Octopus’ Garden
1995 Cornwall Ave
Vancouver, BC

Confession time: This post wasn’t supposed to happen. In fact, due to timing, my last post was supposed to be that of the Vancouver’s 1st Foodie Festival and then hang my camera and keyboard. However, in some sort of unfinished business type feeling, I knew I had to visit some places – one of them was Octopus’ Garden which is the topic of this post. Under normal conditions, I might have gone regardless but chosen not to blog. However, I was with good company and, despite knowing my intentions of stop blogging, gave me one final push and suggested I should blog it. So, as one of my last post, I might as well go out with a bang!

Octopus’ Garden is a small sushi restaurant in the Kitsilano area which could easily go unnoticed by pedestrian traffic. However, such are the places that I really like: low profile that can deliver good food. And, in Octopus’ Garden’s case, it also has some call to fame: the option for omakase, aka, “I entrust you”, aka, you leave it to the chef. From other people’s perspective, it can be considered a tasting menu of sorts but the commonality is that you don’t make any decision (aside from ordering it that is, though, alas, I wasn’t asked for preferences…). In fact, that is the call to fame of other places including Tojo’s (though, of course, Hidekazu Tojo himself will tell you he has other claims to fame as well). And now that I bring Tojo’s, there is a really important consideration: fellow blogger Sherman, thougt Octopus’ Garden can be considered better than Tojo’s because it does not have all the attitude from the later. So, given all things combined, there were high expectations for this meal.

After arriving, we were seated in a separate/secluded area of the restaurant. In fact, one thing that I considered odd was the layout. It allows some privacy at the expense of how many tables can be set up. If this is something the restaurant is willing to do, it means they really trust what they can crank out to keep customers coming. That’s all good but, for this meal, I was only worried about what would be served to me that night. And, yes, since I mentioned so many times “omakase”, not ordering it would be short of shooting myself on the foot. But wait! It wasn’t in the menu! It happens it is not listed in the menu at all: you just have to ask. For the price ranges, it starts at $60. Granted, Sherman went for the $100; however, my dining companion isn’t the heaviest eater in the world so we ended up going for the basic $60 version.

For drinks, we went for tea. I was given the option to choose from four different teas and I narrowed it down to pear green tea and a tea called Starlight – Green tea & Oolong tea naturally flavored with raspberry, currant and strawberry. In the end, I went for the later. Despite I didn’t know what was coming in terms of food, one thing I was sure: overstating the obvious, food would be savoury and it would be interesting to have something fruity to pair it against. And, for the most part, it worked! You could easily tell it had some berries hints to it, though, at the same time, for some odd reason that brought me some memories, as if I have had it previously. Hmmmmm…. That made me wonder, after the fact that is, how would have the pear green tea worked…?

And now, the food. We started off with octopus sunomono. Compared to sunomono served in other sushi spots, these had a really light hint of acidity. That is, it didn’t have an overpowering acidic taste, just enough to get you wanting to have more food. The slices of octopus were firm but by no means chewy. Not sure if good or bad but it didn’t have too much of a taste. Good way to start off but didn’t necessarily wow me based on expectations.

I didn’t get the complete description of dish #2, as, again, good company was keeping me busy and entertained. From what I recall, the yellow parts are fish + roe. The purple pieces were octopus wasabi. Extremely slimy but were also crunchy. The wasabi part of the name was a bit of a misnomer; you didn’t really get that “kick” we usually associate with wasabi. OK, exaggerating here. There was a bit of that feeling but not to the extent of having to include it as part of a dish name. The cured sausage was just that, nothing more, nothing less. But, they “key” here was the ankimo, aka, monkfish liver. That piece was creamy but, for some reason, it felt there was something missing, as the grated radish didn’t really do much for me. Hmmmmmmm…. Am I starting a trend? It was OK but not mind blowing…

Am I over using odd references a bit too much? If so, how about yet another one here: a miso-like soup with a really crispy lotus chip and a dumpling. It had a consistency of a thick soup, and quite savoury I must add. The dumpling was OK, nothing to write home about, it somehow felt like an Asian version of a matzo ball. However, what really made it was the lotus chip, as, despite it was submerged in the broth, it maintained its crispiness. I think that would have been something I could eat a bowlful of. But, in the end, there were that many chips (as in one) and too much broth for its own good.

At times, I have “complained” that restaurants make fancy dishes just for the sake of hype and/or to attract customers, not necessarily because they are good. Here is a case of such dish: uni shooter. Here, rice is added to a glass, some liquid, a sea urchin roe and quail egg. I was supposed to stir this and then drink it. While you couldn’t really “feel” any slimy texture, it was devoid of almost any taste. The only thing I was able to savour was the piece of mint at the top. Not even the “wasabi”. Sorry, didn’t like this one at all.

We weren’t served one but two different pieces of fish: black cod (?) and red snapper. The black cod (?) was a huge chunk and it felt borderline over cooked. A squeeze of the lemon did some favors to that piece of fish, though. Not much different from most large pieces of grilled fish so, as a result, not much to comment. However, that was not the case of the red snapper. First of all, they gave us one of the best pieces of the fish: the collar. Unlike a piece of fish filet, the meat in this area has a different texture and does not dry up so easily. A piece from the belly section was served along. So, in a way, fat on fat? Yup, the fish itself had a fatty texture to it, a bit slimy; but, I like it this way so it worked fine to me quite well, despite it needed a bit of hands-on to finish it.

It was almost impossible we didn’t have some form of sushi. In this case, we had sashimi, rather than actual sushi. The pieces included black cod, salmon, squid, octopus, flounder and tuna. One thing I will have to admit and that is their really good knife work. See that white piece below the slices of raw fish? Well, that’s not paper: that’s a thinly sliced piece of daikon radish used for decorating purposes. It was almost as thin as a sheet of paper… As for the sashimi itself, alas, I can’t say I enjoyed it. For some reason, it felt… Bland? Now, before anybody even think of bashing me about soy sauce or wasabi and what not, yes, I lightly dipped some before consuming each morsel. However, there was something strange with the fish itself. For example, in the case of the salmon, that unique salmon oily texture wasn’t there, no matter how hard I tried. In the case of the squid, the oba aka, Japanese mint, was the key element, same with the roe on top of slice of flounder. But, past those, I wasn’t sure what to make up from the remaining ones. It felt slightly disappointing…

I wished we were served nigiri sushi but, given we were sharing dishes already, I am sure they thought things might be easier. Here, their dragon roll which contains avocado, unagi and red pepper. I won’t deny it looks great visually, from construction perspective to knife work perspective. However, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the maki itself. Once again, it was OK. Probably slightly above average but not something I can’t live without. I will give them credit to the fact the creaminess of the avocado was there, the sweetness of the red pepper was there. What killed it was that unagi didn’t make an act of presence despite you could visually see it there. I wonder how this would have been had it been nigiri instead…

Finally, to close, Sada-san dropped by and asked us if we were read for dessert. At that point, we were getting full so, sure! And this is one of those instances I have to admit I had a really interesting dessert: deep fried brownie, topped with ice cream. You know how are brownies, you know about vanilla ice cream. Need to say more? In fact, personally I thought this was actually the highlight of the dinner. And, remember, this is coming from a person who is not that much into desserts! Of course, I had to be nitpicky and find a flaw of sorts: the batter used for the brownies was slightly chewy. Regardless of how you like your brownie, I thought that chewiness gave an odd contrast to the brownie. But, still that was a minor detail and, again, nitpicking.

