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KoreanGirl and I just finished our intersession course at SFU, so we decided to meet up Mandu and head over to Guu with Garlic. We had a great girls night at Guu Garden last time, so we headed to my other favorite Guu – Guu with Garlic.

This Guu is cool because it has the usual dining area, a patio and also a Japanese style upper area. Since it was a very busy day, we were put in the Japanese style area. It was super cool but I had the hardest time sitting down. My pants proved to be a bit problematic as well as the part where my legs kept getting numb. I totally prefer real chairs.

They have a regular menu and a fresh sheet.

We started off with a pitcher of Asahi ($21). It’s something that KoreanGirl and I must have! Japanese beer is the perfect thing to order when you are going to dig into a lot of izakaya dishes. What we noticed about this pitcher was how bad the pour job was… there was way too much head.

Mandu decided she didn’t want to pack on the pounds so she got a large bottle of cold sake ($7.80) and a diet coke ($2). She just mixed those two slowly together throughout the night.

Mandu loves her Saba Grill ($7.80). I was a bit skeptical about it since last time but I am really starting to like the dish. The Saba meat is flaky and goes perfectly with the garlic chips and lemon. It is grilled very nicely and the soy sauce works hand in hand with the garlic chip taste.

No meal can be done without Ebi Mayo ($7.80) at Guu. It comes with 6 pieces in a chili mayo dip. It’s still not the best Ebi Mayo I have ever had, but it’s not too bad.

I actually love enjoy eating the crunchy tail! A lot of people find it weird and just leave the shell, but it is edible if it is fried.

I am a huge fan of Sashimi salad ($6.80). The salad is mixed greens with a plum dressing and wasabi mayo. The sashimi was part of this dish was prawns, and some other types of fish that I couldn’t identify. It was pretty good and was a nice refreshing dish that did not have a heavy taste. The wasabi mayo adds a little kick to the dish as well!

By now, the Assorted oden ($6.50) is a must have! You can choose six items in it and we chose daikon, deep fried tofu, mocha tofu bag, puffed fish cake, beef tendon and fish cake.

The broth is very amazing and light. The addition of the yellow type of wasabi added a lot of strong sharp spicy taste to it. We accidentally added it into the broth and it was SO good!

The Maguro steak ($8.50) is a slab of ahi tuna sashimi steak marinated in garlic, soy sauce and sake. We felt that it was really just a slab of ahi tuna, which needed more flavor. We thought there would be a more unique taste, but it wasn’t there.

2 kinds of chicken cartilage ($5.50) was something quite interesting and very different! They batter and deep-fry the different parts of cartilage from the chicken. The have lemon and salt + pepper to add for more taste.  Clearly, they don’t waste any parts of the chicken.

From the fresh sheet, we got the Curry croquette ($4.00). Golden brown and crispy on the outside, but the inside was just very smooth and had a good balance of curry taste.

We then ventured into trying the Gyu Tan/Beef tongue ($4.80). This is grilled beef tongue with an awesome salt green onion mixture.  The beef tongue was tender and was seasoned very nicely and the onion mixture accompanied it well.

The Yaki Udon ($7.80) is something more standard. It I span fried udon, beef, mushrooms, green onion, and then seasoned with soy sauce and butter.

It was all right, but nothing special.

The Okonomiyaki ($5.80) is a deep fried squid & cabbage pancake with tonkatsu sauce and a mustard mayo sauce. I thought this was all right and kinda reminded me of the Korean seafood pancake but smaller and with more sauce.

I love Ramune ($2.50). It is just a Japanese soda, which has a marble, as it’s “lid”.

At this point of the night, we need more beer, so we ordered a Mega Sapporo ($9.00). It’s a huge glass and it has about a liter.

We then had the Ochazuke ($4.30). It’s rice in a dashi broth with tuna. It was light and subtle and ended the meal very nicely.

Lastly, we had the Tako Wasa ($3.50). It is marinated octopus and wasabi sauce with seaweed. You take the seaweed and put some taco wasa onto the seaweed, roll it up and eat.

I liked it because of the sharp wasabi sting.

Overall, we all had a great time! We ordered way too much and drank too much. Eventually we racked up the bill and it came to $150 after tips. I like the atmosphere and it’s a good place to unwind at the end of the day.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Hard to find parking
  • All tapas below $10 and well priced
  • Great place to casually eat and drink

We Rate Guu with Garlic:  

Address:

1698 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com
Guu With Garlic on Urbanspoon

I always came here in high school since it was less than a block away. For a student, it is the perfect place to eat for cheap. Ever since M kept getting very sick after eating here… we knew that something wasn’t right. He didn’t just get sick once or twice, but three times. Later on we found out some of the chefs do not wash their hands after smoking and/or going to the washroom. I am sure this happens at other restaurants as well, but it’s just kinda gross when you know about it.

Since I was kinda sick of campus food and BusanGirl insisted we go here for Alaska rolls, I agreed. It is a fact they have some damn good Alaska rolls.

We arrived at noon on a weekday and it was slightly busy.

My greatest fear of Sushi Town is the scary machine that hangs above the back table.

