Izakaya Archives - Page 3 of 4

In BBQ

Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ: Happy Hour Makes Us Happy

July 7, 2012

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ is a Japanese restaurant in Downtown. It’s located beside Relish Gastopub and below Guu Garden.

They have a lot of good lunch combos and even a wicked Happy Hour special. They sell Japanese BBQ grill dishes, noodles, rice and other dishes. You can have a good lunch for under $10 after tax. If you come at happy hour times, it’s pretty damn cheap too! KoreanGirl, Mandu, and I came on Monday for their all day happy hour special to just pig out and celebrate graduation.

Edamame ($1.75) is the perfect starter if you want something to snack on while drinking beer. It is lightly salted on the outside to give it a little bit of flavour when you chew at the edamame to extract the beans.

Pitcher of Sapporo ($9.99) is a good price. It’s kinda needed if you want to just drink and chill.

Large Sake ($5) we got a large sake too since mandu is always wanting some sake bombs.

We also decided to do a bit of barbecuing too.

The grill is hot and flames will shoot out of it. We ordered a bunch of different meats to go on the grill.

Kalbi Chuck Tare ($3.95) is thin cut beef. It was good.

Horumon shio ($3.95) is intestines! It’s not for the squeamish or people who hates eating animal organs. It was a bit tough and interesting to eat, but I’d probably never order this again.

Yakishabu Tare ($2.95) we got them to put spicy miso sauce on it to give it some more flavour when grilling.

Toro Beef Tare ($3.95) was good tasting as well.

Pork Belly ($2.95) comes in 4 pieces and it a must when doing barbecue.

Filet Mignon ($5.95) was our favorite. The cuts were nice and chunky, so you could cook them medium rare if you wanted to.

After you finish grilling your meat, you can dunk them into 3 different sauces – soy sauce, ponzu sauce and something else.

Chicken Karaage Bowl ($5.95) is a must order item!!! It’s the best karaage you will ever have. We order this every time!

Pork Belly chips ($3.95) was good too but it did taste similar to the chicken Karaage.

Overall it was a good experience. We usually come here during happy hour if we want to pig out and not spend over $20 per person. The first two dining experiences were great, but for my graduation dinner, we made reservations and they did not honor it. They made all 8 of us wait for 30 minutes for a table and we got fed up and went to Guu Garden instead. We tried asking the host several times for an update on when our table will be available, but they were not there most of the time. All we knew was that the table was finishing their dessert. We were quite pissed.

Words of Wisdom:

$9.99 pitchers of beer during happy hour
Some items are a hit and miss
Under $10 lunch specials
Happy Hour deals
Make reservations

We Rate Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ:

Address:

888 Nelson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.gyu-kaku.com/

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In Fairview

Suika Snackbar: Suika Punch Dining Package Review

June 21, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Suika Punch” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I brought along M and CandiedZen to keep the review as unbiased as I could.

Suika Snackbar is owned by the same people who bring us Kingyo Izakaya. It is located on Broadway near Fir St. I’ve been to Suika Snackbar a few times and it’s a great place to dine with friends over yummy Japanese food.

The guys at VANEATS.ca is offering a new dining package called Suika Punch for $25, where you get 6 courses consisting of:

Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki
Tomato Kimchi
Yellowtail Carpaccio
The Hellz Chicken
Chinese Poutine
Pitcher of Sapporo

I always end up taking a picture of this because it’s so pretty.

Pitcher of Sapporo is an awesome addition to this package because everyone wants to relax and have a drink with friends. CandiedZen and I shared the pitcher since M was the driver for the night. Sapporo is one of my favorite beers since it’s light and pairs really well with Japanese food. No joke, I actually prefer Sapporo over Asahi.

Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki, Tomato Kimchi, and Yellowtail Carpaccio come on one plate. It’s not 3 full courses, but it’s more of a sampler.

Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki is topped with chili oil and scallions. M really liked it since it’s nicely seared on all sides. It was a nice change to have the chili oil on top of this instead of the usual ponzu sauce. It’s not spicy! There are 4 pieces that come with it, so if you come with an odd amount of people, someone is gonna fight for the last piece.

Tomato Kimchi has kimchi marinated tomato with chinese chives & cilantro oil. I loved this since the taste just tickles your tongue. It’s not spicy at all. I am not sure if I was crazy, but it seemed like there was a bit of sesame oil to this dish as well.

Yellowtail Carpaccio has thinly sliced yellowtail topped with sesame soy dressing, tobiko and mayo. I thought the mayo was a bit too much since it just killed the light delicate taste of the fish.

Chinese Poutine has french fries topped with spicy ground pork sauce, mozzarella, chili oil, sansho and minced cilantro. It’s actually not spicy either. It’s a really weird spin on poutine. It tasted good, but it seemed a bit peculiar for the menu.

The Hellz Chicken has 4 balls of deep-fried chicken tossed the most most evil sauce imaginable. (It’s a lie, but it’s spicy! Wing’s Bobby wings are hotter.) The sauce is made with a combination of jalapeno, hot sauce, lemon, garlic, vinegar & tabasco. Since I knew this was coming, I had to bring a Korean to see how intense the spice really was.

M loves his spicy food, but he did not feel like there was a yummy spicy taste to this dish. I had to agree with him since it just burns your mouth. I ate 2 of the pieces and I drank a glass of beer and a glass of water to quench the burn. I can usually handle my spice since I eat jars and jars of spicy kimchi at home.

At the end of the meal, you get some awesome frozen grapes. I always look forward to these since it’s very yummy.

Overall, we felt that the ‘Suika Punch’ is not for everyone. If you can’t handle your spice…or have weak friends, someone is gonna end up crying because of the Hellz Chicken. For $25 for the dining pass, it’s a good price since the pitcher of Sapporo does come with it. It’s a good package for 2 people. If you have 3 people, you would be ok ordering a few more additional dishes.

You can purchase the Suika Punch Dining Package at VANEATS.ca for $25!

Words of Wisdom:

Pay parking on Street
Reservations highly recommended!