Overall, I felt it was a bit of a contradiction. In a per dish perspective, I thought the dishes were OK… As an OK due to expectations. Had I got these dishes because somebody else ordered for me, it would be a bit of hit (the red snapper) and a bit of a miss (uni shoot). But, combined, it would be above average in the bigger perspective of things. However, I was somehow expecting more and, well, as served, didn’t work. Could it be that my recent visit to Kimura skewed things a little bit? Or could it be I should have gone for te $100 price point? Regardless of which one it is, I am still curious and would be willing to go again… And, who knows, this time, break the bank?

Kimura
3883 Rupert Street
Vancouver, BC

If I were to visit a restaurant, how often should I do a re-post? Once, twice, thrice? More often than not, unless there is something catastrophic or the experience between the first visit and the second visit is extremely different, I don’t believe there is such need, specially if the time gap between these are extremely short. After all, your experience have documented and capture that essence, is there really a need to do so? After visiting Kimura with Sherman in summer 2010 (wow, we did tackle a lot of these hidden places early!), I was hoping to return for their omakase – or leave it to the chef, which can be considered a tasting menu of sorts. So, in what seemed to have a been a lot of coincidences, when Chris (Eating is the Hard Part) was arranging with me restaurants to consider for his visit, gastronomydomine of the Foodosophy team wrote a post about omakase at Kimura. Result? A flurry of text messages started between Chris and myself. Omakase at Kimura it was…

While making the reservations, I told them ahead of time we would for the $40 omakase. Now, there was no specifics as if that was supposed to be a a possible price point; rather, I threw the number. Given they didn’t say anything at all, I confirmed the time for the meal and from there we went.

Arriving that day to the restaurant was a bit of an adventure in its own ways. It was “snowing” that day (as in flakes that never stick), Bin had to take a small detour and, as a result, he had to cab in and so on. When we arrived, I was disappointed we weren’t given the option to seat at the bar. Now, I am aware it is an option; but… But, still, we were seated close enough to observe most of the action so, at least, there was a consolation prize of sorts. Anyway, after warming up and confirming we want to go for the $40 price point omakase, food started to arrive, starting off with…

An appetizer trio consisting of jelly-ied pigs ear and hock, grilled sardines with shiso leaves and kabocha pumpkin. The best description of the ears would be in the line of a dense, savoury jelly. The one thing I wish it had was a some snap from the pigs ear. I mean, you could see it, but, at the same time, it wasn’t “there”. The grilled sardines, which, by itself is an oily fishy tasting, errr…, fish (?), maintained those characteristics. The meat wasn’t soft or flaky; instead, it almost felt as if it was a single chunky piece. And that worked fine for me, given I grew up eating it like that. As for the kabocha, unlike some other forms of cooked pumpkin, this one was borderline dense and heavy. It was lightly sweet which provided some contrast to the other savoury parts of the appetizer.

Trio of oysters. Now, I am a bit of a person with mixed feelings about oysters. I mean, I will eat it and, if I were to put in an oyster eating competition, I could certainly eat a lot of them. However, I won’t go ballistic if I don’t have them. Plus, procuring them in good conditions is a pain and, depending on the restaurant, it might charge an arm and a leg. Granted, there are places where buck-a-shuck is offered but these are quite popular so there might be packed or have long lines. In Kimura’s case, Mr Kimura himself told us these were flown directly from Japan. Does it guarantee it is better than local BC ones? Given I am not crazy about oysters, what I can say is that these had a clean taste and the three forms of roe provided some crunchiness and saltiness to it. Even Sarah who had some hesitations happily ate them!

Salmon carpaccio with a sesame, soy sauce dressing. There were two types of salmon: a more orange-y one plus a reddish one. I wonder if they were using farmed salmon or one of the more orange-y type wild salmon. I would lean towards the later but, regardless, the dressing was quite strong. It wasn’t bad just that it overpowered the salmon itself. Would I order it by itself? Not certain.

Ankimo, aka, monkfish liver, aka, foie gras of the sea, on a squid ink sauce. Yup, you got that right, this is a piece of liver, not too different from foie gras. Well, there are some key differences; for example, this wasn’t seared and, despite it was creamy, it had a clean taste. Quite a sharp contrast to the monkfish liver I had at Guu Garden… The sauces didn’t make much of a difference but, hey, as long as it didn’t detract from the key part, I am good!

Oyster tempura, mushroom and okra. Another oyster dish? Well, won’t complain here! Now, I don’t think “tempura” is the best description, as it wasn’t really crispy; instead, the batter had a chewy texture to it. As for the flavour, it had a light sea taste to it (but not as in a bad “spoiled” way). The mushroom was shiitake and, if you have had it before, you know it has a quite pungent taste to it. As for the okra, it is either a like it or hate it for a lot of people. In my case, I liked the creaminess of the inside so I am good as is. However, I am jumping ahead! There is one thing that my picture didn’t really capture and that was a bit of edible golden spray. Yup, Mr. Himura spray something glittering golden on the plate. But it was mostly for show as there was no taste behind it. Hey, at times flare works!

If there was a dish that ended up in a strange spot would be this one: shrimp on risotto, which wasn’t really a risotto in the straight sense of the word. It felt more on the lines of rice molded in a ring and then the top and bottom cooked in a way similar to grilled onigiri. It gave it a crunchy exterior and a somewhat creamy interior (but, once again, not to the same point as a risotto). Alas, it ended up slightly too bitter for my taste. The shrimp on top (served with salsa) ended up being a miss as well. How so? Slightly overdone which translates into a chewy morsel.

As soon as I saw this little cup, my eyes glittered. Before the waitress could name the dish, I yelled “chawanmushi!!!“, to which the waitress could help but give a big smile and just nod. So what is this?