Their menu layout has changed too.

BusanGirl had the chicken teriyaki ($7.95). It has bean sprouts, broccoli, carrots, chicken and teriyaki sauce. You also get a bowl of rice too.  She said she liked it. The chicken was nice and tender as well.

I ordered the spicy tuna sashimi (half order $5). I had this a long time ago and I was never disappointed. This time, I was disappointed; the tuna was chopped up in very ununiformed pieces. Some pieces were as large as their usual sashimi pieces.

I then got the Chicken karrage ($3.95), which comes with 6 large pieces of wings. I really love these simple types of fried chicken wings. My favorite!

We then shared the Alaska roll ($3.95), it has avocado, cucumber, tobiko, salmon, and topped off with their citrus sauce.  For $4, it’s a good roll.

Overall, the food isn’t too bad. You really can’t go wrong with the rolls.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Poor Service
  • Well priced dishes
  • Best to share items with friends
  • Very busy during peak hours
  • No reservations
  • Good specialty rolls
  • Amazing Alaska Roll
  • Not the most cleanly restaurant

We Rate Sushi Town: 

Address:

5935 Hastings St
Burnaby, BC

Sushi Town (Burnaby) on Urbanspoon

Japadog comes up to the SFU Burnaby Campus once in a while to help support student clubs or charities. It’s really great that they support students and their causes.

The last time they were at SFU, they helped out with the Japanese relief and this time, the Stepping Bridge Organization (not sure what they do). The student club I use to be a part of researched into getting Japadog to SFU as well, and they make about $0.50 per Japadog sold. It was a few years ago, so I’m not sure if it’s still the same case.

As you can tell, the prices are $1.50 higher than in Downtown.

Nonetheless, people still line up 30 mins to get a bite of the awesome Japadogs. I got lucky and arrived prior to 12pm before the lunch time crowd arrived. I probably spent 5 mins in line.

CandiedZen and Fabo both had the Okonomi Japadog ($7.75). It has a pork sausage, cabbage, mayo, okonomi sauce and dried bonito.

They both said it tasted fine, but it was a bit on the small side.

I ordered the EbiChili Japadog ($7.75). It is made with a shrimp sausage, chili mayo, dried shrimp, red pepper and fried onion.

This is by far my favorite Japadog! When you bite into the shrimp sausage, it s not just shrimp paste, it’s bits of shrimp put together. The addition of the fried onions was very very good!! Everything worked very well together surprisingly. The dried shrimp on top initially turned off my friends, but I really didn’t mind.

Something didn’t seem right about the Japadogs. Its either the bun was bigger or the sausages were smaller.  If you look at the images, you can really hardly see the sausages.

In the future, it’s probably best to head Downtown to get your fill of Japadogs for their regular size. If you do want to support your fellow students for a good cause, totally get one on campus! I really didn’t mind spending a little bit more  to help a fellow student organization out to raise funds. Raising money is not as easy as it seems.

 

I love ramen places that have combos. I really just can’t stand eating just a huge bowl of ramen. I am the type of person that just wants a little bit of everything.

One thing I noticed about their menu was how it changed. It used to be much bigger and straightforward. This time, the menu was a bit flimsy and slightly confusing.

KoreanGirl, VeggieGirl and I came back from a long meeting and really wanted to eat! Since we wanted ramen, the closest place to get some was at Sanpachi.

KoreanGirl got the Mini Cha-syu combo with Spicy Ramen ($11.95). She really liked it for the price. She was even pretty full and had to pack the rice.

She’s been to the other ramen place – Santouka Ramen and she felt that the broth at Santouka Ramen was better for the spicy broth. For Sanpachi Ramen, the broth was decent and she didn’t have to pay way more.

I ordered the Mini Cha-syu combo with tonkatsu ramen ($11.95). I really really like their tonkatasu ramen. The broths is quite rich, so not everyone like it.

I enjoy having the mini cha-syu rice because it breaks up the taste from the ramen.

Since VeggieGirl is a vegetarian, the only option for her was the Sai Sai Ramen ($9.95).  She really wanted a miso ramen without meat, but they could not make it for some reason. It’s really just taking out the meat…so she was confused.

The Sai Sai ramen is made of vegetable soup stock with bamboo shoots, seaweed, tomatoes, carrots, snow peas, corn, onions, bean sprouts and ramen noodles. The ramen was not bad at all; it is quite large so you will get full. One thing she did notice was that there were a lot of bean sprouts. A LOT!

Overall, we had a good time. Decently priced ramen that didn’t break our student budget.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Decent ramen at decent price
  • Around $10
  • Combos are my favorite

We rate Sanpachi Ramen: 

They are located at:

770 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC

Sanpachi on Urbanspoon

 

 

I went to Junsei River Japanese Restaurant for lunch since it was on Robson St. and I was craving a good ol’ bento box.

The restaurant is a bit narrow but it still has enough room.

Junsei River Japanese restaurant sells the usual items you would find in any Japanese Restaurant. My eyes were immediately drawn to the menu! One full page of Bento box choices! It took me a while to decide what I wanted to get, but eventually I settled on Bento Box F.