We Rate Suika Snackbar:

Address:
1626 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.suika-snackbar.com/

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In Downtown

Kamei Royale: Kamei Kiss Dining Package Review

May 31, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Kamei Kiss” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I brought along M to keep the review as unbiased as I could.

Kamei Royale Japanese Restaurant is located on Burrard near West Georgia, thus very close to the Burrard Skytrain. They are owned by the Kamei Group that also owns Ebisu and Daimasu. I’ve visited Ebisu and Daimasu before, but I have not been to Kamei Royal until this experience.

The guys at VANEATS.ca is offering a new dining package called Kamei Kiss for $19, where you get 4 courses consisting of:

Healthy Agedashi Tofu
Crab Salad
Oda Roll
Ice Cream Tempura

The interior is quite nice and the interior is large too. I would think this would be a good location for large parties. Some of the staff are even dressed up in kimonos.

Crab Salad has a crab mixed with avocado, mango, mayonnaise and tobiko. It is garnished with tomatoes, fried lotus roots, sprouts and greens. It is served in a martini glass and was a little bit difficult to figure out how to eat it since we were unsure if we should be eating the large leaf of lettuce or not. In the end, M and I just at the crab mixture and the garnishes and left the large leaf. M enjoyed the amount of crab and the accompany ingredients.

Healthy Agedashi Tofu is deep-fried and topped with kinpira, nameko mushrooms, edamame beans and lotus roots. It sits on top of a bed of ponzu sauce. The outer skin of the agedashi tofu was a little big soggy due to the ponzu sauce and the ingredients on top. It’s best to eat the item fairly quickly when it arrives at your table before the skin gets too soft. Nonetheless, the tofu does have a delicious flavour that balances with the sauce.

Oda Roll has mango, avocado, cucumber and salmon inside. It is topped with tempura eel and cream cheese. The server comes by and torches the top of the cream cheese with a blowtorch. It’s a fun little show, plus it looks amazing. I’ve never seen cream cheese being torched since it’s usually raw fish.

The creaminess from the cream cheese and the avocado made it a delight. The scorched cream cheese added a nice smokey taste that accompanied the tempura eel quite well.

Ice Cream Tempura has vanilla ice cream deep-fried in tempura batter, drizzled with chocolate and topped off with powdered sugar and a cherry. It’s about the size of a baseball. When we cut into the ice cream tempura, the inside was still cold, but it does start to melt quite quickly. M really enjoyed the dessert and was tempted to purchase another one just for himself.

Overall, if you look at Kamei Royale’s regular menu, you will see that the dining package is a steal! The Oda roll by itself is $15.50, the crab salad is $8.50, agedashi tofu is $5.95, and then tempura ice cream is $5.50. You save about $16.45 with getting the package. If you get the package and an additional noodle or rice dish, two people can get full.

The package is on sale now till it’s sold out, so you can grab this at VANEATS.ca for $19.

Words of Wisdom:

Beautiful decor and food presentation
Good for large groups
Tea costs $1.50 🙁
Overpriced for what you get, there are many cheaper options Downtown

We Rate Kamei Royale:

Address:
1030 W Georgia St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.kameiroyale.com/

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In Downtown/University of Toronto

Guu Izakaya (Toronto): Still got it Guu’d

May 23, 2012

Guu Izakaya is the first Guu location in Toronto. It is much smaller than its other location – Guu SakaBar, but it is very very popular. BaguetteGirl, CanuckGirl and I waited 1.5 hours for a table of 3. That’s quite nuts, but I have a goal of going to all the Guu’s in the world. It’s my favorite restaurant, so it just seemed like I needed to go. No line up will stop me. I’m just glad Vancouver has 6 Guus so I don’t have to wait so long.

The interior has bar seating, a few long tables and some patio seating. It’s quite hard to get a large table unless you come here early.

We sat at the bar watching the chefs cook up some delicious food and we saw this super cute cat!

Big Mug Sapporo ($9.50) is similar size to a ‘Mega’ Sapporo in Vancouver. It’s quite large…a liter of beer! I couldn’t finish it….but if I did…I probably wouldn’t be able to get home.

Gomae ($3.80) is blanched spinach with black sesame sauce. I liked the spinach, but I think there was too much sesame sauce.

Gindara ($9.80) is grilled black cod with Saikyo miso and white wine sauce. It was a bit small for the price, but it was very tender and flaky.

Karaage ($6.80) has deep-fried soy sauce marinated chicken served with a mayo sauce. I had the karaage at Guu SakaBar and they karaage does differ slightly. It seems like this one has a bit more battering to it. Nonetheless, it still delicious and tender on the inside.

Okonomiyaki ($6.80) is a deep-fried Japanese pancake with squid, tonkastsu sauce and karashi mayo. It comes in 4 pieces and quite delicious! It is topped with bonito flakes and seaweed! The bonito flakes move around as heat is emitted from the dish. It looks alive, but it isn’t.

Gyu Carpaccio ($6.50) has seared beef sashimi with ponzu sauce. It is topped with scallions, radish, garlic chips and mayo. It’s one of my favorite dishes! You take the slices of beef and put a little of everything on it.

Kimchi Udon ($7.80) has udon noodles with spicy cod roe and kimchi. It is topped with dried seaweed and scallions. You mix this together with your chopsticks to get everything incorporated. It’s not spicy at all! Very delicious and savory. Usually when you cook kimchi, it softens up and the spiciness disappears. Very yummy!

Overall, the items between all Guus in the words are quite similar. They have very similar items, so no matter where you are in the world, you can have their delicious karaage, sashimi, and udons.

Words of Wisdom:

Super long waits
If you hate waiting, go to Guu Sakabar for a shorter wait
Under $10 per dish, but can add up if you drink

We Rate Guu Izakaya:
Address:
398 Church St
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.guu-izakaya.com/toronto.html

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In Izakaya

Guu SakaBar: Still Guu’d in Toronto, ON

May 19, 2012

Guu SakaBar is another restaurant part of the Guu restaurants. They sell Japanese Izakaya items like tapas dishes. Guu currently has 6 restaurants in Vancouver and 2 in Toronto. Since I have already been to all the ones in Vancouver, it just seemed right to visit the other two in Toronto.