Translated as “tea cup steam”, this is an savoury egg custard, not too different from my very favourite dish: Chinese steamed eggs. However, this one contains a strand of udon so, technically, it could be called odamaki mushi. Regardless of the name (or technicality), I will have to say “I like it” no matter what. But, don’t let me jump ahead: in addition to the strand of udon, it also had some chicken, a piece of shrimp and mushroom. It wasn’t really salty and the consistency was stiffer than how my mom would make the Chinese version. But, once again, I just call it good eats! (Sorry, this is a biased statement!).

Of course, the (nigiri) sushi course… From top down, battera sushi, red tuna, o-toro, flounder (though, I thought it could have been halibut), surf clam and unagi. From the rice perspective, other than the battera sushi, the rice in the rest was loose to the point it could easily crumble if you were to try to pick it using chopsticks. So, yes, hands were used. Also, I didn’t really dip it in soy sauce, as Mr. Himura brushed the appropriate pieces before they were served. As for the fish, I will just say it was fresh. Sorry, there isn’t much to say other than it was good.

To close, some green tea ice cream. To be blunt… Nah, didn’t care much for this after all the other dishes served.

Overall, for $40, this is quite a deal. I mean, they were 9 dishes. If you were to average it, that would be under $5 each. And, we are not talking dishes made out of cheapo type ingredients. Oysters? Monkfish liver? Sushi??? So, indeed it is worth every buck. But, of course, let’s not abuse a good thing. If would certainly come back, given it has a good price point and good dishes. Just that, if I do so, it would most likely be once every six weeks or two months.

Q Go Ramen
1443 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Reflecting on my last ramen post, i.e., Motomachi Shokudo, I have to admit that, despite new ramen shops have appeared, one thing is also good: Opinions have been divisive as to which ones are “good” and which ones are “bad”. In fact, some people believe Kintaro is still king of the hill, while Santouka is overrated, the lower profiled Benkei hits the spot and Sanpachi seems to be middle of the road. Unless you are the one who says “everything is good” (specially if you didn’t have to pay for it), these opinions are good because it allows so room for discussion. So, just to throw yet-another-ramen-shop, I went to Q Go Ramen….

Now, unlike the other ramen shops mentioned above, Q Go Ramen isn’t located in Downtown Vancouver: it is located in the Broadway corridor near Granville Street. If we had to do some comparisons, the nearest competitions would be Benkei (near Cambie) and Menya (also near Cambie). However, that’s not the full story on how I ended up here: I went there because of an epic fail of sorts. See, I was supposed to go to Xoxolat to pick up a gift and, just before that, I was supposed to visit Mochikas, a Peruvian restaurant in the middle of nowhere. OK, in the middle of a car shop… (Check Sherman’s post for more details!). Anyway, according to their website, they are supposed to open before noon; however, when I arrived almost 1:00 p.m., it was still closed. Hmmmm…. So, after my visit to Xoxolat, the next question was “where”? Driving through Broadway, I noticed Q Go Ramen and said “might as well!”.

Despite it is not a new shop (it has been opened for couple of months already), it still maintained a bit that “new”-ish feeling. Given that day was a bit outcast, I chose to sit at the “bar” facing outside to use natural light rather than the artificial light inside. Of course, that also meant I didn’t really “absorb” the feeling of the restaurant. Is that a bad thing? Well, I only care about what is served, so, probably no! And talking about food, after the waitress left the menu and I made my order, I got…

Edamame. Wait, I actually didn’t order this; it was complimentary. Technically, I am not surprise at that fact, after all, Mijune mentioned it in her post. But, still, there is the fact it was provided “free”. As for how it was, if you have had edamame before, then you have a good idea of what to expect. If you haven’t, think a bit waxier peas with some salt on top. Anyway, it was an interesting, nice touch.

Moving to the food that I actually ordered, I went for their shio ramen – tonkotsu broth enhanced with salt flavouring served with boiled egg, marinated chashu, arage kikurage fungus, bean sprouts and green onion. For the pork, I had the option to go for lean and fat. I chose the later. In a “good” way, they only have three broths: shio, miso and shoyu, all of these with pork. Furthermore, they have a vegetarian dish version. Past that, you have some toppings and some sides, in the form of gyoza and takoyaki, plus kimchi, steamed rice and extra pork.

One thing that might not be necessarily evident in the pictures above is the size of the bowl. Alas, I should have brought something for comparison purposes. The circumference of this bowl was easily a third larger than most of the other ramen bowls. However, that could have also being an optical illusion. But, does more mean better? Anyway, the noodles felt a bit soggier than others I have had, though it could be due to the time I took to take the pictures. Darn! >_< The pork, wow, it was fattier than what I expected. Ever since that bowl I had at Kintaro, I have to wonder how much my threshold for fat has lowered… But, as for taste… I don’t know, I wished it had more of that pork flavour. I mean, you knew it was pork but it felt there was something missing. Oh, sorry about the egg, as I didn’t take a picture. I had it in a single mouthful.

I also had a side of gyoza, which had a nice crispy skin. The filling though… Was OK, once again, nothing extraordinary. At least, in all senses, it was better than Hida Takayama.

Overall, I won’t say I have necessarily high opinions of Q Go. I mean, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good or outstanding. Could it because of some external factors that result in a so-so product? For instance the time it took me to start eating? Not sure but… Too many buts. In the end, if I happen to be in the area in the need of a quick fix, may be. But not as a destination, nah. Now, can somebody tell me why of the name? As in Nine Five Ramen? :/

Motomachi Shokudo
740 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Here we go again… A two months ago, I did a revisit to Kintaro (original post here). When I first visited it two years ago, it was regarded as the best in town. But, looking back, there wasn’t much to compare against. After an onslaught of ramen shop after ramen shop, with Benkei, Santouka and Sanpachi, among others, it was a question of whether it could hold itself up. Alas, it didn’t. The question is now if Motomachi Shokudo, a sister restaurant to Kintaro, in a similar way, would hold itself up or not. As usual, there is only one way to find out… A revisit!

As a reminder, back then, I thought it was decent; however, not as good as Kintaro. Now, given I thought Kintaro has gone downhill, the question is whether Motomachi has slipped in a similar way…

The day I went to Motomachi, I had PO as my partner in crime. Also, on that that, it was one of those “typical” Vancouver rainy, gray “cold” days, which would have made a bowl of ramen more enticing. In a way, not much has change about the place, except for one detail. Back in the old days, it was said that Motomachi was a more delicate, female version of Kintaro and, as a reflection of that, there was also the usage of ingredients (chicken broth base rather than pork) and an all female staff (kitchen included). Not sure when things have changed: there was a man in the kitchen. But, you know what, as long as the food is good, should I care much who is in the kitchen?

I know that it is not necessarily exciting to show a cup of tea, less that a cup with a tea bag in a Japanese restaurant… Wait!!! OK, here is one of those strange oddities. While a lot of places have associated tea with “free” drink in Japanese restaurants (similar to ice water in other restaurants), not necessarily so here. Yup, there is a charge for this cup of tea! Do not think of it as a “bad” thing, just as an FYI if you wonder why there is a line item in your bill.

