Restaurant Information
Restaurant: Guu with Garlic Izakaya Restaurant
Address: 1688 Robson Street, Vancouver BC V6G 1C7
Phone: (604) 685-8678
Website: https://guu-izakaya.com/location/#Garlic
What does the term Izakaya means?
The term “Izakaya” refers to a casual Japanese style gastropub that opens from late afternoon to late night. It is mostly for after work drinking and dishes are served in tapa styles so they can be shared. It is one of my favorite go to style of restaurant whenever I am back in Vancouver from travelling. In hot weather, I prefer a good pint of Japanese beer paired with their fusion inspired sashimi dishes. When it is cold outside, a warm bottle of sake with hearty traditional Japanese oden always warms me up. Their creative daily fresh sheet menu will always have just the dish that will make you say “it’s good to be home.”
Shared Tapas
Tako wasabi is a popular Izakaya cold dish. Served with dried seaweed on the side, the paste is a mixture of fresh raw octopus, diced Japanese cucumbers, rice vinegar, wasabi paste, soy sauce and sometime salmon caviar. The sashimi salad is a great dish that has both the fresh mixed selection of sashimi ( usually salmon, tuna and hokkai clam) and mixed in with fresh greens, getting the best of both worlds.
The deep fried chicken nanban is another signature dish from Guu. Marinated in a special spice sauce and then partially deep fried, the meat is juicy in the inside while crunchy on the outside. Guu put a twist to the dipping sauce and added some marinated radish to the mayonnaise to make it appear pink, making it not only delicious to the taste but a pretty sight for presentation as well.
From the fresh sheet during the visit, Guu created a spicy tuna poke don that has a mix of spicy tuna, seaweed and chopped radishes over rice, paying homage to the Hawaiian counterpart of their Japanese food culture.
The grilled beef tongue is one of my all time favorites. Marinated and grilled to perfection with sprinkles of deep fried garlic slices. While their staple grilled beef short ribs also is a favorite among the guests. Grilled with the bone and thin sliced, the dish is also garnished with their popular deep fried garlic slices. Both are great sharing dishes with any sake and Japanese beer.
I do look forward to my next visit. Who knows what magic they will have put onto their ever changing creative daily fresh sheet 🙂
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