As I waited, some tea and miso soup arrived.

The Bento Box F ($10.95) has unagi, salmon roll, tuna & salmon sashimi, green salad & fruit. At first glance, the bento box looked appetizing, but at a closer glance, I was very very disappointed!

The unagi pictured on the menu had a large chunk of unagi, but when it arrived, you get 4 small thin slices of eel, it was not even comparable to the picture. The taste was ok, but you know this was probably frozen and thawed.

The salmon roll, was poorly put together and still contained some tough connective tissue. As you can tell from the image, one roll was about to come undone.

The salad was very very watery and the citrus dressing had a strong ginger taste to it.

The fruit that is part of the bento was a slice of apple. It was cut very poorly and the core was still part of the apple. Doesn’t the seed just look so appetizing?

The tuna and salmon sashimi were decent but not great. The tuna was still a bit icy since it’s been thawing.

The bill came and I was actually glad I could leave. I put my money down and waited for the waitress to come grab it. I waited… then I waited some more…3 waitresses passed by and none of them even picked it up. I even tried raising my hand but no one acknowledged me. It just sat there looking very lonely.

During the time I was waiting, the table next to me was complaining to the waitress about how she got their order wrong. After they talked to 2 waitresses, the waitresses wanted them to pay extra for what they wanted. They were indeed mad and just ate their incorrect order.

I was pretty fed up by now, so I just went up to pay.  I grabbed my changed, didn’t tip and went back to work. With so many great restaurants Downtown, this sushi joint really does not compare.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Do not get their bento boxes
  • Cheap and of low quality

We Rate Junsei River Japanese Restaurant : 

Address:
570 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC
Junsei River Japanese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Nothing says fun like heading to dinner after a long day of work and school.

Mandu, KoreanGirl and I decided to head over to Guu Garden to check out their dinner menu.

The interior is nice!

We started with a huge Sapporo Pitcher ($18).

Mandu likes mixing her beer and sake, so we ordered the Large Cold Sake ($6.50). I don’t like the taste of sake, so I just stuck to the beer…until they sneakily poured some sake into my beer.

We started off with the Tuna Tataku ($6.50). It has lightly seared tuna sashimi on sliced onions dressed with ponzu sauce, topped with scallion and garlic chips. The garlic chips and the sliced onion make this dish so much better! I usually eat this by putting a bit of everything on top of the tuna, roll it up and eat it.

Mandy loves her saba, so we got the Saba Grill ($6.50). It is a Grilled mackerel on sliced onions, herbs and garlic. I’ve never had this before, but I found it to be a alright. The sauce on the bottom was a bit too salty for me.

Not trip to any Izakaya restaurant can be with out ebi, so we ordered His Ebi Mayo ($7.80). It is Deep-fried prawns served w/ chili mayo and cilantro. Not really sure why it was called His Ebi Mayo, but I wonder if they ever have Her Ebi Mayo. (Ok, sorry lame joke).

I love fried chicken, so we ordered the Chicken Karrage (5.80), which is deep fried chicken thigh with garlic mayo. It was really good since it was boneless! Very moist inside and well seasoned!

We then had the Cream Korokke ($6.50). This is deep-fried panko breaded cream korokke topped with bisque mousse and tonkatsu sauce. This was SO good! SO GOOD!

At this point, the beer was getting to me, so we ordered the Green Tea ($1.50). Ya, tea isn’t free. Since we still had more sake, we ordered a Mega Sapporo ($9.00). It’s just a HUGE cup of beer.

To be a bit healthy from all the fried food, we got the Prawn & Avocado Salad with Wasabi Dressing ($6.80). This was really good as well! The wasabi dressing added a little kick to the salad which we all loved.

We got the Sea Salt Grilled Pork Cheek with Yuzu Ponzu($5.80). Very delicious tender meat with amazing flavour!

Mandu loves oden, so we first had the Assorted Oden ($6.80). It came with daikon radish, fried tofu, mocha tofu bag, taro jelly and chikuwa fish cake. The broth that we chose with this is Kanto -daki oden soup base.  Mandu dubbed this the BEST oden she has ever eaten in her life.  The wasabi-like paste that comes with it is SPICY. Adding it to the oden is a must, just make sure you don’t add too much.

Since we carved way more oden, we got an extra on with Fried tofu ($1.50) and Mochi Tofu Bag ($2). The mocha tofu bag has a really cool texture…similar to the gluten balls for hot pot. So addictive!

Overall, we had an amazing time at Guu Garden. This is probably my favorite branch of their chain. We ate and drank so much but after looking at the bill, it was a bit steep, but we thought it was worth it.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Great place to go with friends for small bites and drinks
  • Amazing Oden
  • Decent prices

We Rate Guu Garden:

Address:

M101-888 Nelson Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com
Guu Garden on Urbanspoon

I ventured out to eat since the Canucks were playing. This is prime opportunity to go to the popular restaurants without waiting! I always wanted to try Toshi Sushi but was always turned off by the long long waits. ScienceNerd and I went to catch up on good ol times and of course take the insults that he throws at me.