Moving to the food now, rather than ordering the “usual” default dishes, we went for the more adventurous one. After all, that’s Motomachi’s claim to fame, right? Starting off, here is PO’s bamboo charcoal dark miso ramen – angel haired Japanese leek, menma (bamboo shoots), soft-boiled local organic egg, green onion, BBQ pork, thinly sliced chili pepper, white pepper, seasonal green vegetable, chili pepper powder. Well, people, here is a case of if you can’t stand the strange things, look away. Yup, the broth is black. I tasted a bit of that broth and my thought were on the lines of “meh”. I am not sure about you guys here but, fad or hype or whatever aside, I couldn’t think of anything that would make me order this one again. It is just that it was too… Simple? How can I put it… There wasn’t anything that made it stand out. Now, that’s the opinion of the broth alone so, to extend the question, what about the rest? Well, I had to leave that to PO and his thoughts were “meh” as well. I think I will leave it at that.

As for myself, I had the spicy miso ramen with organic chicken – chicken, cabbage, lotus roots, carrot, bean sprout, spinach, Chinese chive, onion, snow peas, menma (bamboo shoots), angel haired Japanese leek, green onion, corn, olive oil, sesame oil, chili sauce. I will have to admit that, when presented at the table, I was a bit surprised. I mean, that was a lot of vegetables! Probably a bit of emphasis on the “healthy” side? But, of course, given so much oil, how can you call it “healthy”? OK, let me backtrack that, people, it is not that oil is bad for your health, you need some. It is at times how much you consume! Anyway, there was so much that I was starting to wonder when I was going to start hitting the noodles. Yes, eventually I did. But, one thing that went sort of MIA was the chicken. No, really. There were only a couple of small pieces. If that was “bad”, here is the killer: White meat. Facepalm. I know, I know, they might be going for “healthy” but, c’mon! As for the rest, it felt quite similar to the bamboo charcoal one. It was just “meh”. There wasn’t anything exciting, anything that really stood out. I mean, if I were to compare it to the leek version of Sanpachi, that one stood out more because there weren’t too many components added. Here, the different components ended up fighting and distracting each other. It was a case of too much for its own good. Oh, as for the noodles, it was decent, still had a light bite but… But… Not outstanding (yes, again!).

As a side, we ordered their gyoza and, in an odd “claim to fame”, these are not sort of chubby but elongated. Well, nothing extraordinary, just OK. Sorry…

In the end, we paid and left without much to say. Reality was that food was average and not overkill as some parts of Kintaro’s meal. However, that’s the problem. It didn’t have anything to “show” and, as a result, the new kids in the block felt superior. So, in the end, similar to Kintaro, it feels it has rested in their laurels… Pass?

Hida Takayama Ramen
203 – 1610 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Wow… How long it has been? Almost a month already since my last post of Vancouver! Anyway, after I came back, it was time to check with people from right here and food that makes Vancouver sort of well know. One of those is Japanese and, among the different options, is ramen. Given I work near Robson and Denman, I have easy access to the popular ones: From Santouka to Benkei to Sanpachi. And then there are Kintaro and Motomachi Shokudo. However, in a case of “me, too!”, some smaller places have opened and today’s post is one of them: Hida Takayama Ramen, located in, out of all strange places, in the food court at Robson Market.

Before I continue, a small rant about “authenticity”. In fact, check this post from Foodosopher of Foodosophy. Don’t worry, I will still be here… While we have “bashed” places that sell ramen that are not Japanese owned/operated (Kawawa Ramen would be the poster child for this), truth is, as long as they deliver a product that tastes good in the confines of the definition of the dish, does it matter? In fact, when I was at Sanpachi, I could hear the “manager” was a woman yelling at their suppliers over the phone because they haven’t delivered something yet. However, I thought it was still good because the people behind the scenes were cooking the food accordingly. And, if you are bothered by this, just don’t go to the US, where, and by no means I am trying to be racist here, a lot of the kitchen staff happens to be Latino! Heck, when I was in Portland, at Nong’s Khao Man Gai, the people cooking the goodies in the back where… Latino! (And, did I mention this is a food cart???). So, instead, the mid line for me ends up being the following: If you are of that cuisine’s ethnicity, my expectations would be higher. So, having said that, for Hida Takayama, the fact they are Japanese own and operated means my expectations would be, as a result, high.

Now, there is one caveat about this post: the day I went, I was literally wasted. No, I wasn’t drinking the previous day or anything like that (I am a cheap drunk anyway who will be tipsy after my first half glass of wine); instead, I had a really nasty cold. Even then, Sherman who happened to be in Downtown on that day was all good to go along, even when I told him I would rather not “expose” him. Well, what can I say… He is a trooper… (On that note, his post is here)

Anyway, if you aren’t familiar with the area, chances are you will easily miss it. There aren’t much in terms of signage and about the only way for you to find it is to literally go in and upstairs to their food court area. Yup, it is in the second storey of Robson Market. We arrived a bit earlier for lunch time and that worked fine given that the food court area was empty and we could take whatever table we wanted. But that wasn’t going to be an issue, as there is natural light filling in that market. But, I am jumping ahead…

When we visited it, they had just opened. And, in what seems to be a trend from ramen shops, not all the menu was available on that day. Hmmmmm…. Didn’t that happen with Santouka and Sanpachi as well? You be the judge. From the remaining options, we ended up ordering two bowls with some sides to share, with the first bowl being…

Their “natural salt” flavoured ramen. Given it does not specifically name it in Japanese (or include any kana), if I had to draw a parallel, that would be the shio. At first sight, it had its good share of slices of pork but lacking in toppings (aside from bamboo shoots, there was no other options listed. Nope, no egg, corn, leek, butter, etc.). Another notable is the fact the broth looked “clean”: while there were some fat aroudn, it wasn’t LOADED with bits of fat, like, say, Kintaro. Alas, that was about the end of the “good” part as the rest went downhill. The noodles were decent and not overcooked. However, somehow it felt… Salty? Now, because I was a bit sick, I had to confirm this with Sherman and he agreed that was the case. The pork was lean, which could be a plus depending on how you like them. However, it was a bit too lean for my liking. And, finally, the broth was sort of a double whammy. Having “natural salt” in their name would imply there will be salt; however, it was too salty… The other killer? I didn’t think the broth was hot enough. For this last one, I will give them some leeway because some people would say it shouldn’t be pipping hot either as it will further cook the noodles. But, I like my soups/broths hot! Moving on…

Bowl #2 was their miso flavoured ramen. In a way, it was pretty much the same as the natural salt except the broth had miso. In a way, this one ended up being a bit better but for other reasons. Granted, it wasn’t as salty but that was replaced by the miso flavour. Oddly, I thought there was something… Sweet? Of course, it is possible my tastebuds were playing with me. Regardless, it wasn’t too different compared to the other bowl while not providing too much on the positive side either, which, in a way, is a shame…

Along with the bowls, we ordered some of the sides available, starting off with the gyoza. From the visual perspective, I will give them credit: these were nicely prepared but, again, that’s visuals only. The inside was too crumbly. Now, this can go both ways: it could mean not much binding agent was used or it was sloppy. And despite the sauces which barely salvaged it, there is the issue whether $4 is worth it. And the answer for me would be no.