CanuckGirl and I headed down to this location during our first day in Toronto. We went at about 7pm and there was already a line up outside. Fortunately, we were able to get a table in about 10 minutes.

Guu SakaBar can easily be missed if you don’t pay attention since the sign is not very large.

The interior is huge! They have 2 rooms and can fit a lot of customers. That’s probably why people say this location is easier to get a seat. The other area has the bar and more tables.

Whats great about Guu is that it has a lively atmosphere and good food. Compared to the Vancouver locations, this Guu is much larger and has better interior decor.

Pot of Tea ($4) was expensive! In the Guu’s in Vancouver, you never have to pay for tea!

Maguro Tataki ($6.80) has seared BC tuna sashimi with ponzu sauce and garlic chips. It was delicious, but I still felt that Guu in Vancouver has better sashimi.

BBQ Pork ($6) has pork belly with a honey soy sauce. It was not too fatty at all and had a delicious taste.

Kabocha Korokke ($4.80) has deep-fried kabocha pumpkin croquette with a boiled egg inside. It is coverd with a spicy mayo sauce. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Karaage ($6.80) has deep-fried soy sauce marinated chicken with a side of mayo. The chicken pieces were quite large and very moist.

Yaki Udon ( $7.80) has pan-fried udon noodles with beef, mushrooms and scallions. There was a good amount of beef! It was savory and most delicious.

Overall, we did enjoy the dining experience at Guu SakaBar. The wait wasn’t too long for a table of 2 and the food came out at a good pace. The servers were nice and could speak english quite well.

Words of Wisdom:

No Reservations
Go early or dine later since it gets super busy
Tea is super expensive, so perhaps ask for water.. or hot water

We Rate Guu SakaBar:

Address:
559 Bloor St W
Toronto, ON
Website:
http://www.guu-izakaya.com/

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In Four Beakers

Alpha Sushi & Japanese Tapas: A Good Alternative

May 5, 2012

Alpha Sushi and Japanese Tapas is located in Yaletown and is quite popular even on weekday nights. It was empty at 5pm, but by 6pm it started to get quite packed. As you can gather by their name….they do have Japanese tapas and sushi.

CandiedZen and I decided to meet up after my last day of work to just catch up over food and drinks. My last visit was probably 5 years ago and I remember it being a delicious place.

South Pole ($5.75) has tequila, cassis, pineapple, and lychee.

Pint of Sapporo ($5) is something I must get when I have Japanese food. I find it the perfect pairing. It’s light and not too strong.

Tako Wasa ($4) is seasoned baby octopus with japanese horseradish. It is served with shrimp chips on the side. You would scoop the octopus onto the cracker and eat it. The shrimp cracker gives it a nice crunchy texture to go with the octopus. CandiedZen liked it with the shrimp cracker but I thought it was a bit strange since it’s usually paired with seaweed.

Mini Potato Croquette ($6) is a deep-fried potato with bits of beef. It has a side of fruity vegetable sauce. I liked the small size and its simple taste.

Tuna Garlic Pepper Sashimi ($9.50) is one of their popular items that they sell. It has black pepper and garlic flavoured seared fresh albacore tuna with ponzu sauce. It was good, but I felt there was a bit too much going on with the plate and drowns out the natural taste of the sashimi. If you love garlic, you’ll love this dish.

Dill Salmon Carpaccio ($8.75) has sliced dill salmon with capers, dressing and a side salad. There really wasn’t much dill to it except for the sprinkles of dry dill. It’s best enjoyed by taking a bit of everything and eating it.

Grilled Hokke-Mackerel ($8.75) is grilled salted hokke mackerel with ponzu sauce. They already remove the bones so it’s quite easy to eat. I enjoyed it with the ponzu sauce since the acidity from the sauce blended well.

Ebi Mayo Japon ($6.50) are deep-fried nobashi prawns in breaded panko crumb batter with tartar sauce. It was delicious!

Overall, it’s a great alternative to the other izakaya restaurants in town. Some items can be a hit or miss, but a majority of the items are pretty good. They have lots of specials and special drinks. To help make ordering a bit easier, they have a list of the most ordered items of the previous week. The service was quite attentive and the servers were helpful.

Words of Wisdom:

Most dishes under $10
Large variety in food and drink menu
Gets busy at peak hours even on weekdays
Ebi Mayo is highly recommended

We Rate Alpha Sushi & Japanese Tapas:

Address:
1099 Richards St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.plusalfa.com/

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In Four Beakers

Guu Garlic: Garlic Chips are Addictive

April 29, 2012

Guu Garlic is one of my favorite Guu locations as they serve tapas with a theme of garlic. Since there are so many Guus in Vancouver now, there are only 2 that I adore going to … Guu Garden and Guu Garlic. The menus are slightly similar, but it’s about the atmosphere and company that makes dining at Guu great. It’s a very noisy place since the servers are always shouting out order across the room.

The new executives of the Social Media Network at SFU decided to head out here for night of eating! Getting enough space for about 10 people is quite hard especially during the weekend at dinnertime. We waited for about an hour and twenty minutes for seats. Since we were determined to have Guu, we waited patiently. Gmoney and I shared a few dishes.

Glass of Sapporo ($5) is needed especially on a weekend. It’s a light beer and one of my favorites.

Beef Carpaccio has ponzu sauce, mayo and pea shoots on top. The cuts of beef were thin and tender. Anything with ponzu sauce is delicious!

Tuna Tataki ($6.80) has several pieces of thin seared tuna with onions, green onions, garlic chips and a container on ponzu sauce. This was also delicious! Plus, the garlic chips are awesome! I’m a sucker for raw fish.

Chicken Karaage ($5.40) comes with a lemon and a side of mayo. The picture above is 2 orders rather than one. It was crispy on the outside and very juicy on the inside.