ScienceNerd is not one to make many choices, so he just got the Dinner Box ($16.95). This huge box includes fried oysters, tempura, sunomono, 6 pieces of sashimi, 2 pieces of nigiri, miso soup, and 6 pieces of their specialty rolls.  The items in the dinner box do change often, so it is best to ask them what is in it. ScienceNerd really enjoyed it! It has a bit of everything from Toshi Sushi, so you can’t really be too disappointed in it. Great quality, fresh ingredients!

I on the other had decided to go with the individual rolls. I started off with the dragon roll. What makes this roll so appealing is the amount of beautifully cut slices of avocado with the trail of tobiko on top. Inside the roll are cucumbers, shrimp and eel. This was a really good roll and I would definitely recommend this!

Next up was the famous Box Roll. It has a very unique look that resembles a box. On top, there are salmon, prawns, scallops, and a lemon. In the center of the rice, there is avocado. I really liked the taste of this roll except the lemon was cut a little bit too thick, so I got the taste of the bitter rind.  This is still pretty good and unique.

Next I got a piece of Ikura with quail egg. I am use to ordering the tobiko with quail egg but when I saw ikura with quail egg, I thought it would be cool to try something different. Chewing on this for a bit, it has a very liquid-like texture as the little ikura burst. It was a bit strange at first, but it was good. This nigiri is not for everyone, so you might hate it.

At this point, we were quite stuffed, but it felt like the waitress was pressuring us to get dessert, so ScienceNerd got the apple crumble. As you can tell, this is a very filling dessert! It has some good pieces of apple inside. The apple crumble is topped with a caramel sauce.

I ordered their strawberry cheesecake. I wanted their green tea cheesecake instead, but the waitress kept on telling me to order this one.  I was not disappointed! The strawberry cheesecake was very very fresh and you can really taste the essence of the strawberries!

Overall, it was a great dinner. Not too expensive and we got some quality food. I would come again and wait in line just for their sushi.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Decently priced
  • Free parking on streets
  • All the sushi is pretty good!

We Rate Toshi Sushi:

Address:

181 E 16th Ave
Vancouver, BC
Toshi Sushi on Urbanspoon

Hello Internet! RomanJ here! This time we went to Togo Sushi inside Guildford Mall located in Surrey. I usually avoid going to Togo Sushi because I always dismiss it as a fast food sushi place for mall employees. However this time, my sister and I had a deep craving for sushi and we didn’t want to drive all the way to Vancouver. Since we were already in the mall doing errands, we decided to try Togo Sushi.

Togo Sushi in Guildford Mall is surprisingly nice. It’s brightly lit with dark wooden seats and nice décor setting the atmosphere. To order you have to go up to the counter, place your order then wait at your table with the number. The sushi arrives all together on a plate.

We ordered, assorted sashimi, Alaska Roll and a Maki combo consisting of: a California roll, dynamite roll and a tuna roll.

The Assorted Sashimi ($11.95) has some pretty big pieces of sashimi. Salmon sashimi was surprisingly not bad, however the Tuna sashimi was a big disappointment. The tuna was very cold, making us speculate that it was pre-cut and refrigerated.

The Maki combo ($8.75) was probably the best deal on the menu. The California roll is nothing spectacular but standard, the dynamite roll was surprisingly good; the tempura in the roll was fresh, and the Tuna roll was decent.

The Alaska Roll ($3.95) was extremely good, beyond my expectation from Togo. I believe the salmon covering the roll added the extra flavor to the roll.

Togo Sushi is a decent sushi place, where people can go to get a quick fix of sushi. It does have some decent rolls, however I would not go here looking to try new exotic rolls. Togo Sushi does cater for the people who are on the go and it’s decently price.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Maki Combo ($8.75) probably the best value on the menu
  • Fast food Sushi

We Rate ToGo Sushi:

Address:

2320 Guildford Town Centre
Surrey, BC

Website:
www.togosushi.ca

 

Togo Sushi (Surrey) on Urbanspoon

TaiwaneseGirl and I were hunting for a place right in the middle of where I work and where she lives. Aki Japanese Restaurant on Thurlow sounded pretty good.

Aki Japanese Restaurant is hard to locate if you just pass by. You have to go down a flight of stairs to get there. TaiwaneseGirl was super late to lunch. She first somehow wrote down the wrong address and ended up at Canada Place. She eventually came close to the restaurant but couldn’t find it at all even though I was trying to guide her while talking on the phone. She passes by this block often and she swears there is no Japanese Restaurant…guess who proved her wrong. Hahaha.

Apparently I remember going here 3 years ago but I don’t remember a thing at all. I even have a business card from them, but yet again I don’t remember anything. There are days when having a food blog is handy, clearly it is true that I have a short memory.  I don’t remember eating either… I must have been drugged! JK I think I was a birthday party but didn’t eat since I came late.

It was lunch time and I heard they had decent priced lunch. Sure enough the lunches are cheap and decent quality.