Finally, the odd dish: a pork bun. In a moment of “why not?”, we ordered it. Given it was a single piece, Sherman had the honour of “breaking” it apart. Result? A mess. First of all, it broke down when he attempted to remove the lining paper at the bottom. Not a pretty sight… In fact, the only time I recall that happening is when I reheat some pork buns in the microwave! (Even then, it seldom happens). So, we were drawing some wacky conclusions as to why that happened. Regardless if our conclusions were on the mark, in the end, the food was not.

So, verdict? I am not sure if there is a real need for me to say it: this case of “me, too!” didn’t work. Would I have taken into consideration it is in a food court? I could but, if I did, I should think also about the fact they are a Japanese owned shop… And they should know better.

Kadoya
1063 Davie Street
202 – 1184 Denman Street (location visited)
Vancouver, BC

Sherman: “U working today?”
Me: “Yes, working today. Wait, do you know what that is??? ”
Sherman: “LOL, Rich Guy and I are going for lunch in Downtown, if u want to join us”
Me: “Where?”
Sherman: “Not sure, was gonna go to Toyama… Do you want to join us? I can pick u up to give u more time”
Me: “What time are you guys planning to go? PO might join us; however, he has a call until noon”

(Couple of minutes later)

Me: “How about Kadoya if not all-you-can-eat? English Bay”
Sherman: “Have u been there?”
Me: “No”
Sherman: “The one in Denman right?”
Me: “They opened a second location in English Bay, across Raincity Grill”
Sherman: “Rich guy says he can make it around 12:30 p.m. Is that too late? Do we need a reservation?”
Me: “12:30 p.m. is fine. So Tomoya or Kadoya? Given the party size and despite I don’t like it, Tomoya might be a better option”
Sherman: “No, Kadoya is fine. I’ll make a reservation for 5?”
Me: “Sure, English Bay location, right?”
Sherman: “Yah”

Once again, if you wonder how some of us food bloggers get together for a meal, more or less this is how it works. One day, Sherman, dropped me that text message and that’s what ended up in Kadoya’s location in English Bay. Next question?

Kadoya has been a well know place of sorts to “sushi” aficionados. However, I personally haven’t been there for one reason – the same reason why I have it in quotes: their specialties are the rolls, aka, maki sushi, not that much nigiri sushi. I have mentioned in the past that rolls is something almost anybody can make and it is a matter of tossing things together hoping it works. If the fish is not cut properly or it is somewhat fishy (no pun intended), it is covered somehow and most people won’t notice. But, the fact they have opened a second location would indicate people have been going there and, as a result, the restaurant felt a need to expand to accommodate the additional customers. So, it ends up being “majority rules”. So, despite my hesitation, of course, we had to give it a try so this could have been that opportunity.

If people look at the address, this place used to be occupied by Sakari Sushi. The fact they are no longer there means something. Anyway, went I arrived, I noticed they did make some minor arrangement in the layout so, if you have been in that restaurant, your ambiance experience might be different. Given I was first, I tried my best to do what Sherman would have done: take the best spot with natural light. Alas, that table was already occupied so I had to settle with the next best thing which was the table beside it. Hey, at least I didn’t take one of the booths (which was the table they were originally planning to give us!).

Now, to the food!

They have daily specials and, on the day we went, this was it: Spicy chopped salmon. Part of the interest on ordering this was related to the fact we wanted something non-roll and this fit the bill quite well. Having said that, this was actually quite good. Temperature was fine (i.e., no frozen texture), good texture, good sauce, which did not overpower the salmon. No complains at all and the fact it was $9 was icing.

Once again, another non-sushi dish: yakisoba, in this case, we chose beef as the meat. For what it is supposed to be a sushi restaurant, I will give them some credit as it was decent. Not necessarily the best but the fact that it didn’t suck. My only criticism was that it had a bit too much sauce, something that the noodles itself sucked by the end of the meal. Not my first option in the end but workable at least.

Yet another non-sushi dsh: chicken teriyaki – which arrived to the table sizzling. Similar to the yakisoba, I will have to give them some credit, plus the fact the chicken wasn’t fried and the sauce not extremely sweet as done in some places. Otherwise, there wasn’t anything extremely outstanding. Serviceable but that’s about it.

One interesting note about Kadoya is that they have a lunch and late night special. For $10, we had options for some appetizers (your usual suspects, including goma-ae, edamame, seaweed/wakame, etc.), nigiri sushi (3 pieces), rolls, sashimi and, more importantly, their specialty rolls (4 pieces) and, out of these options, we choose three. While we could have gone for sushi, the fact we were a party of 4 (PO couldn’t make it in the end) and I am sure people would give us hell for not trying their maki/rolls, meant we should give these specialty rolls a try. In the end, we made two order of these specials and they ended up being: Dragon, Kadoya, Volcano, Paradise, Canuck and King. Here is one problem: Tell all came at the same time and no description was given as to which one is which!

With all these specialty rolls, for kicks, we ordered a regular roll with a twist: their California Tempura roll, which is, basically, a deep fried California roll, with the drizzled sauce somewhat similar to catsup. Oddly, it wasn’t that bad but not something I would order again, as there wasn’t anything exciting about it.

Overall, some of my initial conceptions didn’t change: if their specialty are rolls, it didn’t necessarily wowed me. The cooked items were workable so I will leave that as neutral. The one that actually caught me off guard was spicy chopped salmon, which was indeed quite good. But, is that enough to make me come back? Well, given it is a dailiy special and not available on a daily basis, it is somewhat of mixed feelings. So, in the end, I will have to say it is not necessarily for me but might not necessarily be against to coming back – provided I have the option of ordering non-roll dishses.

Kintaro Ramen
788 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

To those who haven’t been reading this blog for long, back in October, I celebrated this blog’s second anniversary. Looking back, I have seldom posted about restaurant revisits for other reasons. What I have implied for the longest is that, what I wrote was valid at that point in time but, as time goes, things might have changed. The restaurants have changed, my likes have changed, time has changed. Or, as an acquaintance yoga practitioner would tell me: “your body is different every day”.