Yaki Udon ($7.80) has pan-fried udon with beef, mushroom, green onion, soy sauce and butter. Its delicious as usual.

Scallop and Cheese Pizza was ordered by M and he said it was good. It’s small in size, but there is at least a small scallop on each slice.

Overall, we all had a great time! The dishes are fairly consistent each time I come here and I’m usually not disappointed, but Japanese izakaya is my favorite type of food. I could eat it over and over and over again.

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

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In BBQ

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ: $7.95 Lunch Combo and Happy Hour

March 11, 2012

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ is a new Japanese restaurant that opened up Downtown. It’s located beside Relish Gastopub and below Guu Garden.

They have a lot of good lunch combos and even a Happy Hour special. They sell Japanese BBQ grill dishes, noodles, rice and other dishes. You can have a good lunch for under $10 after tax.

The interior is really quite nice and there’s lots of space. Perfect for games too since they have a projector.

Fried Chicken Karrage (Reg. $5.50 | Happy Hr. $3.50) this was really delicious! I’ve had a lot of chicken karrage in the past and this is my favorite Karrage at the moment. The chicken meat is very moist and the fried exterior is crispy and perfectly flavoured. There is also mayo and lemon if you need extra taste.

Spicy Tuna Volcano (Reg. $6.95 | Happy hr. $3.95) comes with 4 pieces. The rice is deep fried with tuna and a wasabi sauce on top.

The rice inside was actually moist looking normal rice. The tuna was tender and had a good texture. The thing that some of us didn’t like was the wasabi sauce. If you aren’t a wasabi person, ask for the sauce to be removed.

BiBimBap (Reg. $7.95 | Happy Hr. $5.95) was not very good. Unlike typical Korean BiBimBap, there wasn’t much oil in the stone bowl, so a lot of the items just burned. MeatLover really didn’t like this dish.

If you order some lunch combos, you will get an additional salad or miso soup.

The salad was good and refreshing with egg, cucumbers, greens, pepper, radish and a mild sauce.

The miso soup was quite standard. Nothing too special

Chicken Karaage Bowl Combo ($7.95) comes with miso soup and salad. The chicken karaage is similar to the appetizer but with seaweed, mayo and green onions over rice.

Kuppa ($7.95) comes with salad. Don’t get this confused with Koopa from Mario. It has a rich broth soup with rice, beef, egg, and some other items. I liked it because I have this weird fascination for soup and rice.

Overall, price-wise was good and affordable for lunch. The Happy Hour deals were a bit confusing since it says you need a minimum of $15 spent per person. For all of our appetizers, we expected to pay the regular price, but to our surprise the happy hour price was applied even though we did not spend $15 per person.

Words of Wisdom:

$9.99 pitchers of beer of Canucks game day
Some items are a hit and miss
Under $10 lunch specials
Happy Hour Lunch deals

We Rate Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ:

Address:

888 Nelson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.gyu-kaku.com/

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In Downtown

Hapa Izakaya Coal Harbour: New Beginnings

March 8, 2012

Hapa Umi was the higher-end restaurant of the Hapa Izakaya chain. From hearing much feedback from the customers, they decided to change Hapa Umi into Hapa Izakaya Coal Harbour. The prices are much lower and you will be having similar items to the other Hapa Izakaya restaurants.

Flo heard about the Grand Opening and how the first 40 people to make a reservation gets 30% off through Twitter. Since we like deals we quickly made a reservation online and came here after work. I also forgot my memory card at home, so I’m sorry the pictures aren’t as good.

The interior is the same and has a nice modern vibe. The hostess and the service was really good.

Kakuni ($10.99) is braised pork belly green pepper sauce and grilled garlic bread. This was my favorite dish. The pork belly literally just melts in your mouth and the green pepper sauce accompanies it very well. Definitely something you need to try!

Just look at that pork belly! If you are afraid of fat, just eat it! Sometimes fat is good for you. Flo and I just gobbled this whole dish quite quickly. YUMMM.

Seafood Rissotto Ishiyaki ($11.49) has scallops, squid, halibut, mushrooms, parmesan, shiso leaves and yuzu zest. It’s like a soupy rice in a stone bowl. It was good, but we both didn’t like the addition of the shiso leaves. It just has a minty taste to it. Just a personal preference.

Trout carpaccio ($10.99) has salmon style steel head trout with potato wedges, grainy mustard, vinaigrette and wasabi sour cream. This dish was quite different from any other carpaccio dish I’ve seen. The trout really looked like salmon, but was very delicious. At times I found that the potatoes were a weird pairing with the salmon. But… that’s just me since I’m not a potato person. Regardless, it was something new that no other izakaya place has created.

Ebi mayo ($8.99) is tempura wild shrimp and spicy mayo sauce. This was a disappointing dish since we both felt the tempura of the shrimp became very mushy because of the sauce. Flo said she preferred the mayo on the side.

A good thing about this dish is that the shrimp is quite large!

Banana Chocolate Cake was good, but different for a place like Hapa Izakaya. The banana bread has lots of chocolate chips inside but I felt like the cake could be much warmer. This dessert was just so-so.

Overall, it was great to see the change in their menu be similar to their other locations. If you like the other Hapa Izakaya locations, you’ll like this one too.

Words of Wisdom:

Great taste
Order their Fresh Sheet items
Can get a bit expensive
More higher end compared to other Japanese Izakaya Restaurants
Great place for special occasions

We Rate Hapa Izakaya Coal Harbour:
Address:
909 W Cordova St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://hapaizakaya.com/

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In Four Beakers

Sushiyama: Amazing Japanese Food!

January 6, 2012

Sushiyama is a very popular Japanese restaurant in Vancouver. It’s good for their cheap eats and quality food. No wonder during peak hours, there can be a lot of people lining up.

Luckily, it was after the lunch hour rush when I took MedicalGiraffe and BaguetteGirl here. They wanted something different and super delicious. They’ve passed by a dozen times, and thought this place was a bit sketchy, to their surprise, it would be some of the best Japanese food they would have.