TaiwaneseGirl started off with the Tuna Nigiri ($1.95) and Sockeye Salmon Nigiri ($2.25). She was impressed by the thickness of the sashimi as well as the quality. The pieces are not as big as Sushitown in Burnaby, but the quality is there!

She then got the Katsu Donburi ($7.75). It comes with miso soup and pickled vegetables.  It is a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, and sauce. She got really full after this.

I ordered the Lunch Box A ($10.75). This combo has miso soup, sunomono, short ribs, tuna and salmon sashimi, chicken karrage, pickled vegetables and rice.  This was amazing! Cheap and good quality! I would totally have this again and again! You get a little bit of everything and you are not spending a fortune on this.

Overall, we really enjoyed our experience! For a lunch, everything did some quickly so I was not late going back to the office.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Closest Skytrain: Burrard
  • Decent pricing
  • Good quality
  • Lunch Boxes best for lunch

We Rate Aki Japanese Restaurant:

Address:

745 Thurlow St
Vancouver, BC
Aki Japanese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

I’ve wanted to try Suika out after my coworker highly recommended this place. Since M, ConsultingGirl, and LabRat wanted to have dinner, I decided to make a reservation and drive down.

We originally wanted to get here by 6pm to get a seat at the tables rather than the bar, but ConsultingGirl’s phone went crazy and did not wake her up. As we waited for her to put on her face, I called the restaurant to see if they could still hold our table, but since it was fully booked, they would only offer us seats at the bar at 6:30pm.

We were not very happy since sitting at the bar for 4 people is quite hard to converse. Since our belly’s were rumbling, we still went ahead with the plan and made our way there.

Suika is a Japanese Snack Bar on Broadway. They are similar to the other Izakaya restaurants in Vancouver. What we found super cool about Suika was their open kitchen. You can look into their whole kitchen and see the chefs busy at work.

The interior decor is super super cool as well. Their main chandelier is made out of sake bottles. At their bar, you can see they made use of industrial materials like pipes and cement blocks to give it a nice asian flair.

2 things which we enjoyed looking at were the cool handles for their Sapporo on tap; it’s a samurai sword! Also above the bar, they show old episodes of Kamen Rider. Since there is no sound, you get to read the most outrageous subtitles. We didn’t exactly understand the show, but it was hilarious watching the weird costumes.

We started off the night getting a pot of Genmai Cha ($1.80). This is one of their more popular teas.

ConsultingGirl and I both shared the Deluxe “Suika” Box ($10). It comes with 9 little appetizers served in little sake cups. It is very cute and has nice presentation. I’ll try to explain them row by row. Tomatoes, lotus root, pickled vegetables, chicken, tuna tataki, chawan mushi, spicy tofu, crackers with spread, and beef tongue. If you intend to share this box, it is best with 2 people.

We both found the tastes pretty average, some really good, some ok, but overall great concept and you do get a chance to try a bit of everything.

M, ConsultingGirl and I got 2 orders of the Ebi Mayo ($7.80). It comes with about 6 pieces of battered tiger prawns with chilli mayo sauce. These were ok, but it still does not beat the ones we had at Toratatsu.  When you first take a bite of it, there is a bit too much mayo near the head of the ebi.

LabRat ordered the Sockeye Salmon Carpaccio. Raw pieces of sockeye salmon garnished with garlic chips, scallions, onions and lemon.

We got the Gyu Yukke Don ($8.80), this has marinated beef sashimi, garlic, and sesame seeds on steamed rice. It is also topped off with sweet pea shoots and a raw egg.

A cool thing about this dish is that you get to grind up your own sesame seeds with a rod and a textured bowl. ConsultingGirl had a fun time grinding it all up. As she did that, I proceeded to mix up the ingredients with the rice. Fun!

I thought this dish was just ok since it felt very strange eating the beef sashimi warm. ConsultingGirl on the other hand loved it. The flavours nonetheless were very well combined!

M ordered the Tuna and Miso Pizza. This is a thin pizza with tuna, miso, tomato and cheese. M couldn’t make up his mind about what he thought about the pizza. The pizza was well prepared, but he felt the cooked tuna was super weird on pizza. It was just something he was not use to.

LabRat ordered the Tokyo Oxtail Ramen ($9.80). This has braised oxtail in a soy sauce broth. It is topped with fish flakes and scallions. She did not take a particular liking to the ramen. It was ok, but I think the ramen at the ramen shops are way better.

Next, ConsultingGirl and I shared the Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki ($6.00). It had a semi mild chili sauce sauce covering the tuna tataki. The tuna tataki rested on top of onions and scallions. Very good twist to the usual tuna tataki.

Then ConsultingGirl and I had the Sashimi “Shake” Salad ($7.80).

The reason why it has the word “shake” because they come up to your tables with this jar full of salad and start shaking it infront of you, then pour it all into a large bowl. It makes for a little show. The salad is composed of mixed greens, sashimi, tobiko and shrimp +sesame oil dressing.

It was a large salad for a good price. Very fresh and clean salad to end the meal.

At the end of the meal, you are given frozen grapes. They are perfect at the end of the meal since they also act as pallet cleansers to rid your mouth of the old tastes.