For the longest, every time there has been a new ramen shop in town, something that has partially exploded in the last 24 or so months (Sanpachi, Santouka or Benkei, just to name a few), I have always used Kintaro as a reference (my original blog post, back over 2 years ago here). So, that begs the question: should a revisit be worth it? Have Kintaro kept up with times? Or is it still surfing over that initial popularity from eons ago? So, with high expectations, around lunch time at work, I decided to take that (short) walk to see how and if things have changed…

Not sure if this is something I should have seen coming but, arriving at just past noon (they open at 11:30 a.m., closed on Mondays), there was a small line outside. Now, unlike 2+ years ago, at least the line didn’t go to the corner: there were about 10 people ahead of me. Fortunately, in the communal table, I spotted an empty seat which meant that, as long as nobody ahead of me was going by themselves, it won’t be that much of an issue. And, indeed, all the people ahead of me were “parties” so, as soon as I was inside, I was able to claim that seat for me. See, people, you shouldn’t be ashamed to visit restaurants by yourself! (Something I do quite often when I travel for business).

After seated, menu given, I looked around and, yup, not much have changed. Probably a bit worn down but, in the end, is the same ambiance (or lack of) of times past. When the waitress came back to take my order, I was sure of what I wanted to order: Shio BBQ Pork Ramen (my original visit was miso). What I didn’t recall, though, if the contents in it would be the same as my other non-blogged previous visits so I naively asked for an egg just to be told it was included. OK, that works for me! And, then, it was that dreaded wait…

Interestingly, on that wait, I noticed a customer getting a small bowl with chunks of pork in it. Then, I looked around again wondering if there was a special of sorts. While there was a a note about the hanpayaro BBQ pork, special it wasn’t, as it is the same price as in the menu. However, for $0.95, when was the last time you go so much meat in a bowl??? It had some really light sesame hint and token green onion on top but there was a small issue depending on how you like your pork: It was cold (not fridge cold, a bit under room temperature cold). Now, it can go both ways: by being cold, the fat was able to “bind” the meat but the fat texture was a bit too promiment. Had it been hitting room temperature or a bit over (thought, of course, that will hit that dreaded bacteria safe level), it might have been better. After all, isn’t it how Chinese BBQ pork is sold?

And here it is, my Shio BBQ Pork Ramen, ordered with “medium” broth and fatty pork. Right from the get go, I got some strange vibes from it, as if there was something… Wrong? Different? But, before going into details, some more pictures.

At almost $10, they don’t shy away on the slices of pork and they made good use of their word when “fatty” actually means fatty. However, and it is really strange for me to say this, it went a bit pass a threshold I didn’t existed I had in regards with pork fat (short of consuming chunks of lard). In the end, I ate only half of it; instead, ate the hanapayaro (which was leaner) instead. This, of course, could have been easily “fixed” had I ordered the lean slices of pork. As for the egg… Well, here might be sort of a depends on how you like it. As seen here, the egg is cooked through (which is exactly what I had in my first blogged visit) but other places now make with the yolk soft. I don’t mind it be done this way but others might disagree.

As for the noodles… Well, that’s were things went a bit south: It didn’t have that much of a bite I recall from eons ago. While it didn’t break easily (say, by using the chopsticks) and still had some stretchiness to it, that didn’t really made up for that lack of “bite”. Could I have ordered it differently? I am sure I could have; however, there are times where the question is rather how it is served by default. And while the I could live with the “bite” issue of the noodle, what really dampened it overall was the broth. I felt it failed in several aspects. While I don’t care the seemingly bits of fat floating, it lacked that semi-gelatinous consistency from Sanpachi and lacked that salty “kick” of the sea salt (i.e., the Shio part). To make it “worst”, it was just warm. Now, I am sure some purists will be claiming my head for saying it, as the intend is to not overcook the noodles; however, compared to the one I had in Santouka (which similar issue was mentioned), it was still not as warm as theirs. It is possible that was the reason the slices of pork felt flat?

While I was having my bowl, I was hearing some familiar voices on my back and, interestingly enough, PO went there the same day with some of his friends. Unlike me, he ordered one of the specials, the spicy garlic version. Then, back at the office, I inquired about it and, to quote him, “it wasn’t spicy nor garlic-y”. When asked how it would compare to Benkei spicy ramen, which you can then ask for garlic (as a free side), he thought Kintaro’s version was extremely inferior.

Overall, I will have to say it felt flat, as if they have rest on their laurels of eons past and the new offerings have overtaken them. It is too bad as it was an iconic place. Of course, it is still better compared to other places but, in the overall rankings, it is not as high as I made reference to in the past. In fact, pending a re-visit to Motomachi Shokudo, if I had to rank the places I have been recently, it would be Santouka (though only for the toroniku, otherwise, won’t be king of the hill), followed closely Sanpachi (highest overall if it wasn’t for the before mentioned Santouka’s toroniku), Benkei and then Kintaro. Now, it is possible they haven’t changed at all; instead, now that there is more competition, my likings have evolved. The question for Kintaro is whether they should stick with what they have done for ages or change. If the answer is the former, I guess my “ranking” answers that question. I guess until they change, then?

Gyu Japanese Teppanyaki Restaurant
219 – 755 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC

Let me start by saying that this might be one of the most image intensive restaurant post I have written in a long while. Why? Well, it is because of the nature of this beast. In this case, Gyu Japanese Teppanyaki Restaurant, which I visited with some work colleagues for lunch. As the name suggests, this is a teppanyaki restaurant, which translates into a restaurant where you would sit around an flat iron plate/griddle and the chef/cook will cook your meal in front of you. As a “bonus” of this type of restaurant, there will be some show of sorts. Now, given it was lunchtime, such show wasn’t displayed but, still, there was a lot going on, hence all the additional pictures. As usual, I am not as interested in the show as the food itself but, as usual, that’s me!

So, how come I ended up in this place? As mentioned, some work colleagues and I had the idea of going out for lunch for some minor celebration. The question was the usual “where”. PO, whom has been a long time partner in crime for restaurant visits, suggested Gyu so why not!

While walking to the restaurant, I noticed that PO wasn’t wearing his usual coat; instead, he was bracing the “cold”. Well, in a move on the lines of the smart guy in the room, he knew there will be some smoke due to the cooking method which would lead into your clothing smell like food/fat/grease/smoke/who knows what else. Fortunately, that didn’t happen but, once again, we were there for lunch, not dinner and, depending on some extra, more smoke could have been generated and that dreaded effect could have happened. But, moving to the food…

Not sure this was PO’s initial plan but there was the suggestion for their all-you-can-eat menu. Since I was with others, oh, well, I had to tag along. While the description is that of “all you can eat” special, it ain’t necessarily so: Some items can be had only once, namely, edamame, prawn, salmon, squid and ice cream.