They have a few killer items on their menu. If you come here, sushi is a must….or at least a few key rolls.

Negitoro Roll ($2.75) has chopped tuna belly and green onions. It comes with 6 pieces. Very good price, plus it tasted really really good.

Caterpillar Roll ($6.95) contains cucumber, avocado, mayo, crab meat, eel and BBQ sauce. It is probably the best thing to get! It is covered in a lot of thin slices of avocado. I can’t remember what was inside but it tasted really good! Highly recommended!

Crunch Roll ($4.25) has yam, sweet potatoes, shrimp tempura, and avocados. This was pretty horrible. After we ordered, it came like a minute after We were really confused why it came so fast and why it didn’t look as cool as the caterpillar roll.

Salmon Sashimi ($7.25) has come amazing thick pieces of salmon. Really delicious too!

Seaweed Salad was alright. If you love seaweed, you’d probably like it.

Grilled Black Cod was really good! One of my favorite items. Yummm.

Overall, really good food here for good prices. I would come her again and again!

Words of Wisdom:

Very cheap and affordable
Mediocre service
Long Lines
Best to go in 2′s if you hate to wait. the larger the group, the long it will take ..during peak hours
Caterpillar roll and sashimi!!!!
Bento boxes are of great value if you want to try a bit of everything

We Rate Sushiyama:

Address:
371 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

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In Izakaya

Sushimoto: Hidden Sushi Place in North Burnaby

December 28, 2011

Sushimoto is a hidden Japanese restaurant in Burnaby near Holdom Skytrain. It’s a nice hidden find since nothing else is really around that area.

They are quite busy during peak hours and are growing to be quite popular since they are known to give away complementary dishes! M, Jojocake, NotFauna, and KoreanGirl decided to head over for some sushi since it’s very close to where we all live.

Ya, as usual I need my tea!

Complementary Salad comes with the meal. I was surprised and super confused because they never use to do this. It had a bit of everything in the salad – vegetables, cranberries, almonds, croutons…etc. It tasted alright. You need to mix it up in order to have the dressing cover all the ingredients.

Awesome cream cheese roll ($11) has avocado, crabmeat, cream cheese, baked salom, nnegi, masago, bonito spicy mayo and unagi sauce. M really liked it, but it can be a bit expensive for just a roll. It’s one of their specialty rolls, so thats why its more expensive.

Red hot chili roll ($8) has chopped scallop with spicy tuna on top and green onion, spicy mayo and spicy sauce.

Spicy Tuna Roll ($3.90) tasted alright. The usual stuff and it wasn’t spicy at all.

Spicy Chopped Scallop Roll ($3.90) has the spicy sauce on top of the chopped scallop roll. It was also alright, nothing too special about it.

Takoyaki ($4.50) comes with 6 pieces. It’s an octopus ball with bonito, mayo and dontatsu sauce.

Tako Wasabi ($3.5) is octopus marinated with wasabi. It also comes with a few sheets of seaweed to eat it with. It doesn’t have a strong taste of wasabi, which is disappointing because I wanted it to sting me. Kinda weird, but I found the ones at Guu and Kingyo much better.

Ika Wasabi comes complementary too. It’s squid marinated with wasabi sauce. It also didn’t have a strong wasabi taste.

Overall, the food was good and the decor was great. Certain items can be a bit over priced, but the addition of the complementary dishes made up for that. It’s a nice little place to go to if you are sick of places like Sushi Garden or Sushi Town.

Words of Wisdom:

Street Parking
Large variety in menu
Sashimi = good!
Make reservations to avoid waits.

We rate Sushimoto:

They are located at:

2221 Holdom Ave S
Burnaby, BC

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In Downtown

Guu Garden: Rice Burger Bento Lunch Is Awesome

December 20, 2011

Guu Garden is probably my favorite place to have lunch downtown. It’s cheap and you are guaranteed a fabulous lunch. Plus, I love Japanese food to death. For AvocadoGirl’s last day of work, I took her here since she really needed to see their amazing lunch.

You get super full for about $10.

The lunch menu is above, but they do change once in a while.

We grabbed some tea and waited for our order to arrive. Unfortunately, it was busy at lunch so it did take quite a while for our meal to arrive. I think it took about 30 minutes for our order to arrive. This was quite a bit long since lunch is supposed to be a fast meal. Eventually it did arrive, which is good.

Kobe Beef Hamburg Steak Rice Burger Bento ($10) it comes with green bean fries, prawn & avocado wasabi salad, side dish and miso soup. You can also double the patty for an extra $2.50.

Kobe Beef Hamburg Steak Rice Burger look really good and flavourful. It’s a bit hard to eat with your hands, so I used a knife and fork.

The Kobachi served when I went here was bean sprouts with a little bit of chili sauce. Overall pretty good, but it was small.

Prawn & Avocado Wasabi Salad is another one of my favorite dishes. It doesn’t have a strong overwhelming wasabi taste, so its good for people with varying spicy tolerance.

Green bean fries complimented all the other items nicely since it had a nice crunch. Not oily at all.

Grapes came as the finishing dessert. It was just normal grapes, so can’t really say much about that. They use to have this almond pudding instead and that was so much better than grapes.

Okara & Veggies Korokke Rice Burger Bento ($10) it comes with green bean fries, prawn& avocado wasabi salad, side dish and miso soup. Everything is the same except for the burger.

AvocadoGirl had this and I don’t think she had any complaints.

Pasta of the Day ($10) has their daily pasta, side of avocado shrimp salad and a miso soup.

They warned me that the pasta would be spicy, but it really wasn’t. It had a light tomato sauce with peppers, tomatoes, herbs and bacon. It was alright, but nothing too spectacular.

The miso soup was pretty good! It even has bean curd in it.

It’s the same avocado and shrimp salad that comes with the other combos. YUM!

Avocado Cheesecake surprised me at first! How can you put those two together? It tasted really good, the avocado is subtle but you can still taste it!

Overall, really good lunch deals especially in the downtown area. Highly recommended!