Overall, good experience, good ambiance, and great food. What I found interesting was how all 4 of us had different thoughts on Suika. ConsultingGirl loved it, LabRat thought it was ok and M was indifferent.

I would probably go again! Next time, we will probably make  reservations a few days before to get a table rather than sit at the bar.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Pay parking on Street
  • Reservations highly recommended

We Rate Suika: 

Address:

1626 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC
Suika on Urbanspoon

Hello Internet! RomanJ here.This time I went to one of my favorite restaurants in Vancouver with Abbytizer. Clubhouse Sushi is a family owned restaurant located in an industrial area close to the Olympic Village.

Abbytizer and I were hungry so we ordered a lot of food.

We ordered the Holy Dynamite Roll. The holy dynamite roll is a deep-fried roll with their house special sauce on the side. The house special sauce is a spicy, sweet, peanut looking sauce which adds that extra kick to the roll. The roll is extremely good and fresh.

Next on the list is the Club House Cream Cheese Roll, the roll consists of cream cheese, tempura, red pepper and cucumber. These ingredients give the roll a fresh crunch when you eat it.

Tuna Steak Ponzu was perfectly seared and it contrasted well with the lettuce, which provides that nice crunch to go along with the sour ponzu taste. This dish is delicious. The tuna just melts with the ponzu sauce in your mouth.

Marinate Salmon sashimi is marinated nicely with the spices. I can’t put the name of the spices, however both Abbytizer and I enjoyed this dish.

Abbytizer ordered a medium size Seafood Okonomiyaki.  Okonomiyaki dish took a long time for it to come our table but it is definitely worth the wait. The Seafood Okonomiyaki is composed of bite size pieces of salmon, tuna, prawn, squid; all mixed together in the cooked batter with Okonomi sauce on top. Each bite you can taste the distinct seafood blend with the Okonomi sauce.

To top off the night, we ordered the mango slushy drinks. The drinks were a good with that distinctive  mango taste, a good way to end the feast.

Abyytizer and I come often to this restaurant. The owner and waitresses are really nice and friendly. We both love the flavors that each dish has and the portions are really satisfying.

Words of the Advice

  • Seafood Okonomiyaki takes a while for it to come out
  • Open late on weekdays till 11pm, and closes at 12am on Friday & Saturday
  • Walking distance to Canada Line

We Rate Clubhouse Sushi:  

Address:

255 W 2nd Ave
Vancouver, BC V5Y

Website:
www.clubhouserestaurant.com
Clubhouse on Urbanspoon

Mandu and I met up during our lunch breaks. I had a “foodie block” and had no idea where to go for lunch. I really didn’t want to revisit a restaurant nor did I want to spend over $10. Eating is an expensive hobby, so I am trying to cut down my expensive. You should have seen my credit card bill last month.. WOW.

Since Mandu was craving pho, she suggested we go to The Best Pho House. At first I was thinking in my head, how on earth is there such a place that has “the best” pho. Quickly I realized that was just the name of the restaurant.

As we met up and walked to the restaurant, The Best Pho House did not look impressive at all.

We were scared out of our mind, so we decided to find the next closest pho place.

We stumbled upon Fumiyoshi. I have visited this place for the sushi and did not have the best experience. But, I was always curious how the pho would taste. Mandu didn’t really care too much as long as the place looked legit and was edible.

Looking through their extensive list of menu items, we just flipped to the back for pho. They do not have many choices and the only one that seemed somewhat decent was the House special pho ($7.50).

It comes with beef balls, beef brisket and some other type of beef. The pho came with the usual bean sprouts, jalapeno and lemon.

The pho does not live up to the usual pho restaurants in Vancouver. The noodles were clumped together, so when you pick up noodles, you pick up the entire bunch of noodles.The meat was decent, but it would take a while for some of the meat to cook fully since it was bunched up, you could tell it was frozen before hand. The broth had a lot of MSG and after the meal. I found myself chugging down a lot of water back in the office.

The size of the Pho was more like a medium if you compare it to the other pho places. Most larges at other places are $7ish, while Fumiyoshi costs a bit more.

After trying their Japanese dishes and Vietnamese dishes, I don’t think I will be returning. For decent pho, I think I will stick with going to the real Vietnamese Pho Restaurants.

If you know any killer pho places downtown, let me know! Mandu is always on the hunt for pho.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Large menu
  • Most items under $15
  • Mediocre Pho
  • Has Japanese and Vietnamese items on their menu

We rate Fumiyoshi Seafood & Sushi

Address:

538 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

Fumiyoshi Seafood & Sushi on Urbanspoon

 

 

Another late night at school and what is open? Sushi Garden! They close at 10pm. We just made their last call.

M, TaiwaneseGirl, FragileBoy, InsecureGirl and I were ready to eat away because we were starving as usual.

They have lots of items on their menu from rolls, party trays, etc.

Here’s another part of their menu. Lots to choose from!

When we sat down, we noticed the table was still very very filthy even though they wiped down the table. As you can tell from the picture there are lots of sticky stains. TaiwaneseGirl really couldn’t stand it, so she used her tea and napkin to clean off the table. After she wiped it with her napkin, the napkin turned brown and yellow. SO NASTY.