After we sat down and made our order, the food started to arrive, starting off with…

Seasonal green salad. Think of it of a lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad with a dollop of mayo and some Japanese style dressing. Should I have expected more? Nah, I will just leave it at it being the token greens for this meal.

Your standard miso. As it has been said a couple of times, “you can’t make this look sexy”. Sorry, it is what it is!

Edamame. Notice this is not a single serving but two servings. In this case, since some of us were seated together, they simply served this than split it. If you have had edamame in the past, you have a good idea of what to expect; if not, these semi-soft beans relied on the seasoning outside, as by itself it would have been relatively bland. In fact, as served, a bit more of seasoning in the form of salt would have worked better but won’t complain here.

Yes, there were a lot of sauces, with the last one being their XO sauce. As if when the cook speaking Cantonese to one of the customers wasn’t enough hint; yup, XO sauce as in that HK origin sauce. For an XO sauce, it was OK; though, it felt more on the lines of dried shrimps in oil. YMMV? As for the rest of the sauces, from left to right, a vinaigrette like sauce, a sweet chili-like and a tomato/salsa-like sauce. I mention “like” a lot as they were all bland and didn’t really add much to the food we were dipping them in.

Did I mention something about a show?

This is the preparation of the prawns and salmon. Yup, a single piece of both. OK, here is one thing that will be almost a constant of this post: despite there were some grinding of pepper (and salt?), it didn’t really translate into some something flavourful. In fact, I felt there was a desperate need for seasoning, something that, as mentioned above about the sauces, they didn’t really help. But, back to the seafood itself, texturewise, it was slightly past the done-ness I would have preferred but, otherwise, it was decent.

There was also some squid. I didn’t take a picture of it while it was prepared but, if you haven’t seen a 25cm (~10″) squid, you should have a good idea of what to expect. As for taste? Almost a blank palette.

Filet of chicken. If you are a white meat fan, turn around. These “filets” are dark meat, skin on. As seen, it is brought raw and it is then cooked; however, it took ~10 minutes and, in the meantime, we were just looking around and chatting. I guess if there is a “flaw” from this cooking type, it would be this. And, despite it is “all-you-can-eat”, given the pace things were prepared, you can only eat that much and time will tell your brain your stomach is already full. I have no problem with this approach; just make sure you schedule your lunch accordingly!

Anyway, after the “filets” are brought, they are seared on one side, then turned, then sliced in half so it can cook in the middle. After more cooking, some sauce is added and then finally cut into small pieces, which tasted something on the lines of well cooked chicken but lack some flavouring, which not even the bland sauces could salvage. Could it been better? Indeed, yes, it could have…

The next course was the beef usuyaki – “Alberta thinly sliced ribeye”. It started by having some fried garlic chips (couldn’t confirm) mixed with green onions. Then, thin slices of meat are placed on the hot iron plate, where some of the fried garlic and green onions mix would be placed over and then “wrapped”. While in principle sounds like a good idea, alas, the end product made a disservice to the beef: You could barely taste any of the beef or fried garlic for that matter. In fact, had it been pretty much any cut, it wouldn’t have made any difference. The only light flavour I could taste was the green onions. But, c’mon…!

Some of my colleagues ordered their meal with fried rice rather than white rice (no picture taken). It started by tossing some rice and, on the side, eggs were cracked and cooked, rolled and chopped and then mixed with the rice. Didn’t ask how it tasted…

“Fried” assorted vegetables. Think some cabbage and bean sprout tossed together and cooked. It was OK but it desperately need some seasoning, as it was darn bland. But, again, it served as vegetable filler.

After the vegetable, a last call for the meats were done so we went through a second round of the chicken and beef. In a way, we spent more time chatting than paying attention to how the food tasted. After we “finished”, our dessert was provided:

Mango, sesame or green tea ice cream. Don’t expect in-store made but, then again, should I have expected more? At least it wasn’t icy so I will leave it at that.

Overall, this is not a case of a place that you might necessarily go for the food – or, at least, the lunch we had, it wasn’t. Could a “regular” dish be better? One of our neighbours had one that included scallops and a prawn, in which case, the chef added some butter in the mix. But, even then, I didn’t look too appetizing. Could dinner be better and have more flare? Could be; however, I don’t care. Given they are open for lunch but didn’t deliver, what should I expect for dinner then?

Katana-Ya
430 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA

On our first night in San Francisco, after the FoodBuzz welcome reception street food fare, we were driven back to a hotel near Union Square. While everybody was walking back their to the hotel, I noticed a restaurant that I thought “just for kicks, this might be interesting for us to try!” The following night, while waiting for the gala dinner and seemingly seemed to be taking forever, I was telling the “gang” (as in TS/JS, Mijune and Sherman) that if dinner didn’t star by 8:00 p.m. (officially the invite was for 7:00 p.m.), I might as well go back to the hotel as I was tired already, a bit grumpy (OK, grumpier than usual). Wait! What about the food? Hey, food is always in the radar and Katana-Ya, that said restaurant, was on the way back to the hotel! Given I wrote about the dinner, that means we were let in before 8:00 p.m. which means we had to see if there was space/time to go there. And, actually we did! Since our flight back to Vancouver was in the late afternoon, I agreed with Sherman to meet way past the lunch rush crowd for a last lunch before taking the BART (hence, to the airport) and back to Vancouver…

Why so much push for Katana-Ya? I thought it would be a good comparison point for two things: (a) Despite it wasn’t the “best” ramen place in San Francisco (as was told to us during the Incanto dinner), at least it was “good enough” according to Yelp, and (b) more importantly… How it is compared to Vancouver offerings considering all the options around (Santouka, Kintaro, Motomachi Shokudo, Benkei, Menya, the recently opened Sanpachi, among others)? Anyway, back to this adventure, Sherman arrived before me and, thanks to really good timing, he was able to secure the only table with access to natural light. Thanks a lot for this, man!

Given it was only two of us (Sherman, I and what army???), we had to be careful as for what dishes to choose. After all, we might not be coming back for a full year (that is assuming we would)! So, to plan things “safe”, we went overboard and order probably a couple too many dishes! Said that, we start off with…

WTF?! Salad? With Sashimi? Well, I might have given a red herring here. If you look closely at the sign at the entrance, it says “sushi”. So, Katana-Ya is not necessarily a ramen specific place so we thought we might try dishes like this. Having said that, it was, the dish was good and bad: some of the pieces were quite decent (hamachi, et al), some were as expected (shrimp, given it was cooked) but, oddly, the one that failed in an epic way was the salmon which didn’t have a “fresh” feeling. The dressing for the salad actually worked quite well as it gave some saltiness, acidity and sweetness at the same time. This would certainly a salad I would order again; however, not for myself, instead, to share.