Words of Wisdom:

Amazing $10 bento lunch
Hard to locate the restaurant
Slow service

We Rate Guu Garden:

Address:

M101-888 Nelson Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com

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Vancouver

In Izakaya

Kingyo Japanese Izakaya: Kingyo Craze Dining Package

November 25, 2011

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Kingyo Craze” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and bought an additional one for a friend to keep the review as unbiased as I could. This review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

Kingyo Japanese Izakaya is one of the better Izakaya restaurants in Downtown (according to this article from Vancouver Sun). I’ve been here in the Summer with CandiedZen and we had a great time…except it kinda broke our wallets since we are both students.

This time around, I came with CandiedZen again to try the Kingyo Craze Dining from VANEATS.ca . Seemed like a good deal since the dining package for one person is $19 for 5 courses.

The interior is quite nice. It’s not a super large place, so it’s always good to make reservations.

Fresh Housemade Ginger Ale, which I have forgotten the price was quite refreshing! It’s a good drink if you feel like not drinking anything alcoholic.

Fresh Melon White Wine Sangria ($7.50) has fresh melon, calpico, white wine, melon liqueur, soda and lime.

Sashimi Salad – three kinds of sashimi (changes daily) on a bed of organic springs dressed with soy based vinaigrette and garlic oil

On the day we arrived, we had salmon, scallop and tuna I think. They had the right amount of dressing over it and the yuzu jelly on top and the crispy lotus room complemented nicely.

Chicken Breast Tender & Cod Roe Spring Roll served with a side of mayo & special soy sauce

This was probably my favorite dish out of the entire meal. The chicken was super tender and it complimented the code roe and the filling nicely. Having that in the crispy spring roll shell …then dunking it into the mayo +soy sauce = nom nom nom nom.

One of the dishes came a bit later than the first one and the consistency was a bit off. The color of the spring rolls as you can tell are much different too.

Despite this little issue, it still tasted super good! Something about the savory filling with the crispy shell dipped into the mayo and soy sauce just lit up our palettes. If you don’t end up getting the dining package, just order it off their menu because this dish is AMAZING!

Deep fried tofu and mushrooms served in a sizzling stone bowl

The waiter comes to the table with a two bowls – one with the hot stone bowl with the tofu and another bowl with the mushroom and sauce. It’s a good dish for the winter time. Even though it’s all vegetables, it will fill you up.

No, its not spicy and those green things aren’t jalapenos, but it’s Okra. Okra is delicious FYI.

CandiedZen really loved the stickiness of the tofu skin, but she felt the sauce reminded her of Chinese food rather than Japanese.

I thought the taste was very familiar but I really couldn’t put my finger on it. I loved the tofu and the mushrooms, but I found the sauce a bit salty for my taste.

Seared Negitoro Sushi – chopped tuna & green onions with seaweed paste and Kingyo’s original sauce

This totally reminded me of the Negitoro Battera from Suika, but except they have the seared top. This item is not on the original menu, but CandizedZen and I tried to push them to add it onto the main menu. (Lets hope they do because it was good).

We liked this because they held together firmly and was quite light. The 2 sauces on top complimented the negitoro nicely. Hidden inside the rice is a small piece of avocado. It was quite interesting to discover.

Petit Almond Tofu – Kingyo’s famous super smooth and refreshing almond tofu with persimmon sauce

I don’t think we had the persimmon sauce on top. Not sure why it wasn’t there. Regardless, we enjoyed the plain almond tofu. It comes is a really cute small dish with a wooden spoon. I love almond pudding, so this is good! It’s a good ending to this meal since it’s not too heavy.

Frozen Grapes finish off the meal! This is always my favorite part of the meal, I know it’s silly but I always anticipate the grapes.

Overall, CandiedZen and I thought this package was worth the price of $19. On a regular day, you could probably spend $30ish per person… I think once we spent almost $100 here. Good amount of food and you can really see the variety in their menu.

If you haven’t been here before, it would be a good way to see what Kingyo can offer. You can grab this package from VANEATS.ca

Words of Wisdom:

Make reservations on the busy nights
Have lunch and dinner
Good variety of items on the menu
Good place to bring a date

We Rate Kingyo Japanese Izakaya:
Address:
871 Denman St
Vancouver, BC V6G
Website:
http://www.kingyo-izakaya.ca

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In Izakaya

Ramen Sanpachi (Broadway): Way More Than Just Ramen

October 18, 2011

I usually go to the Ramen Sanpachi on Robson, but one day CandiedZen and I found ourselves venturing far down Broadway since we couldn’t decide where to eat. Eventually we ended up at Sanpachi kinda close to UBC. They have a different menu beyond just the typical ramen and sides.

It took me a while to figure out why this place looked so familiar and it was because it use to be Pier 3132.

Tea comes in a cute tiny pot and a cute Japanese cup.

Seaweed Salad ($3.75) is very light and refreshing.

Oyster (3pcs -$4.95) are fresh and is so good. CandiedZen and I actually ordered 2 plates of these since we couldn’t get enough. Tabasco sauce is a must if you want that extra kick.

Beef Tataki ( $5.45) comes with several long strips of the beef. It tasted pretty good but I didn’t like how it was cut so long. I much prefer it cut more into a square-ish shape.

Dynamite Roll ($3.50) just had the shrimp tempura, cucumbers, greens and tobiko wrapped in seaweed and rice. It’s nothing special.

Salmon Croquette ($7.50) comes with 2 pieces of the rice balls with bits of cooked salmon inside. This dish was ok, the salmon pieces were a bit small, so it was hard to really taste the salmon.

Cha Shu Ramen with Nori Mayo (Half -$8.25), normal and delicious as usual.

Nori Mayo that comes with the ramen was delicious as usual. It’s best to eat these when they arrive at the table or else the seaweed gets soggy and doesn’t taste as good.

Overall, they do have more variety than the Robson location. I would definitely recommend the ramen and oysters!

