Love for the Locals: Very Guu'd, Sir!

It's been a while, but I promise that this will be a very Guu'd one! *ba-dum tsh*

Near the beginning of the month, I attended a conference in Vancouver to get some professional networking experience, but also so that I could be in Vancouver, because well, Vancouver. I flew out right after my last class of the week, and went to Vancouver a few days earlier so that I could hang out with P. P drove 13 hours from Edmonton to Vancouver! The foodie force is strong with this one...

London is a great place, but tends to lack super awesomeness in the Asian food department, so I really had to get my fix. On the day that I arrived in Vancouver, P and I went food hopping on Robson Street - a district full of Japanese, Korean, and other delicious Asian foods. We started at Guu with Garlic, a.k.a. Guu Robson (1698 Robson Street, Vancouver, B.C.). Guu is a string of izakaya, which are essentially Japanese tapas bars, in Vancouver and Toronto. I had never been, but heard from several friends about it. It's not a big place, but the atmosphere is amazing. You really feel like you're in a bar in Japan! It's a bit different from the Western bars because you can order things like sashimi, rice, and Japanese deep-fried goodies, and you constantly hear the bar colloquialisms being tossed between the whole team of workers in a very spirited tone.

Be prepared to drool over some fantastic photos by Ply Photography...

Guu with Garlic!

A very colourful menu with a wide range of awesome Japanese tapas!

Specials for the day including salmon sashimi...

We started off with some Tuna Tataki, which is beautifully seared tuna garnished with green onions and fried garlic chips - P really liked the garlic chips. He made very certain that they were all eaten.

Beef Tongue! Probably not for everyone, but it was very tender and juicy. My dad would have loooved this.

Salmon Sashimi, because DUH...first time seeing Shiso leaves in real life! I'd only seen them in Japanese cooking videos on YouTube like Ochikeron and RunnyRunny999. Speaking of which, you should totally watch some of their videos. I really like the ones from RunnyRunny999. His tagline is, "You can order, but you can't eat it!" :P

TAKOYAKI! It's basically like balls of kind of custard with octopus inside that are deep-fried and dressed with Bulldog sauce (something like Worcestershire sauce), Japanese mayo, shreds of nori (dried seaweed), and bonito flakes (Japanese dried, fermented tuna). I'd had it in Edmonton once, and one time in London at an AYCE, but the one at Guu Garlic was a bizillion times better. I could have eaten like 3 more orders of this, but we had more food hopping to do ;)

The verdict? YES. DO IT! If you happen to be in Vancouver, you have got to try Guu Garlic. It's a different experience, but a very delicious one. I'd definitely be up for visiting the other Guu's! They're all a bit unique, but after visiting this one, it seems very worth it. Guu with Garlic has a focus on garlic - they say in the About Us section of their website that it's because "Garlic is sexy", in case you wanted an explanation. But yes, just...yes.

But of course our food hopping didn't stop there! This was like an appetizer. P and I have an abnormally almost insatiable desire for food - i.e. we eat a lot. I wanted some sushi, so we literally went across the street to Sapporo Sushi (1709 Robson Street, Vancouver, B.C.)!

It's a small shop that's longer than it is wide. It seems to be operated only by a couple of people, but has some delicious output! It was crazy how much cheaper the sushi was in Vancouver in comparison to Edmonton given its quality. (Thank you, B.C. for not having H.S.T. anymore :D) Everything tasted so freaking good. My withdrawal from Asian food may have had something to do with it, but it was still probably pretty amazing. On top of the part where I was having sushi in Vancouver of all places, I loved that everything came at once. P and I were so ready to buckle down and devour all the things!

Dynamite Roll (crab, avocado, cucumber, prawn) and House Roll (tuna, Japanese sweet egg, cucumber, and crab, topped with salmon, cream cheese, and a house-made sauce). I, personally, am not a fan of cream cheese, but I have a habit to get the "House Roll", because it tends to have more stuff in it, and it implies recommendation by the establishment. Luckily, I have P who eats practically anything, so I just gave him the piece of cream cheese to put on his pieces of sushi :P

One of my favourite kinds of maki is what they called "Chop Chop" or "Chopped Scallop" in Edmonton, but maybe it doesn't exist elsewhere? I'm not really sure. When we ordered the Chopped Scallop maki from Sapporo Sushi, that's exactly what we got - fresh chopped scallop. I was totally okay with that though! Very delish! Oh and also, "Negi Toro Roll" (tuna with green onion) - an imperative, because it's one of P's favourites! Mmm...

Guu with Garlic doesn't have sushi because it's not really a Japanese bar food, but since it's across the street, if you feel you are lacking in the sushi department, Sapporo Sushi is worth a visit after getting your tapas on at Guu! Yes, it's one of the many on Robson Street, but this quaint little shop is very suitable for your sushi fixes! Om nom away, my friends, om nom away...

-M