OK, given that push for ramen, we had to end up ordering one, right? So, given we would only order one, to play it “safe”, we ordered their name sake bowl of noodles called Katanaya Ramen, which at $13, includes “corn, fried chicken, fried potsticker, seaweed, scallion, BBQ pork & boiled egg“. They might have as well called it everything but the kitchen sink!

There were a couple of things that we observed right away and thought failed miserably: fried, crispy items in broth is a no-no. So, in this case, we rushed to take out the pieces of chicken and pot stickers as, otherwise, it would have ended up soggy. And actually that was a good idea, as by themselves, the chicken was good enough; the pot stickers, while nice and resembling the Korean fried mandu, was slightly chewy. The rest of the components (pork included) made it comparable to several of the noodle shops found here so not complains, though I am sure some will “complain” the egg is hard boiled rather than soft centre. As for the broth (here, shio)… Well, I will have to say it was good but Santouka it wasn’t. So, from a ramen-ya perspective, it is a good option but one has to wonder about the price. At $13 (<– US Dollars here!), in Vancouver, of course, the direct comparison would be, again, Santouka’s pork jowl and, Katana-Ya would be considered below par. Of course, I am in an oranges/apple comparison so, from that perspective, I will leave it at that.

What?! Curry as well? Well, before anybody starts jumping into conclusions, Benkei has been offering curries as well and the recently opened Sanpachi has donburi in their menu (though currently “coming soon”). What does that mean? Well, just because it says sushi outside (which technically Katana-Ya does not list itself as), it does not mean they can’t offer other dishes, provided they can execute it well.

And, as for this one, in a typical American way, the katsu curry bowl was large. Extremely large. So large that even the two of us didn’t manage to finish the salad, bowl of ramen and this rice bowl. Then again, size isn’t everything but taste. As for this one, I appreciate the fact they didn’t pour the curry sauce on top of the cutlet but put it on the size. This is because we found out it was nicely friend and, in fact, still slightly juicy. The curry sauce was the typical Japanese style curry, though it didn’t have that Glico feel to it plus it had a light nice spicy kick. As for the rice, fortunately, it was your typical Japanese style.

Yup, having sushi outside meant we had order one, this time in the form of a roll, the Hawaiian roll: Spicy salmon, tuna, butter fish & BBQ eel. At $13.50, it might be borderline on the expensive side compared to some offering/places in Vancouver. But, again, this ain’t Vancouver… One thing that should be noted about this offering is that this is a “spicy” roll and that’s what the creamy sauce on the side is: It game some hot kick to it.

In general, the roll falls in the category of “OK”: the rice could have been “better” as in having more vinegar and cooked differently (in some instances, had a slight “bite”). Now, that does not necessarily means it is below par: some of the mass produced “sushi” places in Vancouver would have offered such type of rice. As for the fish used, for the most part, it still had a bit of hit/miss mentioned above regarding their salad. So, it wasn’t bad but, given what I am used here in Vancouver, it might be borderline average to good.

After we finish the meal, we could barely move from our table. We thought we won’t be served that much food but, then again, I should have known considering this located in the US. As for the food served, I will have to say that it was better than what we though. While some parts of certain dishes went sideways, what I won’t deny is that it didn’t necessarily fail. In fact, everything served was at least par with similar specialist shops in Vancouver. So, from that perspective, I will have to tip my hat. Would I come back? Certainly I would, with the caveat there are still other places I still have to visit first.

Poke’m
790 Hornby Street
Vancouver, BC

Well, it seems this is a trend for me in the last couple of weeks: Working my way through the different food carts, with a post per week. Except for the lemonade stand in English Bay and still-haven’t-seen-it-yet-it-is-supposed-to-exist Licious Living cart (once, again, supposedly between in Granville between Dunsmiur and Georgia), I think I have pretty much visited all of the food carts in Downtown, which means I have to start tackling those outside of this area, namely Panda Bakery in Yaletown, Eli’s Serious Sausage in Cambie (near Broadway), the falafel shop near Main and Terminal (which, according to James of Vancouver Street Eats, opened and closed, destiny to be determined) and the mysterious noodle cart in 49th and Cambie. (There is also a mysterious one in Robson Square which hasn’t opened yet). So, for today’s post, one of the remaining carts: Poke’m.

Part of the reason it took me so long to visit Poke’m was because they closed down for a while to re-set their cart for the incoming fall weather. But, now that it is back! Now, notice something… Interesting in the picture above? Yes, the cook in the yellow suit. I am not sure if that was part of a Halloween motif but he was wearing something that would have resembled Pikachu of Pokemon fame (Poke’m -> Pokemon? And, balls -> Pokeballs?).

OK, I could have a field day making bad puns and jokes about this; instead… Nope. I will just leave it as is, OK? (Who knows, Sherman, might be doing so!)

So, how this cart works? Choose a meat type (chicken, beef, tofu, fish fritter, cuttlefish and fish) and choose a sauce (Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Caribbean and one called traditional curry fishball – the last one not sure if it would be a sauce or a straight dish per se; Indian wasn’t available at the time). That leaves us with 24 different combinations plus the traditional curry one. So, which one I chose from the possible combinations?

Order #1 was the cuttlefish in Japanese sauce. I don’t have the exact description of this but, if you have had Japadog‘s terimayo, you will have a really good idea: It had a sweet sauce on top, some savoury seaweed and, unlike the original terimayo, there was some wasabi hints. As for the cuttlefish meatball, once again, if you have had Asian style meatballs (specially those found in Asian supermarkets), you can have a good idea of what to expect: with a bare hint of meat but with an interesting bouncy texture. I think that, for this dish, the best way to think the cuttlefish is to think of it being a blank palette for the sauce.

Order #2 was chicken with the Caribbean sauce. Again, don’t have the exact description but, what end up served, was a spicy sauce of sorts plus caramelized onions. The sauce was actually spicy at first but not enough to start make me sweat. As for the chicken… Taste like chicken? OK, if you didn’t tell, I might have said it was some form of generic meat…

The orders actually took a bit of time to make, come to think about it, about the same time to prepare a wiener for hot dogs. I.e., after the order is made, they slice the appropriate meatballs and grill them. Then, smother the sauce before serving. So, from a timing perspective, they falls slightly short. And that brings the main question: is it worth it? From an eating perspective, they were good in their own ways, specially if you have had Asian style meatballs. From a value perspective, that’s when things might go sideways: as a snack, one order ($3.75) seems to be well priced; however, as meal (i.e., lunch), forget it. I can easily eat three of these orders and might still be hungry. As for me coming back, well, it is the question of whether I want a snack – if that’s the case, this seems to be a good option.