Words of Wisdom:

Decent ramen at decent price
Around $10
Combos are my favorite
The Izakaya items are a bit expensive for what you get
Oysters are good

We rate Sanpachi Ramen:

They are located at:

3132 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

In Downtown

Hapa Umi: Delicious Food in Small Portions

October 10, 2011

Hapa Umi is the higher end version of Hapa Izakaya. They are located near Waterfront and serve up some unique Japanese dishes. I bought 2 Living Social Coupons a while ago, and since they were about to expire, I really needed to use them. I brought along 3 friends to join me on this delicious journey.

I tried making reservations a few days in advanced, but they were super busy with other reservations. I got an 8:30 slot, but we were so efficient that we arrived at 8 instead. The hostess was very nice and was able to seat us earlier.

The interior was quite nice! Theres even an area of seating where you can look at the water.

The menu has three courses and you had your choice of any 3 items.

From the booths that we sat at, we were able to see the chefs in action putting together our dishes.

Since no meal at a Japanese restaurant can be complete without beer, InsecureGirl got the Hapa Lager and I got a Sapporo.

Halibut Ceviche has fresh cuts of halibut sashimi with sliced cherry tomatoes, topped with onions, lemon-lime soy marinade and shiso-infused olive oil.

Very nice and delicate taste! It definitely has different texture, but I think I still prefer my usual tuna.

Pemberton Medows Beef Tataki has the thin slices of beef with garlic ponzu, green onion and spicy daikon.

KoreanGirl, InsecureGirl and CanuckGirl all liked the quality of the dish, but it did seem a tad small.

BC Wild Spring Salmon has the pan seared salmon on skewers with gnocchi, roated cauliflower, cauliflower puree, grilled zucchini with a soy-maple shallot butter.

Tofu two-ways Tofu steak with crispy tofu, scallion-ginger soy, peppers and a basil cream. One tofu was deep fried and the other was pan fried.

This dish was alright, good flavours but I found the portion sizing to be quite small for the entree. Very good quality, but it still left me hungry.

AAA Alberta Beef Tenderloin Steak came medium rare with vegetables and some other sauces. This wasn’t written on the menu since they needed to make a few substitution on a few items. InsecureGirl said this dish was pretty well executed, but was also a tad small.

Their dessert menu is separate and our eyes just lit up when we saw it.

We ordered 2 orders of the Cannoli and the cheesecake, but they decided to present it to us in a larger plate so we all could share.

Umi Cannoli ($9) citrus cream cheese filling, shiso and strawberry compote with sour cream ice cream. These are the small circular things on the plate. There were really really good, but its not the type of cannoli you would see in the stores. This is more flat like a cookie with delicious filling. I could eat these all day!

Souffle Cheesecake ($9.50) has strawberry and shiso compote too. The cheese cake was quite dense and did eventually slowly fill us up.

Overall, good quality and taste of the food, but the portions and price are completely different spectrums. It can get quite expensive.

Words of Wisdom:

Japanese modern fusion type of food
Great taste
Small Portions
More higher end compared to other Japanese Izakaya Restaurants
Great place for Business meals or special occasions

We Rate Hapa Umi:
Address:
909 W Cordova St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
hapaumi.com

Twitter:
@hapaumi

Vancouver

In Gastown

Guu Gastown: Guu’d Food

September 13, 2011

My goal in life is to go to every single Guu in the world! Hopefully that can be achieved in my lifetime….which may be hard since locations keep popping up around the world. Today, my adventures brought me to Guu Gastown for a friends “catch up” dinner.

Even though I put down reservations, we still had to wait in line. I came prepared and came a bit early to make sure we didn’t have to wait too long.

We got seated at their large window…my this wasn’t too bad of a view but it did get colder once the night rolled in. For the people attending the dinner that didn’t know where it was…its a fun idea to scream out the window so they know where Guu Gastown is. Keep in mind, that would be very embarrassing if others started looking at you.

The menu is similar on most days, but they also have a fresh sheet too.

You know me, Sapporo is a must at Guu. We ordered 2 pitchers and they have the tall Sapporo glasses. Yum!

Tako Wasa ($3.50) is marinated cooked octopus with wasabi and its served with sides of roasted seaweed. This is not a dish for everyone. If you hate wasabi, best to avoid. I love this dish because wasabi give your face a nice kick. I am not a big fan of wasabi, but I quite enjoy it in this form with the octopus.

Ebi Mayo ($7.80) are deep fried prawns in a crispy batter with spicy mayo. I really don’t like ebi mayo battered like this. It’s a bit thick and I think the other Guu’s make it better.

Takoyaki ($4.80) are deep fried battered octopus balls with tonkatsu sauce, wasabi mayo, mustard mayo, bonito flakes and dried seaweeed.

It’s pretty good and comes with 5 pieces. So much better than night market!

Saba with Garlic Herb ($7.20) is soy sauce + olive oil grilled mackerel with garlic chips, bill, peppers, herbs, lemon and onions.

I find the best part about this are the garlic chips! The saba has no bones, so it’s great for children!

Guu Tataki ($6.20) is seared beef sashimi with ponzu sauce, garlic chips and green onions. There’s really nothing I can say about this dish since its so delicious!

Eel Cutlet and Egg ($7.20) is deep fried panko breaded eel with kabayaki sauce, topped with a soft egg and japanese peppers. I’ve never had anything like this and CandiedZen and I just thought this dish was fabulous. The crunchiness of the fried eel matches with the soft gooey egg.

Sashimi Salad ($8.20), I was not very impressed by…but it did still taste good.

Guu Yakiudon ($7.50) is pan fried udon with beef, green onions and mushrooms topped with bonito flakes and dried seaweed. Always one of the most delicious dishes!

Overall, the choices on the menu were pretty good. I like how all the Guu’s have similar items, but are executed a bit differently. You really can’t get bored of the different Guu chains. After trying the Gastown location, I still prefer Guu Garden and Guu Garlic.

