I had ordered that!

And here is my dish: Chirashi Sushi Bowl: Salmon, Tuna and fresh vegetables on sushi rice with wasabi soy sauce or spicy miso sauce, served with miso soup. OK, at first, I thought: WTH?! OK, let’s take that back. My perception and understanding of chirashi is that of slices of seafood, similar to that of sashimi, on top of sushi rice. But, here, it looked like a hybrid between a “modern” dish, tartare and a Korean bibimbap. Yes, saying I was confused would be an understatement! Another thing I must mention is that eating it was a bit difficult. In my case, when I am served rice, I would usually eat it by lifting the bowl – unless that is not possible, in which case I would use a spoon. Of course, in the case it is western style, I will use the appropriate utensils. However, I wasn’t sure how to proceed here with only chopsticks – fortunately, the waitress asked if I wanted a fork or spoon (I went for the later). But now, the taste itself. The rice was a bit subpar for sushi rice. Well, it was sticky, yet it felt plain, as if there was something missing. It is possible that was “by design”, as there were the two before mentioned sauces to add at my own discretion. I must mention they both worked quite well, as it provided enough saltiness on one side and “kick” on the other. That is quite important because both the tuna and salmon in this case did not provide much taste on its own; I felt they existed mostly because of their texture. The slaw, though, unfortunately, I did not do anything at all to the overall combination. Sure, it gave some crunchiness but, I don’t feel it worked the same way the vegetables work in bibimbap. And I wish it was topped with some more seaweed/nori.

Overall, it was a good lunch and an interesting viable option. It peaked my interest on coming back after work and check what they have to offer. But, then again, they face an uphill battle in the form of Kingyo next to it. And, as mentioned, this is lunch; that after work experience might be day and night…

Kitanoya Guu
375 Water St
Vancouver, BC V6B

I wonder how long has Guu been in Vancouver. What surprises me more though is that I have never been to one! When a group of ex-colleagues agreed on meeting after work and Guu was mentioned, I was all up for it. (On that note, some places refer it as “Guu with Otokomae” rather than Kitanoya Guu. Don’t ask what is the difference…)

We agreed on meeting in the Gastown location.

It was not a Friday so it was not as full as one would have expected. Afte arriving, we were given a hot wet towel, called oshibori, to clean our hands. When all the members of our party were there (unfortunately, some could not make it so the party that night was 6), food ordering started and, of course, arriving. Since we are in izakaya, drinks are expected, in this case, a couple of bottles of Asahi beer.

As for food…

Edamame, boiled green soy beans. It was OK, though I must mention I am not crazy about it.

Okonomiyaki, sometimes described as a Japanese pancake. Not sure if that’s an exact description but that works for most people. I asked for this dish. It was not overly savoury but the sauce on top gave it a sweet note. Sorry about the fuzzy picture; I had to quickly take the picture as people wanted to start digging already!

Yakiudon, as if there was not enough carbs already! It was good, as it wasn’t too oily, compared to, say, a stir fry.

Ebimayo. I have been told this is one of the best know dishes: Fried shrimps with a special mayo. If this is a signature dish, unfortunately I must say it is overrated, as I did not find the shrimp too “sweet”.

Dumplings. It was OK, specially if you compare it to a Dim Sum place.

Salmon sashimi. It was OK. Not sure if it is wild salmon but given it is more orange than the usual farmed one, that would hint me they are.

Korokke or Japanese style croquette. In the small bowl to the right, it was pop corn ribs. Now that I think about it, I think we had a bit too many fried dishes… Not extremely excited about either one.

Steak tataki. Is it me or it looks like a carpaccio? Anyway, this was quite good. On a funny note, this is what I was referring to try to take pictures when people are hungry!

For desset, we ordered fried banana with ice cream. The ice cream here was coconut ice cream. I think the banana was not ripe enough but, regardless, it was a good way to finish it. We also ordered an Earl Grey Crème brûlée but did not have a chance to take a picture of it. It was also really good.

As a bonus, we were given frozen grapes. Notice it was not ice-cube frozen, instead, it was as if you were biting to really fine ice or snow.

Overall, if it is food alone, I would say it is just above average. Some dishes are good but others are just OK. However, in my opinion, going to an izakaya is not all about food. Instead is about providing an environment where you can meet with friends, drink, have some food and enjoy the time. In that case, Guu is quite good.