We started off with a large sake. Instead of 1 coming to the table, they gave us an additional one on the house. We have no idea why they gave us a free one. Either way, they boys at the table were happy. Sake is not my thing…I got hard core for the 151. jk. I’m more of a beer or wing girl.

We ordered the Shrimp Tempura ($7.50). Theres about 7 pieces in the order. It was really good and crispy, but there was a bit too much batter, so when you dunk it into the sauce, the batter would fall off the shrimp. (depends on your style of dipping).

We also got the Spicy salmon sashimi ($8.95). The cuts of the salmon were good and has the usual spicy sauce covering it. TaiwaneseGirl loved this so much, she kept getting more and more until the plate was finished.

We also ordered the smoked salmon cream cheese roll ($3.95). I like the texture of this roll since there is a bit of cream cheese. Some people may not like it because the texture is different.

I am a big fan of smoked salmon and cream cheese on crackers, so it is yummy to me.

We then ordered the Large for 3 party tray ($39.50). It comes with 52 pieces of sushi.

This party tray came with :

  • House Roll
  • Smoked Salmon Roll
  • California Roll
  • Dynamite Roll
  • Chopped Scallop Roll
  • Tuna Nigiri (3)
  • Salmon Nigiri (3)
  • Ebi Nigiri (3)
  • Chopped scallop nigiri (3)
  • tobiko nigiri(3)
  • unagi nigiri (3)

All of the rolls were pretty good. Quality is quite similar to SushiTown and California Sushi.

Overall, the sushi was pretty good, but I do question their sanitation. Check out the Fraser Health website and search Sushi Garden up.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Free Parking in the front
  • Busying during peak hours
  • Large variety of items

We Rate Sushi Garden: 

Address:

4269 Lougheed Highway
Burnaby, BC

Sushi Garden (Lougheed) on Urbanspoon

M was super lazy and super sick, so instead of going out to eat, we went to Yummy Web to order something delivered. Looking at the top 10 restaurants on their website, we decided to go with Tentatsu since I always see it passing Hastings.

We ordered through their online form fairly easily. We didn’t have to use a credit card, so you don’t get your information leaked. All you need to do is sign up for an account, choose a restaurant, pick your items, and confirm your order. The restaurant will call you to confirm you order and you are set!

Tentatsu delivered the food and it was very painless!

M ordered Shrimp Tempura ($6.95). More on this below.

M also ordered the Oyako Don ($4.95). This is also known as the “parent child donburi”. The reason for this is because it has both chicken and eggs. Get it? I thought thats super cute.

Tentatsu’s version of the oyako don has rice, breaded chicken, egg, caramelized onions, green onions and soy sauce.

M was super full from the tempura, so he only at 1/4th of it. He liked the dish but it was really filling and they do give you your moneys worth.

I had the Yokohama Combo ($12.95). This is a MASSIVE meal, it comes with Salmon, Tuna & Tai Sashimi, Tempura, California roll , Tuna roll & House Roll Sushi, Chicken Teriyaki & Salad.

I kept wondering why there were so many containers….container after container I was just amazed at how much food there was. It was enough for 2 people…but I ate it all by myself.

The miso soup had a lot of seaweed and tofu inside, so I was not disappointed. The sunomono was quite average, pretty similar to most other restaurants.

Then there was the assorted tempura, I think it had shrimp, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. The first few bites were delicious with the super crunchy batter, but as I kept eating, there was really too much batter. You taste more of the batter than the actually ingredient itself. M agreed since he also got stuffed from his tempura.

The tuna, salmon and tai sashimi… I was quite disappointed with. It really did not taste as fresh as it could be. It was really hard to eat for some reason.

The main portion of the Yokohama combo was also huge. The salad was just a regular green salad with citrus sauce on top, not bad. The tuna roll, california roll and house roll were decently made. The chicken teriyaki was also quite average.

There was really nothing too special about the quality and the taste. For $12.95 for that many dishes is a steal! Quality is decent but it is not over the top. Do keep in mind all of this is take out, so perhaps the quality is better when you eat in.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Great value for the price
  • Taste is average
  • Offers delivery and take out options

We Rate Tentatsu:

Address:

2430 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
Tentatsu on Urbanspoon

I’m RomanJ, a friend of DesignGirl and I’ll be talking about Tokyo John Sushi (located on Cambie and 33rd Street).  I stumbled upon this joint after traveling to one of my favorite sushi joints- “Club House Sushi” only to find out it was closed on Mondays.

On the search for a sushi joint on Cambie Street, I saw Tokyo John Sushi on the side of road, sticking out with it’s huge sign. I decide go in with Abbytizer to fulfill my sushi craving. Tokyo John Sushi is a very small sushi joint that has the standard sushi menu, however there are a few “house specials”.

I ordered the Ebi sunomono and Abbytizer orderd the miso soup, both were up to par with sushi joint standards. The ebi sunomono noodles were well cooked, reminiscent of the vermicelli  noodles but thicker. The ebi sunomono also came with 2 pieces of large shrimp bigger than your standard AYCE sushi joint.

We ordered the California Roll with real crab, scallop & tobiko roll, Philadelphia roll, Boston roll and the tuna & salmon sashimi.  California roll and the scallop & tobiko roll came out together and were presented in alternating rolls, same with the Boston roll and Philadelphia Roll

The California Roll with real crabmeat was a big disappointment to Abbytizer and myself. We were unable to distinguish the taste of the real crabmeat, also the roll was extremely cold meaning it could possible be pre-made.

The scallop & tobiko roll was good for what it was. The scallop had the right texture and taste, however it didn’t have that extra kick.

The Philadelphia roll and Boston roll (tuna and avocado) were decent rolls that satisfied the sushi urge, but nothing spectacular.

The Salmon & Tuna sashimi was a big let down. The salmon and tuna was frozen and not fresh, it was obvious that salmon was thawed. The Salmon and Tuna sashimi were both chewy, and did not melt in your mouth like fresh sashmi.

Tokyo John Sushi is a decent neighborhood sushi joint, however I would not go to  great lengths to eat here.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Pricing is decent
  • Free parking in the back

We rate Tokyo John Sushi:

Address:

3349 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

Tokyo John on Urbanspoon

During lunch I had no idea where to eat until I stumbled upon Urban Sushi on Dunsmiur street. I really had no idea what to expect. I saw that people were inside, so the food must be good on some level.

Walking in, I was very confused what to do. You must walk downstairs to get to the main dining area where you order your food.

They serve most of the usual Japanese food items such as bentos boxes, sushi, donburi, udon….etc.

All of the seats in the dining room was full during lunch time, so I ate upstairs near the entrance where there is additional seating.

I ordered the Sushi Bento Box ($10.25), which contains Chicken Teriyaki with Rice, 3 pieces of Sushi, Tempura, Fruit & Salad.

The salad was very simple, lettuce carrots and tomato. The Chicken teriyaki was decent, it was not spectacular nor was it bad.

The tempura had yams, prawns and zucchini. Lightly battered and then fried.  I really did not like the cuts of the sashimi and the nigiri felt a tad on the small side.

Overall, the food was decent. It’s just what you would expect from any other sushi place.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Take Out options
  • Online ordering

We Rate Urban Sushi: 

Address:

909 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.urbansushi.com

Urban Sushi (Dunsmuir) on Urbanspoon

Another wonderful day for a lunch in Downtown Vancouver and I decided to check out ShuRaku. Apparently I’ve been here before..about a year ago for dinner, but I keep forgetting every time I pass by.

ShuRaku specializes in contemporary Japanese cuisine. Their lunch menu has several set meals between $9 to $15.

Their interior is very modern. They also have a wide selection of sake and other alcoholic beverage. They have a very large menu of different sake choices. (DUH, they are a sake bar).  Since I was going to lunch, I really didn’t need to be suffering from the “asian glow”and  going back to work would be awkward. Perhaps another time for dinner.

I started off by ordering a pot of tea of Sencha Green Tea (about $2/$3). Tea is not free, but there are about 5 or 6 teas to choose from. The pot that comes with the tea is quite heavy, you will be really getting an arm work out.

It’s like a double whammy of healthiness… arm workout + 0 calorie drink!

I ordered the Karaage Nanban Chicken Set ($9.95). It has deep fried chicken with sweet and sour Nanban sauce. The set also came with salad, rice and miso soup.

The karaage was boneless and under the fried exterior was juicy succulent meat inside. One of the better karrage’s I have had this whole week! The salad was mostly mixed greens with a nice citrus sauce. There is really not much to say about the miso soup and the rice since those taste pretty much the same as other restaurants.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Great atmosphere
  • Lunch sets
  • Lots of variety of alcohol

We Rate ShuRaku Sake Bar and Bistro:

Address:

833 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.shuraku.net


ShuRaku Sake Bar and Bistro on Urbanspoon

I was trying really hard during my lunch time to find a new place to review. I was super stuck until I figured that Gastown was not too far of a walk. I decided to check out Momo Sushi since I’ve had mixed experiences there.

Momo Sushi serves the usual items you would find in a Japanese restaurant.

The first page of their menu, they had a much of their specials and box sets. Most of the items were under $10, so it seemed like a good option.

I ordered the Box Special A ($6.95). It was the cheapest special they had and it was not a bad set menu because it included sashimi. The set included 3 pieces of tuna sashimi, 3 pieces of salmon sashimi, 1 tuna nigiri, 1 salmon nigiri, 3 pieces of california roll, rice, salad, fruit and miso soup.

I also ordered the Chicken Karaage ( about $4/$5). There were 5 chicken wings on a bed of salad. I really did not like the taste of their karaage. It was sweet and it seemed like there was a bit of honey on the coating of  it. They also added some small bits of seaweed on top.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Cheap Bento boxes and lunch sets
  • Closest skytrain: Waterfront Skytrain

We Rate Momo Sushi:

Address:

375 Water Street, Unit 6
Vancouver, BC
MoMo Sushi on Urbanspoon