Words of Wisdom:

Yakiudon, eel cutlet and egg, beef tataki recommended
Very busy during the evenings
Best to get reservations
Closest Skytrain: Waterfront

We Rate Guu Gastown:
Address:

375 Water St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

www.guu-izakaya.com/gastown.html

Twitter:

@GuuIzakaya

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen: Great Addition to The Drive

August 22, 2011

My sister found a new Japanese place on Commercial Drive called Kishimoto that serves up sushi and different izakaya dishes. Since I just adore Japanese food to death, I dragging M to come eat with me.

There are a few other Japanese Restaurants on Commercial Drive and at first we accidentally went to the wrong place. It looked nothing like Kishimoto, but it had a similar name. M thought I took him to a crappy place, but we just went to the wrong place. We felt super bad to be leaving, so we just grabbed our stuff and quickly said “umm errr we have to go”. As we walked infront of Kishimoto, our eyes just lit up.

Their interior is quite dark, so it gives it a bit of a romantic intimate vibe. The servers were really nice!

I can’t live without beer, so I got a bottle of Kirin. Kirin isn’t as good as Sapporo or Asahi.

Ebi Chili Mayo ($9.75) comes with 5 pieces of the battered and fried prawns with chili mayo sauce. The prawns were beautifully butterflied so you can taste more of the natural taste of the prawn . I loved how the mayo is on the side since I really don’t like my ebi mayo doused in the sauce.

What I found was that even though this dish is good, it is quite pricey for just 5 pieces.

Sockeye Salmon Ishinabe ($14) is rice and sockeye salmon sashimi with a bunch of other ingredients in a 450 degree stone bowl. This reminded me of the Korean bibimbap, but with a Japanese twist. You need to leave the ingredients in the bowl until the bottom gets crispy. I love the crispy rice, so I let it sit there for awhile.

For the price, you wont’ get super full from the dish. It also tasted really good, but quite pricey.

My favorite dishes were probably the sushi! It comes with such a lovely presentation! It has a tea light candle in the center with red currants. Red currants are currently in season, so its a perfect garnish.

They do little things on the dish that just impresses me. They even turned bits of carrot into a butterfly!

Kishimoto Roll ($5.95) has scallop, salmon, radish sprouts, wrapped in rice and soy paper. It was really good!!! It’s probably one of the best sushi’s I’ve had in a while. Its the type of sushi that requires no soy sauce and the flavours really just shine through. It was not super dense and it was really just perfect.

Little Princess Roll ($7.95) has oba leaf, cream cheese, unagi, mayo wrapped in rice and inari. This roll even has edamame eyes! The roll just melts in your mouth and you really just fall in love with the combination of unagi and cream cheese.

Overall, M and I fell in love with their sushi! We did like the other items, but they got pretty pricey. You really need to look and choose the items carefully on the menu or else you will break your wallet. The quality of the food is amazing and I will probably come here again for their sushi.

Words of Wisdom:

Kishimoto Roll is a must order!
Prices are slightly high on certain items
dark intimate atmosphere
Great service
Free parking in residential areas

We Rate Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen:

Address:

2054 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/pages/Kishimoto…

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Vancouver

In Izakaya

Electric Owl Social Club: Surprising Asian Inspired Menu

August 16, 2011

It was @wongers birthday and she decided to have it at the Electric Owl. The name of the place sounded very interesting, seemed more like a pub/lounge to me. Since we went there early and it was fireworks night, this place was pretty much desserted except for our large group and some other people.

They serve up items you would see at an izakaya place. This place really confused me because there were chopsticks and most items on the menu didn’t match the look of this place. Their Japanese style snacks are prepared by a Vietnamese chef in an izakaya-inspired room and a live band.

Their whole philosophy is that, like great drinks and creative food, good is always better when there’s more.

There are 2 bars, a large stage, an open dancing area in the middle and lots of seating around the restaurant. Its actually great for large birthdays where you want to have food and drinks. Usually there is nightly entertainment, so there isn’t a need to go elsewhere if you want to party.

On all the tables are the Japanese-like ceramic cups with napkins and chopsticks.

Since the menu was so Japanese, I decided a Sapporo (Pint – $5.30) was a must. Straight from the tap and it comes in the tall glass.

Spicy-cured Beef Tataki ($7.90) is seared NY steak spiced with togarashi seasoning with greens and mayo. The cut of beef was really nice, but I felt that the dish did not have the spice I was looking for. It was not at all spicy. The mayo did not work very well with the beef since it does not give your pallet a good clean feeling compared to the traditional ponzu sauce.

If you are going to get this dish, you might as well go to Guu or any other Izakaya to get the traditional item with ponzu sauce.

Karaage Chicken ($6.90) is deep fried chicken seasoned in soy sauce. It is topped off with leeks and has a side of mayo. M said it was alright, but he wasn’t full from just one dish. You probably need to order about 2 dishes to get full.

Drunken Ebi Mayo ($7.80) is sake-marinated, deep-fried prawns with mayo cocktail sauce. It was alright, but anything out of the ordinary. I liked the side of the cocktail sauce since some other places like to just douse it all in the sauce.

Owl Poutine ($6.20) has fries with teriyaki gravy, cheese curd, green onions, nori, and mayo. You can also add bacon for $1.60. This is one of their popular dishes. It tastes really good!

Matcha Rice Pudding ($4.30) is creamy matcha-infused rice pudding. I liked it even though the presentation is not that exciting. It’s not very heavy and a great light dessert to finish off your meal.

Ice Cream agemono ($5.30) is deep-fried phyllo-wrapped vanilla ice cream with fresh fruit and green tea compote. It tasted alright, but it melted pretty quickly.

Overall, the food is really not the main attraction. It’s a good venue to just chill with your friends and have a drink. They always have large special events, so great social place. Even though their website advertises 2 for 1 ‘appy hour’ from 5pm – 7pm, we didn’t get it. Perhaps it was because we were in a large group.

Words of Wisdom:

Large amount of items are not available on their menu anymore. No brunch, No Bubbletea.
Customizable drinks and super nice bartenders
Lots of large events
Reservations for large groups
Owl Poutine is a must
Free parking in rear
Closest Skytrain: Main

We Rate Electric Owl: